Lessons from the vine

Last month I received my annual birthday message from my dad congratulating me on the exact number of days I’ve been on Earth. Thanks, Dad. I’m guessing that you’ve probably never done this calculation for yourself. I mean, why would you? If you’re curious to know how many days you’ve been alive, consider this your invitation to do it now. Not to make you feel bad about getting older, but as a reminder to make the most of every day and every moment. As time passes, everything in nature ages, including us. Thankfully, nature also offers us some helpful clues about how to age well.

I’ve been thinking a lot about old vines lately and what they might have to teach us about human longevity. To frame this comparison, consider the parallels between the stages of human development and the lifecycle of the grape vine for a moment. And then imagine the seen and unseen parts of both processes. For people, it’s our physical appearance that is seen and all of the activity that goes on inside our bodies that is unseen. For the vine, it’s the parts of the plant that are above the ground that we can observe and the root system that is hidden.

Now think about how both humans and vines grow, change and mature over time. Young vines, like human babies, grow very quickly at first. Both are needy and vigorous and require a lot of care, attention and the proper combination of nutrients to establish a healthy foundation. Next comes adolescence. Both are still growing, but the rate of growth slows down as certain aspects of physical maturity are reached. This is the stage where people reach their full stature, for example. For the vine, this is the stage when its root structure is fully developed.

When vines, like people, reach full maturity, growth begins to slow down. Way down. Not only does outward growth become less necessary at this stage, it is actually undesirable for several reasons. For both grape vines and humans, this final phase of development means a major shift in the use of energy. A shift from quantity (think growth and vigor) to quality (resilience and complexity). In the words of Master Sommelier Christopher Tanghe, as a vine ages, it produces less and prioritizes its energy for the most important purpose of its life — the grapes.

As we age, and this is as true for the vine as it is for you and me, less is more. This is also why thirsty vines planted on poor soils make better wine grapes. Vines that have to struggle to access water and nutrients develop deeper, stronger roots and are better able to withstand stress than vines that don’t have to work as hard. Under the right conditions, as these vines age they will produce fewer grapes with more concentrated, better quality fruit. For people, this can be compared with maintaining healthy cells by reprioritizing quality over quantity in our food and lifestyle choices as we get older. What exactly do we mean when we say we want to age like fine wine? For me, it’s simply this — to continue developing depth of character and complexity over time with a long, delicate finish.

By Carla Gordillo @polyglotsomm