Resonance, first defined in the scientific community, described the phenomenon of how an object or system vibrates at greater amplitude when exposed to an external stimulus that matches its natural frequency. Put simply, resonance observes that a system becomes greater when it finds a counterpart that mirrors its own.

German scientist, Herman Helmholtz, was a pioneer in the scientific study of the senses. Taken with the theory of resonance, he invented delicate orbs of brass that tapered into small funnels to assist his experiments. These ‘resonators’ were sized to specific musical tones, and when placed into a person’s ear, they allowed even the musically untrained to detect pure notes in a sound field.

Beyond the scientific, we use the term resonance to signal the deep emotions that art can elicit, a carryover that at first seems like a metaphor. But understanding the phenomenon, the usage seems more profound. Artist and audience are frequency and amplification, note and ear — each of us walking resonators, human tuning forks for the richness of our shared experience.

It is also beautifully democratizing. When understood in this way, all things resonant must be seen as both subjective and of equal weight. What we pick out of the sound field of our life experience is a complex series of notes, unique to each of us. We feel ourselves as moved by the smell of winter savory filling the kitchen from a pot of beans, as we are the first viewing of a Georgia O’Keefe painting. A poem by William Carlos Williams, left on a bedside table, is, after all, the same as a first kiss. In this way, our lives become art, and art the work of life, in an easy, back-looping knot of mutual recognition.

That you are reading this today means that something we have made, done, or said has resonated with you. It is proof we are kin; means we are humming through this world at the same frequency. We offer these wines today, hopeful for your specific amplification, content knowing our work becomes greater the moment it finds your glass; grateful to be one note, once again, in the complex chord of your life.