Monthly Musings of a Wine Lover – November

Through The Grapevine by Ian Sane

Through The Grapevine by Ian Sane, licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Another month has passed, the clocks have been set to winter time, and we’re nudging towards the darkest weeks of the year. Autumn is finally, irrevocably upon us, and the leaves on our trees have turned from cheerful reds and yellows to crisp and crumbling brown. It’s a time of the year that always makes me pensive, in need of quiet introspection amidst the hustle and bustle of a life packed to the brim.

This is something people and vines, as living beings, have in common: after a few fruitful and productive seasons, we need to withdraw into ourselves for a while and simply rest, finding temporary closure and contentment after a bountiful harvest. Only then can we shed what we no longer need and start replenishing our reserves, to get ready for a new growth cycle.

A nice parallel, and that’s not all we have in common with our distant Vitis cousins:

  • we share about a quarter of our genes with grapevines;
  • we exist in interaction with our environment and we all need water, sunlight and nutrients in order to live;
  • we have complex and efficient immune systems to defend us against infections and disease.

Or on a more spiritual level:

  • the fruits of our labour can bring joy to a lot of people;
  • with age we focus more on quality than quantity;
  • and each year we get a chance to start anew, building on the roots and stems we have grown, deepened and strengthened in the previous years.

Are there other similarities you can think of?

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6 Responses

  1. Marc Engels says:

    Very mindful.

  2. LG Smith says:

    This is wonderful! You have no idea. My current WIP is about this very thing. Ooh, and I’d add, too, that sometimes people benefit from cutting back, only to grow more vigorous later. 🙂

  3. Kent A Klopfenstein says:

    You kind of touched on this, Kristel, but the more difficult our respective “soils,” the stronger and more fruitful we can become. Cheers!

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