This lectures depends enormously on combining the lecture itself with musical selections. Without these selections, the lecture has little impact. But that said, here is the text of the slides themselves.
My two classes, A Cultural Appreciation of Wine, and Wine Marketing & Sales
Both address this topic from different directions:
Music is marketed very differently from wine---and very successfully
Wine is part of our culture, and the culture of humans since before history.
We love music
We love it
We embrace it
We share it
We love wine
We are intimidated by it
We worry about it
We fear sharing it
Why the disconnect?
If you are in the business, you know. You have been asked about wine.
“We need to educate people more about wine.”
No, we don't.
The conversations are different about music. Nobody asks for advice about music.
We don’t educate people about music.
We dread Sommeliers
Etymology. The modern word is French, deriving from Middle French where it referred to a court official charged with transportation of supplies. ... The Middle French probably finds its origin in Old Provençal where a saumalier was a pack animal driver.
But for music?
Siri, play me some music!
Let’s about talk wine and music
Why they matter
What we can learn from music
Our world has changed. We have moved from Rural to Urban
Wine is a connection to the natural world, something we need today more than ever.
And music ties us to one another with harmonic vibrations. Music touches us. We need that too.
Wine and Music are both expressions of culture
Wine and music have much in common
The most obvious connection is the drinking song. Of course, in the USA, we used one for our national anthem. "The Star Spangled Banner" was written to the tune of an English drinking song.
The world of wine should learn from music
We don’t need to explain everything
You can appreciate Elton John without knowing how to build a piano
We should communicate more joy about wine.
We think we need to educate people
You don’t need to be educated to appreciate music. Everyone loves music, and appreciates it.
Why do you need to be educated to appreciate wine?
Wine is an expression of Culture: Not of Geology
Winemakers spend endless hours talking about soils and rainfall, but that does not recognize the seminal role that culture plays in winemaking.
Winemakers are trained, they learn from their elders, they study, they learn from each other---they learn by osmosis. They adopt the vision for wine that their culture has created.
Just like musicians
Wine is an expression of Culture Not of Geology
Why do the cathedrals of Sevilla and Barcelona look so different?
It’s not the stones, it’s the culture of the people.
It’s not the terroir, it’s the culture.
Cathedrals are expressions of community and culture.
Music and wines are expressions of
community and culture. We create
them together.
Music and Wine are both part of us. Literally!
We make music with our voices, with our bodies.
By drinking, we make wine part of our bodies
And the wine then helps us make music.
There are three basic elements to music
Rhythm
Melody
Harmony
And these same elements correlate directly to wine.
There are three basic elements to music
So let’s start by talking about rhythm…
Rhythm:
Rhythm is the connection to the natural world.
It is the passage of time
Rhythm:
At its most basic, rhythm is the beat of the human heart. It is the proof that we are alive. And everything comes from that foundation.
Day and night
Winter, spring, summer and fall
Rhythm is budbreak and veraison and harvest.
To everything, there is a season:
A time to sow and a time to reap.
This is the rhythm of wine.
Rhythm:
Wine is the only beverage that conveys not only a sense of place
but also of time. We drink bottles From memorable years.
Rhythm is the flow of time—in the cellar or in the symphony.
It is the passage of time in our lives.
Rhythm:
Each year the rhythm begins anew, as the natural world comes to life, and our vineyards are renewed. The grapevine is the symbol of rebirth
Rhythm:
Each year the rhythm begins anew, as the natural world comes to life, and our vineyards are renewed.The grapevine is the symbol of rebirth Wine puts us in touch with the Earth
Rhythm:
Rhythm is the pace of life.
Like the harvest,
It brings us a sense of anticipation.
We cannot escape it, dancing together.
Nature Dictates the Rhythm
Rhythm dictates the pace of life or the steps we dance, whether that be a waltz, a march or a tango. It brings us a sense of romance—
But it also demands that we obey it.
Rhythm is the natural world.
We dance to nature’s tune.
There are three basic elements to music
Rhythm
Melody
Harmony
Melody:
If rhythm is the natural world, then melody is the hand of man
Melody is the human voice. It expresses our vision, our dreams…and our ego.
It is our unique expression
Melody
There are so many decisions---all to be made with respect to nature—but made by the human hand: What to plant, When to pick, How to ferment, How to age.
Melody is how the winemaker sings. It allows winemakers a vision and a sense of style.
Melody
In music, melody can be as simple as a call to prayer.
Melody
Every wine begins with a vision: a dream that a winemaker has.
