This video is a compilation of my harvests in the agroturismos of Italy, the desert of Argentina, and the sunshine of northern California. The music is one of my favorite songs of all time, it’s called Voyageur by Enigma. I moved out to California a year ago with a bottle of GrapeThinking, a bottle of ideas I guess you could say, that started filling up 5 years ago with conversation between myself, Jacob Bohall, Ruarri Rogan, Meghan O’Malley, and many others. Over the past year, those ideas have delightfully fermented, and the time has finally come for us to have a taste…

~circuit to cell, web to water, mind to vine~

The basis is an engine… a thinking engine that drives sustainable development, and more specifically, the health of the world. How do you create something in which the consumption heals the body and the production heals the earth?

Think about it

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They bought a car with another girl (the rock star of the group), and were planning to head way north to work on a farm for a little bit. They invited me to go, so I left my suitcase with a friend in San Francisco and hit the road with them. The following few weeks were beyond amazing… so many serendipities. My favorite was running into one of the winemakers I worked with everyday for 2 months in Argentina earlier this year in a small grocery store parking lot in Napa, and I just so happened to have a bottle of the organic wine we worked on in my backpack. Our car turned into a sustainable circus. We worked on the farm we set out for, did a little harvest work at a winery, but mainly stayed on the road visiting sustainable farms all around northern Cali. We touched Humboldt, Mendocino, Sonoma, Napa, and Marin.

A couple of our favorites were Filigreen Farm in Anderson Valley, where Chris Tebbutt has built an amazing mixed biodynamic agriculture setup of vines and fruit orchards, it was incredible. He also had huge solar arrays setup that produce 100% of the farm’s energy… a true thinking farm. We also visited Paul Dolan at his biodynamic Dark Horse Farming Ranch in Ukiah, which was powerful. He has an “energy center” with his flow form, preparations, and a stunning “bug strip” of crazy flowers and vegetation that generates the biodiversity and balance in his vineyard. On our way south, we made a stop at Solar City somewhere on 101 south of Ukiah, which is a sustainable building/living community. We slept in a teepee and talked about what it takes to build sustainable communities.

Somewhere along the way we got tipped off about the Bioneers conference down in San Rafael so we trekked down there and crashed the conference for the weekend. I talked to Rebecca of the Biodynamics Association about heading up their booth for a day in exchange for a free pass, and she graciously accepted my offer. We got to see some amazing speakers and share even more amazing ideas, and I was able to pitch biodynamics all day Sunday at the trade show.

We just kept going, drinking, laughing, breathing, seeing how these amazing farms are changing the environment, all while staying break even along the way. We went crazy and then sane and then crazy again. It was a ride. Now, I’m back in San Francisco to soak in what this place is all about, and make some magical elixirs along the way…

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See more of the winemaking process at the Castelfeder winery…

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A good Italian, yet affordable, is going to come under the names Nero d’Avolo, Dolcetto and Primitivo. Key regions are going to be Sicily, Sardinia, Puglia, and Umbria. This is the perfect time to try something new. France? You can drink from there as well, but same thing applies; try something new. Draw yourself towards Loire, Rhone, Provence, and Alsace. These are the more affordable areas but of course you may come upon more expensive prices mixed in. Stay away from these. You can’t afford them. A general and fun rule that I suggest you follow is: if the label doesn’t make sense and it’s under $12 then buy it. Turn drinking into an adventure.

A friend of mine has a rule that she sticks to, an expensive one, but smart at the same time. The first bottle that she drinks is always a more expensive nicer bottle. If you have to get it out of your system then do it, and then buy cheaper ones after that. Also remember that everyday is not a holiday or occasion to be celebrating. If you believe that everyday is well then learn how to do it on a budget or invite me over. Little known fact about me, I do enjoy a good celebration.

It’s hard to drink American cheaply right now. For that I suggest you try something else that is in that price range and home grown: Beer. Microbreweries in the United States are really starting to produce great ales. Like all things, baby steps are required. Flying Dog, Dogfish, Rouge, Magic Hat, Brooklyn, Sierra, these are just a few suggestions. Go to your local beer distributor and follow that same rule, never heard of it, then buy it. If you are one of the many out there that believes that beer doesn’t have a flavor profile, then stop yourself now and start drinking ales. You are going to get that same old bland taste in a lager. Leave the lagers to drinking games. I’m not a huge fan of the Budweiser family beers, but the new American Ale that they are producing is good and possibly a stepping-stone for the masses.

