The Vine Cycle

A person is a person no matter how small.
Horton Hears a Who. Dr. Seuss.

Paraphrasing Dr. Seuss, a person is a person no matter how young, no matter how old.

Shoots emerge from dormant buds. The shoots elongate and the vine flowers. Tiny berries begin to grow but remain green and hard until veraison. Veraison is the onset of ripening. A few weeks later you are ready to Harvest.

Vines are perennials. Perennials are plans that last or are active through many years. What that means is that the vine cycle repeats itself. A cycle also brings to mind the passing of time. Time is a peculiar concept. If you are young, time does not seem to pass. When you ask a child how old is she or he , the reply will be ten going on eleven as the case may be. A good friend of mind that is 75 years old, when confronted with that question, will always answer seventy "mumble, mumble". It is actually a joke because he will always tell his age. But no, we do not want to be reminded of our mortality.

In our society we consider old age a problem. Perhaps it is because we (the so called people of the third age) think our contribution to our love ones and to society in general is not up to par. However, we can still make valuable inputs. Julia Child, Mother Teresa and Rick and Diane duNah (more about the DuNah's in the next chapter) are examples of what a person can achieve after fifty. Maybe it is because we do not measure anymore to the concept of beauty that we are conditioned to. But mature age can have a patina of attractiveness. If you doubt it just take a look at Catherine Hepburn, Fred Astaire and Sir Alexander Fleming.

Even the English language denotes a certain derogatory connotation: Your are 75 years "old". In any of the romance languages (Spanish, French, Italian Portuguese, Romanian) you are seventy five. The adjective "old" is omitted as is not necessary.

In Asian cultures, old age is revered as a symbol of wisdom. In our environment we consider old people a quandary, a dilemma.

In reality the elderly are some what responsible for these perceptions. We are our own victims of the so called Pygmalion or Rosenthal Syndrome. This is the "self fulfilling prophesy". That is if you believe something about yourself, you tend to fulfill it.

As time passes you become more aware of your mortality. It is true that eventually we will pass into a different dimension. You might agree or not with this assertion. Nonetheless, nobody has any assurance that that he or she will be alive the next second. What is really important is what we do with the time we are given. This is true at 15, 75 or any age.

Shoots emerge from dormant buds

From time to time my wife and I invite our children (two from Elvira's first marriage and two from mine), their wives and our grandchildren to eat with us. We cook. In fact, we love to cook. Part of the fun of it is the so called "wine paring". Wine paring consists of picking up a wine that will go with the main dish. The idea here is to consider wine as another ingredient. Then you eat and drink.

I confess that I am not good at paring wines. What I do is that I rely on my favorite wine dealer. One Saturday afternoon I was at Wolfe' Wine Shoppe picking up a couple of bottles for one of our dinners. When I was on my way out Jeffrey Wolfe (the proprietor) asked me, "Did you get my e-mail about the wine appreciation classes that I am going to be teaching at the University of Miami?" In fact i have forgotten to check my mail," I toll him, "I am going to check with my wife".

We registered for the course the next day. The lessons were a lot of fun: general ideas about grapes, wine making, wine regions and lots of tasting of very good wines. We passed the course with flying colors and register for the next course right away. Six months later we got our diplomas for the Master Wine Appreciation Program.

These two courses reignited the on going flame of the past. The question was now: How am I going to learn more about wines? I knew about the Master Sommelier Program. The course gives you a fantastic knowledge of wine regions, taste, wine paring. It is very difficult, very demanding. After your take it and if you pass the exam you will become a "Master Sommelier".

No, this is not what I wanted. I wanted to know more. Then UC Davis came back into my mind.

Note:

The pictures included in these articles were taken during the 2008 (Pinot noir) Harvest at the DuNah Vineyard and Winery in Sonoma County's Russian River Valley near the small town of Sevastopol. http://wwwdunahwienery.com/ . The vineyards are sustainable farmed. The proprietors of this beautiful vineyards are Rick and Diane DuNah. My family and I are indebted to them for their gracious hospitality. I also like to thank Greg La Follete for making it happened. Greg La Follet, Enologist, Winemaker of Tandem Winery, http://www.tandemwinery.com/ . Mr. La Follete UC Davis trained for "speaking the language of the vine and wine".

Next: The Vine Cycle Continues