What do you think about wine? I asked a few young people on a street in Rishon Letzion, the historic wine city, where the Carmel wineries have stood for more than 120 years.
And they answered almost in unison: "This wine is a drink for the old, and when it is hard for us to fall asleep at night, we drink wine and sleep very quickly."
My body shivers, when I hear this, from their lack of knowledge and understanding of a subject that is so widespread and accepted in the wider world.
First, the wine we do not drink, wine we sip, slowly and pleasantly. Second, we recommend that you go deeper and know that there are countries where you have been drinking wine since childhood.
Have you ever seen a drink that breathes, matures and improves over time?
Do you know of another drink that for generations, since the days of the Bible, has been regularly shipped by the celebrations and religious events connected to our tradition and joy?
Did you ever visit somewhere in a special store for cola or grapefruit juice, after passing a number of wine shops in the different cities? I know that you did not visit.
Wine is a great subject for a lively conversation between people all over the world and in all languages, and also creates new and enjoyable relationships between people.
Sometimes when I want to make people happy and give them bottles of wine, some of them refuse to accept them, to my surprise, on the pretext that wine does not suit them or do not even try. Some even refuse to pour wine into a glass to taste.
I understand that it is important to continue to try and find ways to bring more people closer to the fascinating world of wine, to their advantage, so as to understand it better and stay away from its concept that wine is not only tasty to them or not.
The world of wine is only a small part of the world filled with surprises and new things every day.
The wine was already born in the vineyard, far from the winery.
The winemaker's job is not only to make wine, not only to work and to transfer a large part of his life to this spiritual work, but also to bring it to as many people as possible who respect this special drink. To the people who devote precious time they can and want to invest in dialogue with wine.
Today, they also experience and enjoy Israeli wine, unlike the old ones who did not notice or relate to its power. Today they are proud of it, bring it as gifts for important events and also take it proudly abroad.
A writer and a poet speak the language of novels, composers speak in the language of melodies, a painter speaks the language of paintings, and a wine connoisseur speaks the language of wines. The language of the wines is refined, tasty and special.
The winemakers determine the date of the harvest, the process of production and aging, and take care of the final quality of the wine, and any mistake or wrong decision may affect the quality of the bottle wine.
The factors that determine the quality of the wine, the wine that is born into the world, are the sources of the grapes: the vineyard, the vine, the region, the variety, the technology, the seniority of the plot and the level of health of the plot. Only later does the winemaker comes with the technology staff with the knowledge and experience. And auxiliary materials to produce the finished product.
Those who understand the matter and winemakers emphasize that just as a child is born and receives warmth, love, support, education in a supportive and loving family, so that the child will be successful and of quality, so is the wine. If the environment is good friendly, loving, supportive, happy, then with love, and faith come wines of high quality and special. The other factor on the subject is luck! As with life, work, career and many things, luck play an important role in the ultimate quality of the wine.
The same words used to describe a person are the words to describe wine. Its appearance, Its behavior, Its profile, Its intelligence, Its sensitivity. Wine can be full and thin, light and heavy, calm and nervous, gentle and coarse, elegant and simple, young and at a certain age also old, fresh and tired, flat and fruity and many other words describe the wine, which also smells different. The Wheel of Odor Scents contains hundreds of items.
Just as a person begins his life in the womb of his mother, so does the wine. It begins its growth in the vineyard, in the stomach of Mother Earth, with the bubbling of the vines. Sugar, sweetness, acidity, aromas and tastes are identical to the maturation of the embryo in the mother's stomach. The day the grapes are taken from the harvest to the winery is the same day that the husband takes his beloved wife to the maternity ward.
They bring the grapes to the winery, crush them and the fermentation begins. It's like the time the woman is in the maternity ward. Squeezing the red wine, the red fermented must, is the birth of the wine. When the wine is separated from everything that accompanied it, from the shells, from the grapes and from the boulevards, the young wine was born, the baby.
The wine begins to develop, to be shaped, to be beautiful and externally, young and full of aromas. All beauty is expressed when it is young. Next, after a certain age of aging, the wine begins to manifest its muscles, its body. Like a 25-year-old young man who is so nice to look at when he is an outdoor. He also begins to be more intelligent, calm, considerate, sexy, loving him more in his ripeness, in his prime moments.
Like the emotion and experience of a person so is the wine developed. You can sit for hours and enjoy a conversation with it. Smelling, sipping and enjoying it, sometimes in a lively and pleasant while having conversation with friends.
Years pass and the wine reach the golden age, stage where it is weakened externally, but its wisdom, the way it passed, the changes it undergoes in the glass and even just because of age, gentleness, wisdom and different taste are the ones that attract people to give it respect and enjoy it more.
Like the attitude toward human beings so is the wine. There is no one wine in the world that everyone loves and enjoys. If at least 40% or even 1% of people enjoy it, it was not born in vain!
Good winery is a winery that provides a response to the wine lovers. One which has a wine cellar and a variety of styles in a variety of qualities and prices.
Another thing that distinguishes wine from other beverages is that behind each bottle of wine lies a long, intriguing and interesting story.
The location of the winery, the families of vineyards, the winemakers, the winery, the various production processes, and so forth.
This is another point that increases the fun of sipping wine, listening to stories and staying in the pleasant and attractive company of those who understand the fascinating world of wine, and those who wish to learn and understand it better.
During my many visits abroad, I have met hundreds of people I have never met before, and within a few minutes, when someone raises the subject of wine, we all begin a lively and interesting conversation, exchanging business cards, thanks to the interesting topic of wine. People who are in the world of wine, in their spare time, are much more relaxed, interesting, healthy and beautiful than those who are constantly teasing and mummifying the world full of corruption, hostility and malice, the worlds of politics and crime, unbridled, clean and tasteful.
Please do not forget: wine is not just another simple drink, even Noah knew it.
לאתר בעברית