Just because our nation is broke doesn’t mean you have to particularly live like it. When we stop having fun and laughing is when I leave the country (again). So run to your local beer distributor or wine store and Wine (or Ale) Your Diet.

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With Mills’ poems that have religious flair, I’m not going to lie, I was a bit freaked out at first. Growing up in a Irish Catholic family, going to Catholic school for thirteen years I can appreciate things that have a religious tone to it, be it music, movies, or literature, but at the same time I would not want to read a collection of poems that are all spun that way. And then I came upon Bibiana, the Patron Saint of Hangovers, “I bet it is also annoying that so few of us pray to her by name; instead we try to go right to the top or moan supplications with no address”. Now that I know her name I believe we will be good friends.

Then the second half of the book deals with Life and Relationships. In Introductions Made Easy, Mills simply puts how much easier life would be if people came with labels such as those on wine bottles. You would be able to find out their background and see if that person is to be enjoyed in the moment or if they will improve with age. Dating would be so much easier. And then finally in Opening Up, Mills, though the visual of a dinner party shows how each person approaches wine in a different matter, the same that we all approach people differently. “If we’re lucky/ as the years unfold/ we open up/ until we reach a point/ we can appreciate/ one another’s complexities/ and even the tart irony/ of finding yourself/ at the table’s next seat,/ taking seriously,/ so many of those things/ you once mocked.”

And that’s what wine is, subjective to the individual. Mills does a good job exploring his passion, though I would not recommend this to non-wine lovers. It’s fun, and that’s what it’s suppose to be, take it in stride, grab a glass of wine and continue to Wine Your Diet.

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Image by Polifemus via Flickr

I’ve been cruising around the wine world for a year and a half now. While I know more about wine than I did when I started I still have been unable to quantify what I’ve learned, am I any closer to understanding wine? Perhaps, but I still feel that I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface, which might be its allure.

I can differentiate the varied sections of Burgundy, but then there’s the Loire Valley and after that there is some other place or grape. Shakespeare once wrote, “The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” This quote not only reminds me of my foolish roommate, but also those who decide to take wine too seriously. Don’t get me wrong a healthy enthusiasm for knowledge is great but mastery does not come when you have finished every book known to man about wine, nor after visiting ever major wine region. There are still those diamonds in the rough that make the journey through wine even more rewarding. A great example is the Tannat coming from Uruguay.

I never want to feel like I know everything there is to know about wine because then where would I go, its almost as absurd as conveying a complete understanding of life, preposterous. And while Tastevine will hopefully never be able to fully explain wine, we hope that it will give its users a tool in which to explore, to let wine’s mysteries draw you in as it has me. Cheers all of you fellow quaffers. And remember to share your experiences with friends so they can share the joys too.

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Is it the server’s fault they lack the tools to enrich your meal?

Yes and no.

I have worked in quite a few restaurants ranging from corporate to fine dining. Many of the restaurants will not allow their staff to sample the wine, which makes it harder to sell. I worked at a wine bar that featured 100 wines by the glass. Here the staff was encouraged to sample the wines for their own knowledge. By sampling we were able to sell better and also match the guests requests. We also were visited by wine representatives who would tell us about their wines. Here we gained information that would not be featured on the wine list, a little something more to tell the guests.

Just like when you go to wine store and ask for recommendations, your server at a restaurant should ask you a few questions in order to gage where your palate stands compared to theirs. Simple questions, such as do you prefer light, medium, or full bodied? What do you usually drink? Is there a specific region you are drawn to? I was lucky enough to be able to give samples of any of the 100 wines we sold. From here I would bring two to three different wines over that I thought my table would enjoy, but I wouldn’t tell them which was which until after they tasted it. Sometimes when people hear a name they will go with it because it sounds familiar. This is why I was a fan of the blind tasting, people would learn that they actually did like Mouvedre or that Merlot they turned their nose up at before because it simply was a Merlot.

I’ll admit I’m guilty of name association as well. When I go to the wine store, I get overwhelmed, not because I don’t know what anything is, but because I can’t make up my mind. Here is where I entrust the wine clerk to pick out the wine for me. There are some wine stores on Long Island and in Manhattan that allow samples of specific wines. These wines are hooked up to a system that when you push a button a sample will pour into your glass. Yes, these wines are usually the ones they are trying to push that month, but hey if I can try it before I buy it then I might just be inclined to buy more. It’s just smart marketing.

