BRAMBLES: That's Life!

And, so it begins anew, again

 Awakenings. You probably started that dedicated journey some time ago, pushed to explore ways to express those innate impulses that follow, naturally. Under the sun, you feel the appetite for growth. You begin to leaf  (or could have initiated, say,  a wine blog); hesitant at first. What of the vermin, the critics and skeptics; what of the demands of consistent demonstration, that regular attempt to prove value at every turn. Even as you may have had strings of lessons earlier in vine life, you find that in your adult life subsisting on the grape(vitis vinifera) qualities had become a passion, a profession.  Innately,  you feel the ever compelling need to share many lessons you nurtured along the way.  Each spring, each renewal, we are again reminded of this productive cycle of the European grape vine.  A new beginning that follows each harvest, bringing with it a new promise, a yearning,  a new awakening.  It is a renewed life, one that uniquely benefits from each of those many seasons grown before.

Aged bush-vine or 'goblet' pruned zinfandel 

 In Ervin Drake's, 'It was a very Good Year', Frank remembers, 'my life as vintage wine from fine old kegs', 'it poured sweet and clear'.  Contemporary consumers don't generally age their wines; we being an immediate gratification society. Most bottle aging, it is said, occurs on the way home from the retailer.  And, in truth, current consumer market wines are typically ready to drink earlier in their bottle evolution due to decades of advancements in viticulture and oenology, the science of wine-making. It could be enough to have Frank drink anything he would pull from the shelf, since overall quality has continued to improve in our lifetimes. But remember, for those who are planners, aging a bottle can be a joy in collecting and also pay harmoniously mature and delicious benefits.

Spring frosts bring an early burn to new shoots 

 In the retail market there's also an awakening of consumers: more multi-generational wine drinkers who have traveled abroad, and may have explored in vogue dining while keeping up with the latest social craze. And, they drink up easier access to the marketplace with off-premise and direct-to-consumer growth. There's an awakening of producers, too.  Large multi-national corporations standardize qualities of the sourcing and production of the vine, while tacking to harvest the latest wine market trends.  And, more machines are toiling in the global vineyards than ever before, even as growing sustainability is echoed in the rows of vine.  And, there is also an awakening of the vine.  Globally, we continue to invest finding where each vine variety grows best, and how unique characteristics of site and climate are reflected in its best wine.  More controlled yields, standardized regulations and continued research in the many distinguished research academies that continues to nurture global grape growing. It's a world-wide awakening.

Traditional wine retail off-premise

 'It was a very good year', and like just about any year(let's be Frank) there were many segments of market up-swing.  Fortunately, more Americans are drinking wine than ever before, although much is made of millennial population slow down( think fads(prosecco, rose', white zinfandel,etc.).  Current data reports that strong market growth sustains from boomers and gen x(a growing population), and yet, across the country it's still only 10% of the adult population that drinks 90%(appox.) of the wine in spite of increases in popular wines by the glass service and on-line growth.  Wine tourism is on the rise, as well.  Currently, there's early bottling of our last harvest, even as bud break awakens in the groomed vineyards that are blanketed with flowering cover crops(providing nutrients, breaking up compacted soils).  As spring welcomes us, this is a great time in the life cycle of the vine to visit uncrowded estate tasting rooms.

  As the warming sun stimulates that precious need to get active, the vine across the northern hemisphere( the southern globe began 6 months ago )begins again. We consumers are already awakening, making bright plans: that garden Easter, kids to summer camp, a family escape from the doldrums of a wet winter.  Our shared history creates that extended record, for the vine, for the wine industry, and for its consumers.  And, it begins again each spring, from the continued beginning; this too is our awakening.  That's Life!

Raising a glass to the awakening!

Cheers!

WineLinks:
  https://sonomalibrary.org/locations/sonoma-county-wine-library
  *Celebrating 30 years of service to the NorCal wine community!
  http://www.mendowine.com/events/index.php
  *Leaders in family-owned sustainable viticulture
  https://cannedwinecompetition.com/
  *Inaugural awakening in alternative consumer packaging
  https://www.decanter.com/wine-reviews-tastings/canned-wine-405876/