I have a sheet of paper in the back of my journal, a bucket list of hopes, dreams, and moments I'd like to achieve in this lifetime. Many have been crossed off, some simplistic, or complex. Learn to make a perfect egg, see all of my girlfriends meet the man of their dreams, and be wooed with wild passion. Swim with whales and not get eaten, and learn to make wine. Well, this past month, I can confidently cross that one off my list. In early September, a few students and I flew to Ribera del Duero, to harvest, and make wine with Bendito Destino, a collaborative venture with Guillermo Cruz and Terry Kandylis.

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Resistance is meant to stop something. Its forces come in doubt, fear, or nature, the aim is to kill our creativity, love and life itself. Nature has it's own force of resistance, the tension that exists within a bud as it breaks forth each Spring, and the rooting down through layers upon layers of soil in search of water. For Piero Incisa della Rochetta it started with a sip of wine, tasted blind at Wine Spectator's Wine Experience, the red elixir ignited his senses with a tension of ripeness and expression of fruit, old world or new? A Pinot from Patagonia…

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This past week Diploma students got their results for the D3 exam from October. They arrived two weeks late, due to delays at WSET's main office in London, Covid had run a muck amoungst the moderators. A friend texted to see if I'd received a call, no, I did not, and the nervousness had me clicking refresh over and over on my email. Then it began to dawn upon me that perhaps I failed…

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I had intended to write a witty repertoire about the fun events and wine tastings as of late. But given the events within the past 10 days, it seems a bit trite. This is on the tail end of a debate about the sanctity of birthing rights. I am not saying I am for or against abortion, but the whole argument seems disingenuous when a country cannot keep its citizens, of all colours, and ages safe.  News such as this is hard to process. It all feels like the next catastrophe when waves of evil have struck humanity down. My only hope is my faith, and even that I struggle with from times to time, but I cannot imagine going it alone. 

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This March in Charleston, South Carolina, Julee had the great pleasure to co-host two seminars at the Charleston Wine and Food Conference. The seminar Boost the Booze was on fortified wines, with Lynette Marrero and Bruno Almeida. Bruno and Julee spoke on the wine regions of Jerez, Port, and Madeira, while Lynette mixed up stellar cocktails, based on the wines that had us all wishing for a beach. The Truth about Vermouth, co-hosted with Matt Tunstall stretched the attendees to think of vermouth outside the mixing component and taste 6 boutique and complex vermouths from Europe and America. This often overlooked, fortified wine is pretty amazing, and we think it’s time to take vermouth out of the shadows. Dry or sweet, vermouth has been used as a drink steeped in history and is the perfect complement to food.

It may seem this year we have little to be thankful for, given a global pandemic, an economic crisis, civil unrest, and a near political coup. But, despite these, the time for the perspective shift has never been more vital. This year, at my corona, sized Thanksgiving feast (here in Amsterdam, restrictions have lifted and we can have up to 6 adults) guests queried about what to bring, my reply was "a statement of what you are thankful for this year."

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This has been a tumultuous time for many of us, seeing turmoil appear closer each day. This invisible presence has grasped our fears, countries, and people. We've been left scrambling to make allowances for our peoples, commerce, and livelihood. Initially, the only effect for the wine industry was a few canceled wine conferences. Prowein was first, then slowly other conferences followed suit. Then, it hit a country and people that I have loved greatly. Italy for a solid decade, it's been a respite for me. I've traveled its wine regions, dranks its wines, kissed its men, ate its food and fathomed how to live here. Years ago, a colleague and I were driving through the Alps-he sighed as he looked at the passing scenery and said: "God spent a little more time here didn't he?" Yes, he did.

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It’s been a month. A month, since I’ve felt an embrace and those dastardly three kisses the Dutch are so fond of. A month since I’ve sat with friends and had wine, or gone to my yoga classes. A month that I’ve behaved, and stayed inside. My only ventures out to make deliveries and get groceries. Yet in that month the world has changed. Intelligent quarantines, lockdowns and civil unrest are normal. The populace here in the Netherlands has been asked to self-moderate one’s self, and social distance. But as the days extend further, and the sun in its vengeful spirit shines (unlike it has for the five years). We want the normal, the routine. There is a saying here…do normal. But what exactly is normal?

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Several years ago I attended an event at Sleep No More, an interactive dinner theater in NYC. Guests were guided into a blacked-out room and then led along corridors, pawing and grasping at slivers of light, whilst whispers of conversations and shocking sounds eluded from the walls. Five steps in, and I was terrified. I asked the guy walking incredibly close to me (who I gathered had the same fears) if it might be alright if I held his hand. "We can help each other through," I said. I'd barely pleaded my case when he grasped my hand and we slowly made our way through the maze. As we neared the end, a light enveloped us, we looked at each other and smiled. The comfort of that touch in mine dissipated the fret I'd felt earlier. I thanked him, we hugged, then said goodbye.

Often during this pandemic, I'd wished for such a hand of comfort. Someone to guide me through the first weeks of apprehension that erupted over social and televised media, and it came. From my fellow wine community and friends. We are a tight bunch worldwide, and I've seen Instastories of vignerons, and sommeliers.

Various alliances of wine regions offering up free information, and the acceptance of wine as an essential good. I know that many of those stories were meant as a virtual show and tell. But I am gathering that just like that man next to me in the show, they too were doing what they could, to help us all get through.

Find materials that help you through lock-down here