Taking the leap
Starting any business feels a bit like leaping out of a plane and hoping you can learn to put on a parachute on the way down. So why make the leap? Because the view is beautiful and there’s no time like the present. I see a lifetime of creation, crossroads where I’ll meet travelers, lessons to learn and mistakes to laugh about, and I get to bring the wine. I look forward to meeting you along the way.
Life is about the people we share it with and nothing helps people connect like enjoying something we have in common. Wine is one medium through which we can connect. Beyond that, wine is personal. Contrary to common misconception, we don’t put blueberries, concrete, or pencil shavings in our fermentation tanks, but you really can taste these things in some wines. I’m not saying you will also lick the sidewalk and love it, rather, that every person experiences wine differently and they are all right. This means the world to me because it stands as a critical reminder of perspective. We experience the world differently, and so we feel differently. We express different truths and we can all be right. I think it does us a world of good to step back and hear what someone else is tasting from the same bottle. And of course, when it comes to facilitating conversation, it doesn’t hurt that those bottles contain a bit of alcohol. When we taste wine together, we grow together. We learn more about each other just as we learn about the wine. We make space for conversation, and we take a moment to appreciate just being there. I want to participate and to contribute.
The potential of creativity in wine is limitless. Which rootstocks and which fruit will you plant? What is your soil like, and will you amend it? How will you irrigate? How will you control weeds? When will you harvest? Have you thought about slope and azimuth? Even just in the vineyard, it goes on. What about the actual winemaking? Press? Stomp? Pump? Natural yeast? SO2? Extended maceration? Malolactic? We can go deeper than entire techniques. Would you prefer your barrels toasted with infrared, steam, fire, or some combination of the three? What about the cutting technique used to shape the wood and its impact on the overall surface area exposed to wine? The choices are endless and they all have an impact. Even with all of this controlled, No two wines will *ever* be the same. This is the joy and pain of vintages. Some years really will just be better. And some will disappoint. Again, wine is a metaphor for the lives we lead and the world we share. Every choice has an impact and every event is experienced in its time. We can sometimes hold on to precious memories, but we can’t go back and make more of them. Nothing will ever be the same, but every day could be something better. So it is, we learn to appreciate the best moments when we’re in them and we keep searching for more.
The final piece is expression. I want to share with others and bring people together. I want to remind us that we are all the same even as we are different, and that every moment of joy should be cherished. And I want to create. I don’t need a legacy, though I wouldn’t mind if my wine outlasted me. I just want to make it, to taste it, and to make it better.
I hope you’ll join me.
