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Decision-making
One of my favourite meals is pizza. Not just any pizza, specifically a margherita pizza. Sounds like a simple meal right? Except that the three item pizza— sauce, cheese and dough—is anything but simple. There are countless variations on each. Which tomatoes? Any spices in the sauce? How much garlic?
The cheese is of equal importance. Simple mozzarella? Buffalo mozzarella?
And then of course the dough. I might suggest that this is the most important of all the components, after the oven it is cooked in. And if there is a wood fire or gas fire in that oven.
You can begin to see how something so seemingly simple can become very complex with various potential iterations.
When given the opportunity I would start this meal off with one of my favourite cocktails: the Manhattan. Again, three simple ingredients; whisky, sweet vermouth and bitters. With countless variations for each of these options, every Manhattan I have tasted has been unique, and each bartender claims that theirs is the best.
It’s easy to underestimate the simple. We tend to make up our minds about something far too quickly.
Take buying a car for example. You’re going to spend a great deal of money on one and a test drive is offered to help you make up your mind. A test drive is often, very simply, a ride around the block. That is like deciding to marry someone after only three dates!
Obviously a car and person are endlessly more complex than a simple pizza or cocktail, but sometimes simple is complex.
In creating each of the ingredients for my dinner, there are numerous choices made along the way to conferring the final product.
And so it is with wine. As grapes are starting to come in from vineyards across the County and Niagara, keep in mind that each chardonnay or pinot noir are very different from another.
Even before the grapes are planted, winemakers make choices that reflect the soil and longterm weather patterns. Which rootstock and which clone of which variety would be best suited for which vineyard? There is no shortage of nuance.
And after a few years, when the grapes are ready to be turned into wine, there are so many choices that a winemaker makes once they have committed to a time to pick.
Will they be crushed whole cluster or taken off the stems? How hard should they be pressed to extract the juice?
If it’s a red grape, how long does it stay on the skins to provide the wine colour, tannins and aromatics? At what temperature should the wine be fermented?
Which tank or vessel should be used for fermentation?
And how long should it spend in what kind of oak?
Deciding on a kitchen remodel might be an easier task!
Each step along the way gives a wine its uniqueness, and where it is grown gives it a sense of place. There is nothing simple or easy about what is happening in the County cellars during the month of October.
If you have a winemaking friend or favourite winery you like to visit, stop by with some beer this month and let them know that you appreciate all their decision-making!
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