For better or worse, wine production has become a globalized industry. This can often fail what you pour in to your glass by making a French Bordeaux taste the same as a Californian Cabernet Sauvignon or an Australian Shiraz. There’s about as much fun and interest in this as picking out what bottled of water to drink.
But, hidden amongst the folds of international plane flights and work visas, a very interesting group has emerged from our fossil-fueled wine industry. These are people who come from wine but manage to travel and learn the deeper mysteries of the grape beyond their known, comfortable horizons. Typically young, they travel because they have no winery of their own, or because their family does and they want to dust off the age-old traditions with a touch of 21st century modernity.
When they visit other winemaking areas in the world, they learn, adapt, and incorporate new knowledge and experience in to their toolbox of skills. Then, at some point, they go back home and work with their local, known winemaking traditions while applying their global knowledge to caress the grapes in to something that’s a bit different, yet still very much true to where it comes from.
These people are, “Global Locals” and this will be the start of a new series on The Crush to profile them, talk about what they’re doing, and how you can be a winemaker of the world, yet still not betray your roots.
Feel like you know someone who should be profiled? Contact Us! info@vinologue.com
