OK. So, I\u2019ve got your attention\u2026 For just a few moments, I\u2019m going to play the role of a self-help guru and point out how by learning to communicate with your wine, you will find that you have a better relationship with your wine and your wine will be all you ever hoped it would be.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s first consider some of our everyday relationships and the significance of effective communication\u00a0within those relationships.<\/p>\n
Relationship #1: You and your dog \u2013 Rover needs to be let out to do his business. How do you know?\u00a0Well, you listen him \u2013 perhaps he makes certain noises that tell you? You watch him. Perhaps he stands\u00a0by the door to let you know. Your relationship with your dog is based upon visual and auditory cues. A\u00a0mistake in interpreting these cues could mean an accident that will need to be cleaned up.<\/p>\n
Relationship #2: You and your baby \u2013 You need to understand why it is that your baby is crying. If you\u00a0happen to be a parent, you know all to well the process of elimination through which we determine why\u00a0the baby is crying. Does the baby need to be changed? We accomplish this through sensory analysis;\u00a0touch via the finger test for wetness and smell to see if baby has a \u201cgift\u201d for us. It goes beyond this to\u00a0evaluating for gas, hunger, or even illness and with a baby the stakes are high.<\/p>\n
Relationship #3: You and your significant other \u2013 This has got to be my favorite to discuss. I say this\u00a0because it is the one relationship that I\u2019ll mention that actually includes the element of verbal\u00a0communication. You would think that a combination of body language and direct verbal communication\u00a0would equate to very effective communication. Yet, how many times have you said to yourself \u2013 \u201cWhat is\u00a0this person talking about? What? Huh? I just don\u2019t understand what this person wants\u2026\u201d The important\u00a0point of this relationship is that even with lots of information, that information is only as good as our ability\u00a0to receive it, to make sense of it, and to respond appropriately. If we are not listening and do not know\u00a0how to respond we are destined to a relationship that is not as good as it could be or even worse \u2013 a\u00a0complete failure.<\/p>\n
Relationships are about communication. As you can see from the examples presented above, that\u00a0communication happens in different ways and using a variety of cues. Relationships are improved\u00a0through adjustment, more of this and less of that. However, the adjustments will only be effective if, in\u00a0fact, they are the appropriate response to the communication. That requires developing the ability to\u00a0effectively interpret the communication. Finally, relationships cannot be forced. In other words, there are\u00a0times when we simply cannot make a person or thing into something that it is not.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m sure that by now you may be thinking \u201cWhat does this have to do with wine?\u201d. Actually, it has a lot to\u00a0do with wine. From the time we purchase our grapes, the grapes have information to share with us \u2013 if\u00a0we are willing to listen. We open the lines of communication by establishing that we care to know what\u00a0the grapes have to say. We do this by taking the appropriate measures for Sugar, Acid, and pH. For\u00a0instance, a must might say that it is a Cabernet Sauvignon, it has a Brix reading is 25, a TA reading of\u00a06.2 g\/L, and a pH of 3.5. Without fail we ask these questions of our must because we care to know how it\u00a0is doing and if it is positioned well to develop into a fine wine. We know that it will fair the best in yielding\u00a0a fine wine if it communicates numbers like the ones suggested above. However, what if your must\u00a0communicated a reading of 30 Brix, a TA of 4.4 g\/L and a pH of 3.9? With these readings, our must\u00a0would be communicating\u2026\u201dI need something from you in order to produce the wine you are looking for\u00a0and I need your help to do so! Please help.\u201d. We respond by making the necessary corrections and bring\u00a0our must into a state where it can communicate desirable numbers and subsequently produce a wine that\u00a0we can be proud of.<\/p>\n
Now, please don\u2019t think I\u2019m suggesting the relationship that you have with your wine will be like those I\u00a0used as examples. Nor should you anticipate your wine actually speaking to you. If it does, I assure you\u00a0it is not normal and you might wish to seek some professional help. What I am suggesting to you is that\u00a0like our other relationships, our grapes have information to share, if we care to listen, and that information\u00a0can only help us.<\/p>\n
It is a perfect one-sided relationship. The winemaker seeks to produce a wine according to certain\u00a0expectations. We\u2019ll assume the grape develops on the vine for no other purpose than to satisfy the\u00a0desires of the winemaker. All we need to do is to make sure we maintain our lines of communication. We\u00a0as winemakers take readings that extract the information the grape has to share. We evaluate that\u00a0communication to determine if the particular must is capable of meeting our expectations. Perhaps it is\u00a0capable as is, perhaps it will be capable with only a few adjustments, or perhaps it is simply not suitable\u00a0for the type of wine we wish to craft. Armed with valuable information, we can take our relationship into a\u00a0suitable direction.<\/p>\n
The juicegrape.com web site has more material on gathering and making sense of the information your\u00a0grapes have to share. My purpose in writing this article was simply to point out that there is a relationship\u00a0between the winemaker and grape and like any other relationship, the best outcomes occur when the\u00a0communication is good and frequent. So, take those readings and do so regularly. Write them down. If\u00a0you don\u2019t know what the readings mean, refer to the juicegrape.com website and have a good reference\u00a0book that will assist you in understanding what your grapes are communicating. Finally, have a set of\u00a0expectations for the wine you wish to craft. Perhaps the grapes you have can meet those \u00a0expectations \u2013\u00a0perhaps not. Either way, you are better positioned to work with the grapes in crafting a wine that can fall\u00a0within your expectations and a wine that you can be proud of. OK. So, I\u2019ve got your attention\u2026 For just a few moments, I\u2019m going to play the role of a self-help guru and point out how by learning to communicate with your wine, you will find that you have a better relationship with your wine and your wine will be all you ever hoped it would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9ZM5f-l","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.juicegrape.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.juicegrape.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.juicegrape.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.juicegrape.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.juicegrape.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blog.juicegrape.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4529,"href":"http:\/\/blog.juicegrape.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21\/revisions\/4529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.juicegrape.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.juicegrape.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.juicegrape.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nSalute!
\nNick Coppola
\nJuicegrape.com support
\nncoppola@juicegrape.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"