Tuesday Wine Tales: An American Wine Story
As unconventional as life can be and how grandiose our plans dilute themselves into humble beginnings, I found myself back home again. In the living room where my father stays watching a baseball game and drinking either a beer (typically after he's mowed the lawn), scotch, or iced sweet tea (typically after he's mowed the lawn). However, on the rarest occasions he will open a bottle of wine and let the good lord's air seep in the fermented goodness for a short while, sit back in his lounge chair and turn to me and smile.
In January 2016, I saw that smile. Like any loving parent who has their children in their clutches, they want to share the world with them and what interests and passions have guided their lives. In that instant, I knew my father had in mind something he deeply wanted to share -- a secret unbeknownst to me, a beautiful secret that was under wraps for far too long.
He had a documentary he wanted to share with me about wine. Immediately my mind raced back to the most recent film that my Dad fell in love with regarding wine. Sideways. But that's another tale for another Tuesday. I knew in a instant, this documentary had to have some sort of snobbery involved. I mean it is wine we're talking about here.
Yet, to my pleasant surprise I found that the documentary contained characters who held a deep sense of passion and zeal for the wine industry. Not just oenological aficionados who carried any affluent pretensions throughout Napa. No, these characters were people like you and I. Businessman, accountants, lawyers, football players, blue collar workers who were tired of their 40+hour mundane desk jobs and decided to pursue their passion within the wine industry.
As the documentary weaved it's rich winemaking history of Oregon and Washington as well as unheard of areas like Arizona, my Dad would pour another glass of wine for the two of us. My mom would glance over from the open kitchen area behind us and sneer with the words, "lush". Meanwhile the blend of red wine and this carefully crafted documentary captivated my Dad and I's attention.
I began to ponder the subtleties of what made wine such an intriguing endeavor worth pursuit for all these characters...
What made them quit their day jobs to pursue something that had a considerable amount of risk and danger to their comfortable lives? Was it the excitement of creating something from the Earth? Could it be living near a beautiful area and immersing oneself outside office space? Or the tantalizing and idyllic escape of a mid-life crisis?
It was the culmination of finding one's joy and passion and actually going for it. It was having a bottle of wine that changes you. Literally changes the course of your life forever. You haven't tried wine until this happens. And it might never happen. But if it does. Oh my, if it does. It's a moment that becomes haunting and brilliant and will stay with you as a memory and becomes about of your life's story. That's the beauty of discovery.
And these folks seemed to have discovered something worth striving for.
From the beautiful countryside that these gentle grapes graced themselves, to the gritty passion found inside anyone associated with the vineyards and wineries, all the way down to the bottling, labeling and poetic descriptions of wine had lent itself to my senses and overrode my curiosity gauge. I was hooked.
And what perfect timing? In hindsight, I realized like any great body of knowledge, I was only scratching the tip of the iceberg. There was so much to learn and experience, but what better place than now. The documentary eventually finished and I looked over at my Dad with a gentle smile, and there was something unspoken. Like some sort of beginning of a story waiting to age perfectly to be coaxed into realization. And I whispered to myself, "Wow." Consequently, I realized those were Steve Jobs last word before he passed. Not that that has a savory meaning or connection whatsoever.
I thought I'd make a random connection since I'm drinking in a hotel room right now with my Dad celebrating the 4th of July. Nearly a year and a half later from watching that documentary. I'm feeling that the bottle is getting better over time. And like most Americans today, slightly buzzed and smiling, I'm looking forward to the symphonies and fireworks.
That I think we all can agree are quite bombastic in nature, yet a bloody good time to celebrate our revolution, our sense of freedom, liberty and pursuit of happiness. Whether we're forced here, struggled to get here, have been here for generations or are just arriving. We're here.
An ole Scottish man in the 1800s wrote, "I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move." Robert Louis Stevenson (that same ole Scottish man) wrote of wine, "wine is bottled poetry".
I think Mr. Stevenson definitely was on to something there. Albeit, not everyone likes poetry. But man, if you've ever discovered a poem that moved you... You'd have quite the story to tell one day too.
Cheers/Salud/Probst and always celebrate responsibly my dear friends.