Ah Yes, Patience
January 14th, 2008 by Annette
A handful of patience is worth more than a bushel of brains….Dutch Proverb
If I have ever made any valuable discoveries, it has been owing more to patient attention, than to any other talent….Isaac Newton
So, you might think that a winemaker must have certain attributes in order to be a winemaker: highly developed sensory skills, commitment and attention to the details, blah, blah, blah… But, as I grow older in the wine business and, I hope, wiser [luckily for me there is no qualitative measurement for wisdom], and get through yet another year of the winemaking cycle, I can’t help but to reflect on what I have come to view as the most important attribute of all: PATIENCE. Yes, that stalwart resistance to time and ambition, hopes and dreams — patience. I wait for harvest to start, I wait for a wine that is tasting off in the barrel to work through it’s adolescence, I wait for the cold, cold winter in the wine cellar to end so that I can warm my bones in the springtime sun; I wait for the wine in the bottle to come around and taste great; I wait for fermentations to finish, for TTB to approve our labels — you get the idea. Yes, I can be busy, busy with the seasonal rush and other times of the year, but most of my job is spent waiting, and not trying to drive myself too crazy in the process — this time of year is that which demands the most patience for me as it is the least active time when I spend most of my day planning, thinking, working on spreadsheets, budgets, etc. and also remembering the mistakes I made or could’ve made last year. The only way not to get crazy, or fiddle with a wine that isn’t tasting the way I like, or worry if things will turn out alright, is to adopt patience as my child and attend to it and fret over it, watch it grow, and learn from it. What have I learned (so far)? Things usually turn out alright — the wines usually end up tasting great, or as good as I had hoped, and that patience is the most valuable asset in winemaking…..maybe even in life, too.
February 1 Our newest product available in our tasting room– Howlin’ Good Red — will be released February 1st. This wine is a blend of various red wines (mostly Merlot, Syrah & Petite Sirah) and all profits from the sales of this wine will benefit The SPCA of Monterey County! Most who have tasted it agree that it’s worthy of howling about and it supports a good cause — what could be better than that!
Our tasting room operating hours will change slightly for the next two weeks and will be open only on January 18-20, and then on January 25-27. We will resume normal hours (open Thursday-Monday, 11-6) starting January 31.
- Posted in Cima Collina, Winemaking
- 1 Comment
May 29, 2008 at 10:51 am, Randi Parker said:
I am curious about your, “Howlin’ Good Red” wine that also benefits the SPCA… Being an animal lover with a small herd of “urban” four-legged pals I want to know if the only place on the Peninsula to try or buy this wine is in your tasting room? A nice wine and something that helps support animals in need sounds delicious!