No one makes wine alone

This is what I learned from harvest 2019:

1. Don’t judge a man by what he’s got tattooed on his face (in this case, A.C.A.B)

2. Supermarket salad crates also work for harvesting grapes and are cheaper than caisse

3. I don’t want a pneumatic press

4. You don’t make wine alone.

I learned technical things too, as well as stuff you can’t be taught but learn from making mistakes. But if I had to get something tattooed on my face, it would be number four from the list above.

Before one goes under ink, one ought be sure of the integrity of the message. Wine after all is name driven, its stars a constellation of individuals, families and domaines. Even when we know there is a background chorus—the wife, apprentice, ouvrier; the annual visit at harvest from a friend—and even after accounting for the qualities absorbed from the land, we speak of it as a mouthpiece for its maker. A liquid stage set for a one-man band. Wine is a brand. Think of a bottle and tell me what you see. The product of one person or of ma…