One of my primary goals in creating this wine exhibit is to educate people. Not only in the production of wine, but in the contrasts in wine production styles. Oftentimes this directly relates to winery size. Wine can be such a diverse product. There can be vast differences in the production techniques employed in modern day wine making ... from hand-crafted 'boutique' products to 'refinery winery' blends. There are many variables in wine making. A winemaker is part chemist, part artist and part farmer. The best always have a 'vision'...of what they want to produce. They combine the season's harvest Mother Nature has provided in the vineyard with the skills and talents they have acquired in the cellar. For me, the goal of a winemaker should be to produce 'distinctive' wines. What do I mean by distinctive? I mean that the wines accurately reflect the characteristics of the varietal or varietals they are produced from. They reflect a sense of terrior, or be expressive of the vineyard or region where they are grown. More on 'terrior' in later posts...
To bring all this back to the exhibit...I want every aspect to be as realistic and accurate to what really happens in a vineyard and winery as possible. Fortunately, I spend a fair amount of time in wineries. Many have been extremely helpful in not only pointing me in the right direction when sourcing winery equipment for the exhibit, but also in keeping my conceptual designs based on reality. Chris Corley of Monticello Vineyards / Corley Family Napa Valley, pictured above, is one such winemaker. Chris has been helping me work through some 'interactive' exhibit details that I hope to incorporate. We talked last week about ways to visually show what happens during a fermentation. This would of course need to be achieved by artificial means that could safely exist in a museum environment, yet look realistic. During installation next September, Chris has agreed to make a quick visit to Texas to inspect everything for accuracy... or keeping things 'True to Life'.
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