Name Calling

There is a job in the wine world that requires an individual to examine, analyze, research and pass judgement.  No, not wine critic, but ampelographer.  An ampelographer is a person who's job is to be concerned with the proper identification and classification of grapevines.   The word ampelographry comes from two Greek words: ampelos for vine and graph for description.  

These ampelographers examine the various physical characteristics of a grapevine, then attempt to give the vine a proper name that represents the vine's lineage and individual characteristics, chardonnay or syrah for example.  Until the 1940s ampelography was considered an art.  Then Pierre Galet created systematic criteria for the identification of vines and the science of ampelography was born. 

It is important to know what variety of vine is growing in certain vineyard so this particular vine can be raised right and cared for appropriately.  Plus people like to know what it is they have in the bottle of red wine.  Some grapevines require more water and less sun, and some require just the opposite.  If you didn't know what kind of vine you were caring for it would be like trying to raise your son or daughter by always saying “hey you.”  Somewhat effective, but certainly not optimal.  People and grapevines like when you know who they are.

Most of the time, name calling is juvenile and silly and sometimes, your an ampleographer, and it's your job.  

The Chance for Opportunity

When wine makers spend countless hours tending to a vineyard or mind numbingly meticulously cleaning the wine making equipment in the winery, they are creating their chance for opportunity. Winemakers put all their energy into creating just the right conditions to produce a wine they can be proud of and most importantly, customers will want to drink. All of the hard work and sleepless nights only create the chance for greatness. Mother nature could, at any minute, completely wipe out a vineyard whose grapes were just days away from being perfect for harvesting. Even if the grapes are harvested at the perfect time and gently pressed to create beautiful juice, the vagaries and unpredictable nature of winemaking can create something more akin to vinegar than first class wine before the winemaker even has a chance.

If the winemakers plans go off without a hitch. The timing was perfect, the grapes behaved just the way they hoped and now they feel the juice is the best it could be. So they put all of what they have worked so hard to create into a $1,500 new French Oak barrel. Then sit and wait. Maybe taste the wine at different intervals. But they will not know if their efforts have been a success until the wine has run its full course in the barrel and is ready for bottling. Even then, how long will their wine take once it is in the bottle to finally reveal its true character? Two years? 12 years? Only time and patience will tell.

All any good/sane winemaker can hope to do, is create the chance for opportunity. Working so hard for something, just so you can put it a bottle, wait for a few years, then find out what anyone and everyone thinks about your work, is a tough way to make a living. It's like taking some silly computer test for work, school or at the DMV. You have taken the test and you push the “Done” button and cringe as you wait for the computer to spit out your score. Take that feeling and multiply it by about a factor of 100 and you will have some idea how cringe worthy making wine can be. But there must be something magically alluring about making wine, because people have been drawn to making wine for thousands of years.
Maybe it is the very thing that makes winemaking so maddening and difficult that also draws people to it – the great chance for great opportunity.