When a bottle of well-made wine is an ode to harmony...

"HARMONY is the most valuable of all things," said Confucius 2 1/2 millennia ago; in medical school, we learned that the human body is physiologically programmed to restore bodily systems to equilibrium.

Harmony, equilibrium, and balance. It is a fundamental rule of nature, of the universe - and of wine.

As I write this, looking out of the window across from me, I see a little bird alighting on one of the branches of the tree outside, a little bird with black beak and black under-surface of its neck. It is one of a pair who are often around the tree; their nest is under the eaves of the roof over my window. Beautiful nature.