Dec. 31, 2021, 1:30 a.m.
Sotto Voce: Epilogue
E - Words: 651 - Last Updated: Dec 31, 2021 Story: Complete - Chapters: 28/28 - Created: Dec 24, 2012 - Updated: Apr 13, 2022 166 0 0 0 2
UNCORKED
Kurt Hummel, Taste Wine Editor
In The End, A Glass Full
It's a funny thing, wine.
We break bread with it. We toast weddings and anniversaries with it. We honor global treaties with it.
Wine is so much more than a simple drink. It's a statement, an accent mark, a punctuation to a sentence.
It can complement a meal. It can serve as pretense. It melds science, culture, and even art.
For some, wine is a business, the thing that you make to make a living, and that's perfectly fine and good. For some, it's an art form, a statement piece that has meaning, a point of view. For others, it is a life's passion, the thing they pour their hearts and souls into.
I stumbled into this assignment a little over a year ago knowing how to identify a technically good wine, even a great wine, and how to pair it knowledgeably with food. What I came to understand as this assignment drew to a close was what wine really is.
More importantly, I came to understand how little I really knew about what makes wine truly special.
It's a reflection of the earth its grapes are rooted in: its chemicals, its history. It's the result of a creative mind and dedicated hands: of science, of imagination, of art.
Of love.
Over the course of this past year, I've done my thing, visiting vineyards and winemakers across California, and shared the trends of a wine region at the top of its game, but still evolving even as segments of it begin to hit middle age. Other areas are undergoing a renaissance of sorts, while still other California wine regions are only just beginning to mature.
In my down time, I learned a lesson in life as I was studying the craft of winemaking. Wine, you see, requires the art of patience and an acceptance of change, an understanding that sometimes you have to let nature take its course.
It has taught me about pace. You can't be rushed when you're making wine. You have to give it patience and care, and be willing to accept it for whatever its chemicals and nature deem it will become. You can make adjustments here and there, to be sure, but nature will ultimately dictate the outcome. There are some things you simply cannot force. A great wine, made with love and care, is one of them.
These are lessons I learned about the art of winemaking, but only recently did I realize that they were actually lessons in living, and that I almost failed them.
Almost.
If wine is made with love, it can define a life and with time and care and patience, you can make something truly special, even life-altering. I leave this series with a changed life, a new course charted by nature itself.
The schedule said that it was time for me to sign off, to go back to the way things were, to New York and its fast pace and fashionable boutiques; back to a life globetrotting in search of the world's great wines. And that's not a bad life, not at all.
But as I said, wine teaches lessons about time, and patience, priorities, and accepting change. And that, combined with the knowledge that a helluva lot of cities can be accessed from San Francisco International Airport, sets me in a new direction.
In a matter of a few short words, I will no longer be Kurt Hummel, Taste Wine Editor. That title changes to wine editor emeritus, occasional columnist, budding viticulturist and winemaker — not necessarily in that order.
I'll still be working with Taste, helping it find new flavors, voices and trends in the world of wine. I may even write from time to time. But I'll be doing it from the West Coast, from a verandah overlooking a swath of Syrah vines, a dog at my feet, a glass on the table, and a love by my side.
Kurt Hummel-Anderson
Wine Editor Emeritus
Taste Magazine