Life Illuminated!
In wine’s life story, grape juice is transformed into spirited wine upon fermentation of the sugars to alcohol and bubbles. Transformation only occurs here with outside help – the microscopic yeasts. Well, there’s other outside help, the sacred igniter.
From my photographer’s perspective, when looking at juice compared to wine, the material under the microscope begins to fill with light during the transformation process. I always equated the light with alcohol and something more – life and vitality. Tonight I read Louis Marmon and Joshua London’s piece Spiritual Side of Wine and learned about the Jewish mystical idea of “HIDDEN LIGHT.” Wine certainly contains hidden light. I’ve seen it.
One reason, I became obsessed with exploring wine as life was because of its LIGHT. During fermentation, juice begetting wine gains hidden light. I’ve actually seen wine that has lost its light. I always equated ‘losing light’ with a wine that no longer had anything to share with us.
Sauvignon blanc at 1 yr
Sauvignon blanc, many years
The image on the left shows a wine that has lost its vitality, notice how it no longer can reflect light. The wine on the right is very much alive. Both were sauvignon blancs made at Sterling Vineyards.
One of the most compelling reasons I kept on exploring wine with the microscope – it tells the story of life and death. Hidden in the microscopic patterns are clues to a wine’s life, abilities to age, and when it begins to lose vitality. Pretty amazing what the invisible world of wine reveals.