Robert Sinskey Vineyards

Perfection is Myth!

Nature is inherently imperfect. If nature were flawless, there would be no mutation, no adaption and, ultimately, no life. Our flaws define our character; our weaknesses accent our strengths. Yet our culture often drives us to strive for perfection. As children we are conditioned to aspire to an idealized standard, taught to desire normalcy and disdain perceived flaws. We learn to conquer, fix, or change the things that do not meet our ideal and we fear that which we cannot control. There’s a lot to fear in winegrowing: weather, insects, fungus, weeds, birds. To give in to fear is to declare war on nature in a misguided quest toward a cosmetic ideal - an ideal that attempts perfection but lacks the character that gives wine life, never mind a sense of place.

You can sense when a wine is alive. Language is of little help in conveying what qualifies a wine as such, but you know one when you taste one. It has a vibrancy that puts a smile on your face. It feels real. It feels integrated. It is honest and true. When a wine triggers an intellectual spark and leaves your palate and mind begging for another sip, it’s alive.

Many wines are technically correct, even flawless, but not alive. In pursuit of perfection, some vineyard managers obliterate anything deemed competition, leaving the soil a dead medium that holds the vine in place, but does little else. Since artificial amendments are then required to feed the vine, the resulting grapes require aggressive and remedial winemaking, deconstructing and then reconstructing, to balance the juice. Dead soil cannot produce live wine.

A live wine begins with respect for the natural processes that occur above and below the soil. Organic, and particularly Biodynamic methods, follow the rhythms of nature by embracing the forces that enhance life, focusing those energies on nurturing a living, dynamic soil to provide the complex mix of micronutrients and trace minerals the vine needs, in a natural form the vine can accept, when the vine requires them.

Not long ago, cellar technique seemed to define a great wine. Some winemakers were regarded as alchemists armed with formulas and the power to transform mediocrity into an icon of luxury. Now, these “trade secrets” are common knowledge, and many of these manufactured wines are boring in their perfection. So, a new paradigm based on character and authenticity is emerging. This honest style demands that a winemaker eschew heavy handed technique and opt for sensitivity, interpreting the essence of a vineyard’s unique fruit and letting its natural beauty be the guide. However, blind adherence to an idealized ‘natural wine’ standard can be wrought with just as much danger as any other perfectionist pursuit. A winemaker must still be on his game to protect the wine from spoilage flavors that can obliterate a wine’s true essence as effectively as overwrought winemaking. Well-grown fruit needs little adornment and sound, sensitive winemaking can allow that fruit to become a vibrant, expressive bottle of wine. For a practical demonstration of such a wine, RSV offers the very much alive, Cabernet Sauvignon, SLD Estate, 2005.

~ Rob Sinskey