The battle of France was decided on an East versus West, Young versus Old, New versus Established thinking that what is good is not always what was. I guess that could explain why the 2nd or 3rd generation of immigrants voted for a convicted felon to run the republic of north america. Yet, my disappointment is seething through my pores as I grow frustrated at the reality of an tolitarian regime taking away my right to get intoxicated. It will happen as it did previously and it will fail as it has done so before, but we have to go through this exercise because of people with money and short memories don't understand humanity has the ability to destroy itself by limiting our capability to grow.
Anyway, there are now more regions of wine and wine making and grape growing in the fifty states than possibly imagine way back in 1976. Napa today is no longer the King of wine and who knew there was a #hillcountry in Texas where on a clear day you could see the Twin Towers.
Okay, I might have been more hyperbolic in the previous paragraph than warranted but, damn it I am mad that ignorance is so rampant. Yet, drinking wine somehow makes one less ignorant? Do people know how wine is made?
If there ever was a cult, multi level marketing scheme or even the hint at prestigious nobility its in making wine. The process can be the simplest event in one's life. I was fortunate to witness it on more than one occasion and yet, its not for me.
The terroir, the canopy, the dirt, the water or lack of water, the height of the trellis, the length of the root system and for all the marbles the type of sun or shade an area gets is a question better left to the cosmos in my humble opinion.
As I fondly remember my mom and dad planting grapes on the front yard fence for more aesthetic purposes than fruitful ones (PUN!) what I didn't know is how sad I would be when upon selling the home they'd be forced to remove the fence and grape vines.
It would be less than a year later I would be working in security and meet a wine maker from UCDavis at a winery we would commiserate over California grapes and growth in wine. I learned a lot. From the slope of a mountain to the depth of limestone in the ground to the distance and length of sunshine on a vine. It was mesmerizing and technical skill gave nothing for the intuitive nature of the grape farmer.
It would some several years later I learned the #DirtySecret of winemaking - people could buy grapes! The capitalism of wine was to make money and if you didn't have grapes you could buy them and slap your name on the label. How gauche a person could be! The innovative way to market and price your wine that really was just someones excess grape harvest and make money by saying your California Red Wine was FABULOUS.
At least it was truthfull-ish. Unlike some foreign bad actors claiming their grapes where certified from the famous region in so and so, if your bottle said "California Red Wine" and didn't specify a specific region or claim to be a varietal then you can make your investment in a ton of grapes pay off.
Technically.
There is another series of steps in putting wine in a bottle to really make money but, the hard part of growing the grapes is over at least. Some places just need a space. Carmel Ridge Winery is a grape grower that became a winery that became a tasting room that became another winery?
While I can't find Carmel Ridge Winery today in 2024 I loved to go there in Monterey, the dog friendly wine tasting room was affordable bites to enjoy after walking around Monterey sans the Aquarium.
The point is, way before the first splash of wine meets your lips, a literal lifetime can be spent just to figure out how to grow the grapes that made it.
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