The Why of Aether
After 30 years in the trenches – garagiste, start-up winemaker/owner, hired gun launching other brands–hundreds of cuvees of Pinot Noir from many of the greatest California vineyards – then the wine events, tastings, dinners, festivals, sales trips, work-withs, critics, scores, photo shoots…….
Incredible - the people and the wine!
What else was there left to do?
The concept of Aether germinated in 2013, as ideas so often develop, over many nights and glasses of fine Pinot Noir. The reason to press on was ultimately simple and there all the time.
Passion. Continuing to be part of something tangible and intangible, the remarkable pursuit of craft and the art of the shared experience. Poetic moments of transcendence. All about the wine.
In that long ago first vintage, I instantly recognized the world of wine as a medieval tapestry- physically and metaphorically come to life. Resplendent and communal, I had stepped into that world never to leave.
A wine cannot be made so much as minded
We have all the instruments and algorithms that modern vintners use, and these are helpful for making the wine hold together in the bottle. We see to the technical components, the raw materials, fruit, sourcing, uniqueness of terroir; all of the observational, empirical inputs that can be captured in a spreadsheet.
But wine has ideas of its own.
What begins as naked elements puts on character with age. Wine has culture that can be cultivated or interrupted from moment to moment and hour to hour. With just enough warmth and care and lightness of hand, it develops soul. Not unlike you or me.
Great wine is part biochemistry and part neurochemistry. There can be subliminal, subconscious responses to wine that remove it from the realm of a beverage and elevate it to something with the capacity to deliver a transcendent experience.
That’s what the Greeks meant by aether: a layer of mystery between the Earthly realm and the heavens. It is the overlap of science and art and the vibe in good company that makes the food taste better. When we open our lips to the promise of a worthy wine, our breath leaves our bodies and we hover in the aether for an evening. The Greeks had a name for that too. They called it ecstasy.