I’ll drink to that.
It fascinates me that adults long for the things we rebelled against in our younger years. Do you agree?
For years it was unthinkable to even think of an early Friday night in bed. Now it feels like a well-deserved gift after a long work week. The thought reminded me of Cara Delevingne (think Cindy Crawford, just for this century) with a reel she posted on Instagram, I think she’s spot on and I consider her… young!
Way back, when I was young, opinionated, and always challenging the status quo, albeit sometimes only in my head I was driven by the dream of freedom, freedom of rules that made no sense, freedom to make my own choices, free to live! Totally unaware that my own desire to please people was keeping me from this ‘freedom’.
Side note – did you know that George Michael (1990) and Wham (1984) respectively had hit songs named Freedom?
Today, not so young, still opinionated, and always challenging the status quo in our business (to Hugo’s horror) I am not so much driven to freedom but realized that it is inside me rather than something I should search for. When you see all the strict rules and ironclad regulations that our wine business must adhere to, blended with our own drive not to make mistakes, or disappoint our customers, you would think it is a mini-Alcatraz in the making. You’d even wonder if we have any freedom to create, but reflecting on this I realized that we have all the liberty that we can dream of, of which time is our most cherished one and being together a close second, the perfect terroir to grow our wines in.
My mind wanders off to our children (which it often does). Our twin boys turned 17 in May, and I cannot help but think of the exciting times that are still in their futures and how they have already started to rebel against the current regime (Hugo and I), stretching curfews and screentime is just the beginning, I think. Then again, we have made so many wonderful memories with them over the past 17 years, like recently going to the Artscape theatre and enjoying our favorite meal at 1890 House Sushi and Grill in Observatory, we should probably see the few misdemeanors as part and parcel of growing up.
The Taste range is the young ones of our wine range. They are fresh, fruity, zesty, lively wines with expressive tastes, they each have their own unique attributes and flavor that they bring to the family. Hugo really enjoys working with Chenin Blanc, and I think his pallet is perfect to spot the potential in these wines. It was a few years ago, during a tasting when he and Ters, one of our partner winemakers, were selecting wines for another project that he recognized these attributes in a particular tank of Chenin Blanc, and this is how our crowd-pleaser Taste Chenin Blanc was born.
This month we celebrate our youth. The fearless, the rebels, those who challenge us and remind us of who we used to be.
I’ll drink to that.
Till next time.
