Wine’s Hidden Beauty by Sondra Barrett, PhD, is a walk in the wilds of a microscope. Sondra delivers the heart and soul of wine like we’ve never experienced it before… Or have we? Have we journeyed to the life that exists within a bottle of wine intuitively before, but just not recognized it in our conscious minds?

Amid the splendor of the visuals of this book, you’re also going to do a bit of soul searching… At least, I did.

Andre Tchelistcheff said to Sondra about her images, “They are the jewels in wine. Put them on silk scarves.” (I agree.)

Sondra thinks of wine as a nurturing community as she travels through molecular structures and the inner magnificence of wine. For instance, she’s discovered that wine’s molecular shapes grow larger as they age, and lose vitality and form as they decline in age. Her microcosmic images are a replication of our own life forms; and yet, her world is not one that we would readily recognize, not without her expertise.

This is why her surreal world, one that conjures up Rorschach moments that she welcomes… Nay, encourages… is a place to go, a book to read with all of one’s senses… Probably with a good glass of wine while curled up in a hammock.

It’s a world unto itself, with the book in the making since the early 1980s. This contribution to our lives is an enrichment, for anyone willing to just slow down for a moment and let the images and her words of enlightenment just take us away.

My cousin Margo (living in Maine) introduced me to Sondra, after having seen an image of wine as viewed under the lens of a microscope. Margo was amazed, and I was intrigued. When I researched Sondra, because I was asking permission to use that image on my wine blog, I discovered that she lives less than 15 miles from me.

Sondra was extremely gracious, and that made me want to know more about her, and the book she was working on called, “Wine’s Hidden Beauty.”

At first for me, my eyes were dazzled by her images. I’m a firm believer that a picture is worth a thousand words, and her images of wine as art captured my imagination.

Now that I’ve finished reading her book, I’ve come to realize that her words have also captured my soul.

I was raised as a Catholic, which I abandoned in my early 20s. I then became enraptured in Tibetan Buddhism. This was during the time of the Beatles and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. I got to be with the Maharishi in Poland Springs, Maine, while he was visiting. Something miraculous happened in that transition… I realized that all religions preach the same doctrine of the Golden Rule. Each is credible, so long as the doctrines of the Golden Rule are being followed.

I have a some very deeply spiritual people in my life, and with these people I can have rich conversations. Worth noting is Jose – my husband, the Reverend Dr. John Staten, proprietor of Field Stone Winery, and now Sondra…

Her thoughts are well written in her book… As she searched for Wine’s Hidden Beauty, the soul of wine was reflected back to her. With those revelations, she was able to capture the essence of wine’s being, and parallel that to humankind’s own life cycle.

• Her words are exploring  ~ “How like the grape are we?”
• Her concepts will challenge your way of thinking about wine ~ “Tasting Shapes”
• Her revelations explore the essence of life  ~ Organic wines have the microscopic structure of a heart… is that a coincidence?

This is one book that I highly recommend to people who love wine, love art, and marvel at life.