If you’re out at a restaurant and you want to politely ask the server about their wine knowledge you should ask them if they are allowed to sample the wines. If yes then close the menu, if no then ask them for their recommendation based on a select few you’ve chosen. In restaurants that I’ve worked where we hadn’t sampled the wines, I would base my answers on what other tables have told me about that wine. “It’s very popular” is polite waiter-speak for I haven’t personally had it but everyone orders and enjoys it so it must be good. Trust your server, they won’t steer you wrong on purpose because, hey,  if you hate it then they have to listen to it. Take chances, take recommendations and as always remember to Wine Your Diet.

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My grandfather was a banker and probably spent his entire life working for the same profit a single banker a third his age would have made in bonuses over the last five years. The key difference between my grandfather and the modern banker however, is that my grandfather valued his society, his customers and the future – whilst the banker of today has merely intellectualised greed with a series of financial instruments used to justify the unjustifiable and create as much personal gain in as short a span of time as possible. So much has the plague of greed and lack of value spread that Rhodes Scholars and top intellectuals have been wooed into studying finance, whilst in today’s times of real challenges , their skills would be better employed in engineering, medical research and civil society.

The old institutions were even built with materials of substantial value – marble, granite slab and steel – whilst today’s modern building, like the ‘Gherkin’ in London or many other modern institutions seem to have chosen a material that reflects the high-risk, short-term gain and quick-buck mentality of modern business: glass. Today’s institutions are primarily made up of transparent and easily shattered material – how apt a metaphor.

Listening to a debate on torture the other day I was struck by one of the key tenets of the argument against torture being that it dulls our intelligence community and our ability as a society to ask proper questions and gain reliable information honourably. The strength of the argument for me was that it did not appeal to human suffering but rather appealed to the sustainability of our society – saying that torture makes our institutions lazy and therefore weakens our society. Surely that also holds for using high salaries and bonuses as an incentive to work, and the same argument can be made against the high-risk/ high-return mentality that has been in fashion for a time – not on the basis of an argument against greed, but rather on the basis of long-term sustainability and the value to humankind. Paying signing bonuses and giving large profits doesn’t make people work harder, it just makes them want more for less, and in a slew of defaulting banks one has to wonder where all that money for all those bonuses was coming from in the first place. What will impact the future of society more: the downfall of Lehman Brothers or major headways into stem-cell research? Stem-cell research is the obvious answer. Given that, think of all the wasted talent the job-losses that Lehman represents – intelligent minds distracted by greed who, instead of getting lost in the complexity of derivatives and materialistic pursuit could rather have been adding actual value to society trying to make their mark on history.

In these times of financial uncertainty, three things have actually gone up in value: wine, art and mineral resources. These are all things with perhaps the exception of oil that our grand-children will one day see (assuming the world is still around of course.) Society demonstrates its true wisdom in times of adversity as was the case during FDR. Only when great societies are ascendant do they lose judgement and overextend themselves (think Rome and post-Clinton America). Adversity forces us back to the basics, while opulence encourages indulgence in the superfluous.

If we as a society are to succeed, and our civilization is to continue prosperously and sustainably, then we must focus our efforts on those things that create value for more than ourselves – but for generations to come. Wine is such an area – it enriches families, creates a profitable supply chain, puts focus back into the environment and provides pleasure to the consumer. Whilst old Lehman employees may have hit bottom, they can always get up and dust themselves off and try again –taking comfort with a few friends and a couple glasses of wine. At this time when their employer no longer exists – it will prove that the only thing valuable in their lives is their friendships and their family. The failure of their institution discredits their chosen career and hopefully when the hurt of Monday’s events subsides and the lens of greed is lifted, they can refocus on what matters and ply their brains to creating sustainable value in an industry our grandchildren and children the world over will one day benefit from. Let us not fear economic uncertainty, but merely reflect on the causes of it and then go back to the thread of that which runs through history and continues to last today: art, wine and all that which thousands of men throughout the ages have laboured away at –not for profit or wage but merely for the love of civilization and society. Let us say cheers to the death of Lehman and hope their employees will emerge with a desire to help society and not just themselves…

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Clear, clean, light pale-straw

Nose: candy, sherbert, fresh, lime-minerality, tinned-peaches, honey

A lot fuller – more dimension to it, broader on the entry, much fuller mouth feel, more bracing finish… would stand up to food a lot better than the Riesling-Kabinet. A bit more graceful – certainly not as lively but certainly better rounded.

Serve with: shell-fish (scallops pan-seared in chilli-infused olive oil)

or – with Thai-green curries/ Chicken Korma with pineapple and coconut

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