Wine...making...

I had the fortune of talking recently with a renowned winemaker who impressed on me how slow the wine making process is.  He said, "Imagine that you make wine from when you're 25 until you are 70 years old.  That is forty-five chances to get it right.  And you do not have control over all of the variables either."

Add that to the fact that when you prune vines for the next harvest, the process is not done until bottles arrive in customer's hands around three years later.  Sure, you're keeping busy during that time, but the satisfaction of a job well done is a long ways away.  And if you make a wine that is not to a drinker's liking, for whatever reason, that was three years of your most diligent efforts that have fallen short.  This is a very crucial thought to wrap your mind about next time you decide to harshly criticize a wine.

Although I would never entirely deprive anybody of their right to honestly evaluate and criticize any particular wine, it leads me to question how fairly or accurately one can comment on a wine when they have never experienced the wine making process.

During this same conversation, when I asked the winemaker how I could possibly prepare myself for an experience as tumultuous as making wine, he said that it is definitely not found in a book.  "Sure, there are particulars about what one does every month, or at every step, but knowing what happens does not compare to doing it."  He also mentioned that the best way to get ready to make wine was to learn how to use a forklift and have some conversational Spanish. 

It is a similar dichotomy in most industries where the act of doing can be intensely revealing compared to the relative study of the process.  Unfortunately, the study and experience of wine in its many forms (tasting, reading, collecting) does not communicate what winemaking is actually like. 

Just like any luxurious craft, the handiwork is not a pretty or easy process.  It is a detailed journey of slow and meticulous parts that one hopes are appreciated when the project is complete.  And like other pieces of craftsmanship, the product that one puts their intense focus and attention towards is released once complete.  In the buyer's hands, it is then scrutinized at will. 

Hopefully, one who knows what it takes to make such things will see the details that others will not.  I envy those who have amassed the experience that makes all wines as transparent as if they were making them.  Additionally, those who can separate preference from analysis achieve a crucial and difficult goal when assessing wines.  And even though it is not necessary to partake in the production side of the industry to fully enjoy wine, I will still continue to feel humbled and under-qualified concerning my knowledge of the details of wine until I can say that I have made it myself.

I hope someday you'll raise a glass of my wine.  Just be kind when you do.  And be patient, because it will take a long while...