“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” – Pablo Picasso
During the COVID restrictions of 2020, I ordered more wine than usual; not a lot, and not just for the sake of drinking, but for the opportunity to try different varietals and vintages. I was most interested in expanding my world – which in a few short weeks in March 2020 – had been reduced to the confines of my home and office. Holding and opening a bottle from a far-off place offered an occasion to taste something unique: created in a particular country, appellation, terroir, and by a winemaker. Each vintage, each bottle, a singular personality, as each individual person is unique to the world.
In my life, and through my work, I have participated in, and organized, countless vineyard and winery tours. Each tour described the winemaking process: harvest, crushing, fermentation, clarification, aging and bottling. We have met many brilliant winemakers here in the US, and throughout France, Italy and Spain. We have listened and learned about not only the practical aspects of the craft, but also the individual influences a winemaker has over their final product.
When I am developing a wine tour, either a local day trip or as part of an international tour, I let my potential partner wineries know that my guests are mostly sophisticated wine folks. They all know how wine is made, so we can gloss-over the production side. What we really what to know, is what makes their wines unique, special and worth buying?
Most winemakers can describe the process of how they produce their wines; the mechanics involved to create a particular vintage, and their philosophy of winemaking. However, most can not write or put this in words. Just as all chefs can cook, many cannot teach. The same can be said for winemakers.
I have come across one of the best resources I have ever read that does what I ask of our tour partners: offer a true glimpse into the mind of the craftsman; present a clear and precise description of the psyche of the winemaker; speak of the detailed layers of effort that go into the moment-by-moment evolution of the fermentation process; describe how to create the best wine possible – worthy of drinking, aging, and collecting.
This excerpt from Lineage: Life and Love and Six Generations in California Wine, by Steven Kent Mirassou, is a great example of what I mean:
“…the best tools a winemaker has are the personal ones. Each morning we go through each fermenting bin…smelling for any aromas that aren’t what they are supposed to be…armed with our senses and our notebook, we write down what our nose and mouth are telling us about sweetness, about fruit, about levels of tannin, about the heft and duration and complexity of the mid-palate of the wine, about the balance of acidity to fruit to tannin to finish. These elements, these Knights of the Wine Table, are, at once, what the winemaker is trying to protect and what will allow the best of wines to protect good taste for years to come.” – Steven Kent Mirassou, winemaker and author of Lineage: Life and Love and Six Generations in California Wine.
This read is remarkable. An introduction to the author’s foundation of six generations of California winemaking, his personal theories and perspectives, and the future of winemaking generally, and in the Livermore Valley particularly.
I began this blog with a quote from Pablo Picasso. Steven Kent has discovered the meaning of his life, and his purpose – his gift – is found in the pages of his book. I highly recommend this book which has just been released. To received your own signed copy, visit the link below: