After a conversation with New Zealand film director Sam Pillsbury, the owner of Pillsbury Wine Company, Amy and I began to understand the concept of "terroir", which is the sum of all of the environmental factors that affect a crop. When does the sun rise? What time does it set? How hot does it get? When does it get that hot? How cold does it get at night? How humid is it?
Each of these factors, and more, are the things that make a crop what it is. This is why crops of certain plants are easier to grow in some places than others, and why crops from some places are just… better.
When it comes to grapes, Sam was saying, cold nights and hot days are best. The cold nights causes the skin to thicken, and the warmer days makes the fruit juicier and sweeter. Thicker skins, apparently, make better wine because the majority of the flavor of the wine is in the skin. (It was news to me, but you probably already knew that.)
Are you going through a cold night? Maybe your days have been too hot to handle. You can trust that the result will be a fruit that has thicker skin and sweeter juices. Did you realize that there was a purpose to the weather? Did you realize that the struggle would yield a superior product?
Trust the process. And trust the Vine-dresser.
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