Looking from Italy’s Langhe region toward the Alps

Flavio Fennochio – Barolo Winemaker from the Piemonte Region of Italy

Marchesi di Barolo winery

We receive the grapes from God…There’s a little part of me in this wine.  I didn’t build the car, but I drove it for some time.  What I am aiming for is to find surprise.  To give emotion.  It’s like photography.  You have to impress, to do something people remember…You have to ride the horse.  It’s not always a quiet horse.  But with a good one, you can win the race.

Casa Donoso, Chile

Alvaro Arriagada – Winemaker from Casa Donoso, Chile

Alvaro at the ranch

I realized that getting into wine was something very special because nobody needs wine.  It’s not something vital, not something that you’re gonna die if you don’t have.  But it gives you a quality of life.  People don’t realize that today you need something extra.  Like good music.  Like having time for reading.  Or eating.  Something extra.  Something like a slow life.

Spire of Bordeaux

Les Kellen – Wine Guide and Merchant, Blaye, Bordeaux, France

Les and lady friends

I studied law in South Africa.  Quite frankly, I hated every second of that profession…Serendipity?  I think that’s for anyone who’s open to what the universe sends them.  Sometimes the universe does try, and we don’t respond.  I’m open to everyone….I love meeting with families that run small vineyards and eating with them and tasting their new wines…We do it while we’re having fun.  Otherwise it’s not worth it.  It’s done in an unpretentious way.  That’s the way I think wine should be.  Wine is a simple pleasure.

Barossa Sunshine

Ben Chipman – Tomfoolery Winemaker in the Barossa Valley, Australia

Ben and barrels

It’s about community and lifestyle.  We’re very lucky.  We love what we do…We don’t enter wine shows…People in the wine business get so hung up on competition and jealousy, and that’s stupid.  There’s so much space for everybody…

Charles beneath his local dolmen

Charles Capbern-Gasqueton – Wine Barrel Merchant, Cognac Region, France

There’s no one there.  So you have to do it with no help.  You are responsible from the beginning to the end….  To socialize and have a connection with people is interesting.  Even if you’re losing money, at the end there is satisfaction so it doesn’t really matter.  When you like wines you have to fight against all those well known people with all the money.  You have to be the voice of reason and tell the people – you’re buying that for a hundred bucks, and I have this for ten bucks.  And I think this is better than yours.  Then you can show them the truth.  You can taste the wine, and explain that they’re wrong.

California wine country

Bill Wilson – Owner of Wilson Creek Winery, Temecula, California, USA

Home of almond champagne

People work for one of two reasons.  One:  to make their wealth.  Two:  to fill their heart with wealth.  You’re not going to make wealth in this industry.  It’s very, very capital intensive.  People get into this and surround themselves with this business because it is passion driven, creative.  No one tells them what to do or how to do it.

Norm Benson – Dark Star Winemaker from Paso Robles, California, USA

You have to decide that you really want to do this.  You have to be committed to and love what you’re doing. 

If you’re interested in buying a Kindle copy of the book, just click Vino Voices.

 

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  1. wonderful quotes. Magnificent photos.

    Please, sir. May I have some more?

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