There’s No People Like Wine People

That’s not exactly a grammatically correct title, I know. It’s a riff on an old-timey Irving Berlin show tune about the entertainment business (google it!). It made me smile. And it’s the title that ‘stuck’ after discarding one or two more somber alternatives I had in mind on the subject of the natural disasters I’ve witnessed from a safe distance recently.

I’m talking about the many fires that have raged throughout the state of California, in LA and Sonoma, during the last two and half weeks of October. But not just fires. On October 22^nd, a small town in the Conca de Barberà wine region of Catalonia, located on the banks of the Francolí River, was hit particularly hard by floods that literally swept away one family’s winery and livelihood in a matter of minutes. Parts of Sonoma were devastated by floods earlier this year, too.

Wildfires. Floods. Hailstorms. Spring freezes. These inherent risks are an unfortunate reality of the winegrowing business. I’ll be honest. This isn’t an article I wanted to write. I had no desire to write about the effects of climate change. I didn’t want to go anywhere near such an emotionally loaded subject. There’s anger, fault-finding, finger-pointing... “This could have been prevented if...” There’s understandable sadness and grief... How do you begin to rebuild when you lose everything? It’s unimaginable. There are no words.

But I couldn’t let yet another devastating fire season go by without saying something. As hard as it is for me to express the range of emotions I feel in the wake of these tragedies, I think it’s important to acknowledge the collective pain some of our brothers and sisters have been living these past few weeks. I know I’m not the only one who wells up with tears of empathy when I see images of the devastation or hear the voice of a winemaker describe over the phone on the evening news how she has just lost her winery.

But you know what else gets me all choked up? Seeing the outpouring of love and support that follows these horrible tragedies. Witnessing communities coming alongside the families and businesses affected, mobilizing quickly and doing the extraordinary to help them get back on their feet. These stories fill my heart with tears of hope.

I know I’m totally biased, but I happen to think the wine community is a pretty amazing group of humans. I can’t say I’ve experienced such an undeniable spirit of genuine camaraderie in any other sector I’ve ever worked. Generous. Gracious. Warmhearted. Wine people take care of each other. Together we can face anything.

By Carla Gordillo @polyglotsomm