MICHAEL FRIDJHON: You need more than a midwife to birth a fine wine
If the role of winemakers were unimportant, they would have long become redundant
Winemakers like to say that if they harvest healthy grapes at the right time their wines virtually make themselves. The implication is that the human role is like that of a midwife, or at least that of the conductor of an orchestra. “Minimal intervention” appears at least as often on wine industry brochures and tech sheets as “harvested at optimum ripeness”.
If this sales patter were true, then all wines from the same location, from similarly managed vineyards and harvested at optimum ripeness (of course) would taste the same. This is clearly not so. Jordan estate in Stellenbosch-Polkadraai markets three different Chardonnays (one admittedly unoaked). Of course they are all distinctly differently; likewise the DeMorgenzon Chardonnay from the adjacent property...
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