It is almost 30 years ago that I started my journey into the inner beauty of wine. It began at Sterling Vineyards when they had an artist-in-residence program and I was fortunate to be selected with two years to prepare. I was guided by the winemaker Theo Rosenbrand who would ask questions –
- what would a wine look like that had been grown in the valley compared to on the side of Diamond Mountain
- what would a chardonnay look like when it was young, still in the barrel compared to an older one
- did a wine fined with bentonite look different than one fined with egg white
My fun was in the photography and learning.
And then I began presenting to the wine industry.They loved the pretty pictures which got into all the wine magazines. Yet the question always came up about these novel photographs through the microscope, what could they be? Art, Artifact or Science?
A grape grower had me follow some of her vintages and she also invited the famous Andre T to her home to ask him that question – what did he think these pictures were.
Andre’s answer – they’re the jewels in the wine.
I’ve never forgotten that incredible dinner she had for us and I laugh now remembering when she served a chablis which surprised me that she would serve chablis – wasn’t that white plonk in the big jugs – what did I know. A real chablis was so much more than I had expected.
And yet even now, when people ask what am I photographing, I still answer the jewels in the wine, the personality or character. There is an alphabet of forms – perhaps some are the diamonds while others are rubies, all exquisite reflections of the winemaker’s artistic craft. Sometimes I reach into scientific jargon and say that what the microscope reveals is the inner terroir, the marriage of molecules.
In the end, my obsession certainly shows more of the incredible beauty that is in wine and in us.