Riesling should share stage with Chardonnay

WHY do we like wine? Or more pertinently, why do I like wine? That is not the same question as "Why do I drink wine?"

Like most Singapore-born Chinese, I grew up drinking water with my meals. Not Coca-Cola, not 7-Up, not tea. Water, preferably ice-water. In my early days the refrigerator did not exist - an ice-box was a luxury! So plain room-temperature boiled water it was. In the 40s, ice-water became available as by then refrigerators were an integral part of the kitchen.

Dining out at Chinese restaurants, it was Chinese tea, or ice-water. Wine was available in European restaurants which at that time (ie, colonial Singapore, just after World War II) were mainly to be found in the big hotels, eg Ade…