That vision is the melody of the wine.
Melody
It expresses our joy or sorrow. It comes from our heart.
Our love of God, And our love of each other. It is essentially human—it is the essence of human expression.
Melody
Some melodies are classically Old World. Melody captures our dreams, and shares them with the world. Melody is the hand of the winemaker
Some expressions are typical of the New World.
Melody
It is the expression of our personality and our humanity. Melody is the human touch.
And part of that dream is the improvisation of winemaking—the art of capturing the beauty of nature. Just like jazz.
Harmony
The tapestry of voices that gives our songs depth and context.
It shows us our place in the world, and our relationship to one another
Harmony
Harmony is balance and complexity. It is context and wisdom. Most of all, it is community—the relationships between man and nature, and between people.
Harmony
The music of the spheres, a community of voices that brings us together.
In wine, harmony is the ideal: perfection
A perfect wine is a harmonious wine
Music:
But wine plays a more important role in society. Wine brings us together. We become a chorus. And we are greater than the sum of our parts. We raise our glasses, and we raise our voices in song
Because of wine, we sing in joy
Harmony
We become a community. We share a communion. We become harmonious, too
The three basic elements to music: Rhythm, Melody, and Harmony
And then there are the additional elements of:
Dynamics
Technique
Technology
Dynamics: ppp to FFF
Dynamics is the variation in volume, in intensity.
Some music, like some wine, is delicate and more suitable for an intimate setting—just like some wines are delicate. But some music is made for a larger stage….or even a stadium! Some wines are huge too!
Bigger is not better.
It’s just bigger.
Technique is the ability to create pure and clean art. Every note is clear and precise. Every flavor is pure and fresh. It is easy to recognize.
But does all art require perfect technique? Not always. What comes from the heart will always speak to us, even if the technique is rough. That’s true in music, and it’s true in wine.
And technology has changed everything. In music and in wine. In wine it has given us everything from stainless steel to refrigeration, chemicals and analysis.
It has changed wine. And technology has changed everything. In music, in the last 100 years we have gone from live performances to music in a box.
Not even in a box. In the ether. On the internet.
Does that make it bad? Technology has changed everything.
In the past, if you wanted to hear music, you had to hire musicians!
And the music you heard was real, true, and completely honest.
Technology has changed everything. Now we can just watch it on You Tube.
Technology has Changed everything.Technology has also opened up a new world to us. A new world of sounds, a new world of joy. And a new world of wines, too.
Do the makers of natural wine insist that they only listen to “natural music?”
I wonder
Wine and music share so much:
The basics of Rhythm, Melody and Harmony: What we create
And the additional elements of Dynamics, Technique, and Technology: How we create them.
And Spirituality
Rhythm is the natural world and the passage of time
Melody is the expression of human creativity
Harmony is the tapestry of context and
community. And communion.
Spirituality
To the elements of rhythm, melody and harmony we also have to add spirituality. The sense of something larger than ourselves. It brings us together.
We harvest together
We drink together
We sing together
A Wine of Meditation
Wine makes us stop and think. It is a Sabbath in a glass.
It is a brief moment of eternity—a chance to repent, rethink, and refresh our souls.
A triumph of the spirit--to quote Pablo Neruda:
wine, starry child of earth, wine, smooth as a golden sword, soft as lascivious velvet,
wine, spiral-seashelled
and full of wonder,
amorous,
marine;
never has one goblet contained you
Wine and Music
They are part of our lives, part of our nature. Through them we share joy and sorrow, life and death. Wine and Music
They combine rhythm and melody. Harmony and spirituality.
They are among the purest expressions of human culture.
Again: Pablo Neruda:
“But you are more than love, the fiery kiss, the heart of fire, more than the wine of life; you are the community of man,…”
Wine and Music
No man makes wine in a vacuum.
Wine is created in rhythm with nature
Each winemaker dances to the rhythm that nature plays for us.
And each winemaker adds a melody.
But no winemaker works alone.
Winemakers are part of our community, our culture.
Wine is the communal expression of joy.
Be Fearless. Love wine like you love Music!
From a simple glass on a picnic table, to a glorious bottle of a rare vintage, no wine is solely an artifact of nature.
No wine is the creation of a single genius. Wine is by definition a communal effort—a communal effort of humans working within the realms of nature, over generations of time.
We love the songs of the past, but each year we create our own versions of these songs—songs that we pass on to our children. We sing them together, just as we make wine and drink wine together.
Drink wine like music. Lose the fear. Share the joy.
Amen. And Cheers.
Comments