A child’s vintage year: full of promise

The impending birth of my first child coupled with the renewal of the earth this spring has me contemplating the cycle of life. I lie in bed preoccupied with the passage of time as my wife devotedly updates a pregnancy journal, recording personal, cultural and political events occurring during the birth year.

Recently she asked if I had anything to add to an entry. Before I could grumble my typically distracted response, it struck me for the first time that 2008 will be the child’s vintage year.

 Excitement receded to panic. Please let this be a historic year for French Burgundies! Will the houses of Portugal declare it an official vintage? It’s too early in the growing season in the Northern Hemisphere to predict California and Oregon; the vines have just started to bud. The drought in Australia is devastating production this season. It rained during harvest in South Africa but the vintage still looks promising by most accounts. I should have purchased some Bordeaux futures. How much room do I have in the cellar?’

These may sound like the musings of a madman, and they might well be. But if you could gather sunlight, soil and rain from the most beautiful places on the planet at the time of your child’s birth and keep them forever, wouldn’t you? Wine is living history, a time capsule for the senses.

I’m reminded of the passionate articulation of that sentiment from Maya, the aspiring horticulturist in the movie “Sideways”: “I like to think about the life of wine. How it’s a living thing. I like to think about what was going on the year the grapes were growing. How the sun was shining. If it rained. I like to think about all the people who tended and picked the grapes, and if it’s an old wine, how many of them must be dead by now. I like how wine continues to evolve. Like, if I opened a bottle of wine today, it would taste different than if I would open it on any other day. Because a bottle of wine is actually alive. It’s constantly evolving and gaining complexity. That is, until it peaks. And then it begins its steady, inevitable decline.”

Of all the wines being produced today, more than 90 percent are made to be consumed within a couple of years after they are released. More expensive wines are designed to improve with age. It is not uncommon for the most complex wines to require several decades before reaching their full promise. Wines are the oldest surviving organic man-made products on record. In 1994, chemical testing confirmed resonated wine inside two jars excavated in Iran dating to approximately 5400 B.C. Today, scientists rely on small samples of invaluable centuries-old wine, extracted by syringe, to better understand weather patterns and soil cycles.

Wines are biologically unique; once bottled, no two are exactly alike. External factors like light, vibration or fluctuations in temperature and humidity all effect change. Nature and nurture independently exert their influence on chemistry and character. Despite remarkable longevity, wines are not immortal. If one is special to you, invest in it. Buy a case. Protect it. Allow it to evolve and mature. Be mindful of its unique expression of place and time. Embrace all of its nuances. Like childhood and springtime, it will not last forever.

Derek LaVallee is vice president, U.S. Public Affairs Practice at Waggener Edstrom Worldwide and a certified wine buff. He can be reached at dereklavallee@hotmail.com.