What Wine Are You Making?

It was a gorgeous afternoon in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains in Virgina. We had some great cheese, incredible crackers, fantastic company, awesome weather and we were settling in for some mediocre wine!  Some things on the tasting menu caught my eye. There were several wines that they claim are made with “ancient techniques” and they sought to create a truly authentic “Virginia Style” wine.  I promise I will tie this into O&P, but first, indulge me just a bit more.

This winery is owned by a husband-and-wife team, Jason and Sandy.  Sandy is an artist, and specifically a potter. (Her pieces are quite nice.) Jason was a farmer, earned advanced degrees in horticulture and has a passion for wine.  At the winery, their passions collide in a really neat way.  Back to the ancient techniques…she has crafted clay amphoras in which he ferments some of his chardonnay grapes.  It has a unique but pleasant taste.  Another of his techniques is to use only the native yeast that comes from the grapes.  No added yeast, no yeast from another region. Finally, he refuses to add sulfites, and even produces an unfiltered chardonnay.

These things combine to provide a truly unique and authentic wine experience.  I have friends who are at least as particular about their wine as I am, and I would take them to this winery (in fact, they will probably read this and ask why we haven’t been yet)! This is how I tie this into you and your practice.

As I was talking with Jason, I told him that I had never tasted wines like his and it was really amazing to have found the place.  As we chatted, he talked about the pressure that so many winemakers feel to imitate a “California” wine (or pick any other region.”  In fact, he talked about going to competitions where people bragged that their wines were “indistinguishable” from some other wine! Wow, being proud of excellent imitation suddenly seems so silly.  As a farmer, he wanted to showcase his fruit and his terroir and make a wine based on the cultivation of excellent fruit. 

I have blogged about the need to have a mission statement and a vision for your business.  He does not have one on his website, but the culture there exudes this passion of his.  He does not need to write it down…he lives it. And the result is something you have never had before.  And isn’t that what we want?  Of course he has standards.  And there are regulations, but within those, he is free to experiment and create. 

We all know that the care you provide is also a collision of art and science, you need both to truly set yourself apart from the crowd.  How are you tapping into the environment in which you work to create something that is unique but effective? Is there anything about your practice that people can look at and say ww, that can only be from ____.  If not, why not?  Is there pressure that you feel to homogenize your care?  To you have to make your patient care “California style”?  Or are you free to add your own flair and focus on the uniqueness of the talent in your practice?

One of my favorite quotes of Jason’s was “with conventional winemaking, the better my wines got, the more they tasted exactly like everybody else’s ‘good’ wines…. I found that un-inspiring…. so I quested for greater wine.”

I am not saying we need to go back to carving peg legs out of the wood from a willow, but have we lost touch with some of our own “ancient techniques” in favor of homogenization?  Are we “uninspired” because we have lost the art behind the job? What can you do to recreate and harness your uniqueness?