Crafting Pleasure!

We are in the pleasure business. Our simple goal is to make your culinary experience more enjoyable; but just like good comedy, there are often serious truths behind a punchline. Pure pleasure is tricky. It means we have a sense of well-being associated with whatever we are enjoying. To create this level of comfort, we need to be assured that the object of desire did no harm. A true fine wine can’t be a blood diamond.

We need a new pleasure principle; a definition of what makes a luxury item. In the past, luxury was based on fine craftsmanship, but technology and accessibility changed the concept of craft. Modern technology encourages manipulation behind the scenes. In the wine world, industrial farming methods and manipulative winemaking practices are often employed with the end product presented as a finely crafted beverage. The contradiction is that it does not contribute to our well-being. Industrial farming employs potentially toxic products while chemical and heavy mechanical tillage releases climate change inducing carbon into the atmosphere. Then, many times, the grapes are manipulated with laboratory created products. Wine produced this way is like a science experiment passed off as a luxury item.

If we want our moment of pleasure to contribute to our sense of well-being, a great wine should do no harm and should actually undo the harm done by others. Ideally it should improve the environment. It starts with the soil, improving its tilth and carbon sequestering capacity. Then the farm should provide habitat for beneficial insects, birds and animals with respect for the dynamic processes of nature. 

Farming is where the fine craft of wine begins but it doesn’t end there. “Do no harm” continues with the power used to run the winery being offset by solar. Biodiversity is preserved to promote healthy ecosystems. No toxins or manipulative practices are used at any point, anywhere.

Purity is key. No compromise farming and clean winemaking practices are your assurance that an RSV wine is truly a finely crafted beverage for pure pleasure with no guilt.

Rob Sinskey