The Science of Wine Making???
There are some things that will always be exciting to me, and at the same time those same things will pretty much always be depressing to me as well.
For example, I am interested in the fermentation process. Alcohols, of all forms, are fermented and the distilled product can be used as a fuel or a fuel additive that helps make emissions much cleaner and easier to remove from the air. Beyond that there is something about the brewing and distilling processes that is interesting to me and as such reading and watching documentaries on the process can hold my attention for quite some time.
This does not mean I am interested in imbibing. Quite the contrary. Ive seen far too many people take in alcohol and mess up their lives. The process, though, is still interesting. Theresalmost a science to creating wines and alcohols of various degrees and percentages per volume.
Wine making, especially, is an art. There is an art to combining the right flavors and additives to making something that is world class. World class wines are well known. Connoisseurs will follow vintners and purchase wines from years that might be circumspect. From what I understand about the process, rain fall (and when the rain falls) has a direct affect on how good the wine turns out. Theres a lot of gambling, even for the best of the vintners, to make a really good wine. Its an art form.
Wine making, from what Ive read, is like taking a classic story and rewriting it. The process is going to be very similar regardless of the who or the where. California, Italy, New Hampshire,none of these places matter as much as knowing how to apply the characters and settings to new situations. The outcome may look and even feel similar to something else, but the product is individually unique in its application.
The exciting problem I see is that scientists at Carnegie Mellon University are trying to discover the scientific secret to making a good wine regardless of condition. They want to be able to tell vintners the secret to good wine making without complications in a given year. No aroma. No body. Merely a pretext to good wines from every vintner regardless of atmospheric condition or chance.
Science wants to remove the art from wine making.
Now, I am all for the successful process of wine making and having a documentable form for making consistently good wines. Writing is a process. Art is a process. These processes can be recorded and made available for other people to read and apply to their own experiences. This is a good thing. However, what good is an art if anyone can be an artist.
If you can go out and be a world class vintner in your spare time whats the use in having world class vintners?
Disney/Pixars movie, The Incredible, asks a similar question. Well, similar in the nature of if/then. The movie asks, If everyone can be super powered than why do we need supers?
I think, and probably by mistake, the movie answers its own question. The answer is that not everyone with the potential for the ability will be willing to use that ability for good or will be willing to dedicate the time and energy to develop the skill necessary to do anything positive with the skills they are given or can purchase. Not everyone will be Super simply because they have the ability. A Super is someone who has sincere desires to accomplish certain goals and objectives and some of those goals and objectives are to be the best at their chosen field.
This lesson can be illustrated in a lot of different areas. Becoming a vintner isnt hard. With the right money, the right landscape, and the time almost anyone can do it. (I love adding conditions because not just anyone can do it.) However, some people, with a recipe for success, will still not do what is necessary to put in the time and the energy to have a world class product.
You can see the model for a successful story in a dozen books and still, without learning to write, without putting in the time and energy, not just anyone will be able to write a successful book. The skill requires a lot of practice, a lot of time, and a lot of dedication to accomplish something that may, or may not, be successful.
When it comes to writing, most people buy authors whose storytelling style they enjoy. The consumer doesnt care, so much, about what the story is; they want the style of storytelling. Even my baby brother can tell stories because people seem like the how he tells them and not necessarily the what he is telling. Unless something has changed, he never finishes a story, they just sort of peter out.
Movie making, music, writing, art, being a mechanic, learning to manage, volunteering, etc., all of these things you can find someone who will show you the principles and procedures to be successful; but the final outcome, the polish on a story, the masterpiece in art doesnt come from following a pattern. Patterns are a beginning a place to start the real art is in practicing and, when all else fails, diverging from the pattern, breaking the rules, and forging a course that may have been trodden by others but where you will attempt to put your own, uniquely you, spin on the outcome.
Being a vintner will be no different.
Science is trying to help the process. Thank you. However, to become a truly good vintner (or anything else) time, effort, energy, blood, sweat, and tears are required. You cant take a process, follow it to itsconclusion, find early success (if any) and declare yourself a master. That takes time. And time is something that most wanna-bes will not put into anything.
I will say that I am excited and scared. Excited because I like processes. Scared because there will be a lot of people who want to start something new and a lot of crap will hit the market in the name of science and success.