Vintage Story

Epistemological epiphany:
Life must be lived forwards,
but can only be understood backwards
Mercifully, life may be enjoyed sideways!

SEASON OF FRUITFULNESS

            “Season of fruitfulness” these months of October-November are called in the northern hemisphere. But it is also often footnoted as a season of treachery. Normally at the time of this full moon, the grape harvest is nearing its zenith. This year’s hot, dry weather has ripened grapes so quickly and so soon that the harvest is already over in many regions. Did the grapes “cook” or develop a fever? Will the ripeness increase quality? Too soon to tell.

            Use of the word treachery normally refers to weather. A sudden hail storm, a quick frost, or a heavy wind can undo a season’s careful nurturing. This year in the famous regions of the West Coast, labor shortages have created unpredictable risks, as the usually reliable migrant workers have become fearful about crossing the border or showing up at a work place because of immigrant phobia.

            Deciding when to pick the grapes is always a nail-biting decision. Gamble for another day or two of ripeness and all may be lost. Keeping the work force on stand-by is costly, but in the United States alone, some 5,000 producers are hard at work to provide us the best possible wine they can – and Indiana wholesalers are hard at work to prevent almost 85 to 90 percent of those wines from seeing our tables. While wholesaler effort may not exactly fall into the definition of treachery, it can certainly be defined as controlling our choices in favor of their profits.

            Thanks to a District Court judge’s August decision, we consumers for the moment are allowed to order wines from wineries of our choice for delivery directly to our personal addresses. Not all producers are yet willing to ship them to us, however. They are aware that the state is appealing the judge’s decision and that restrictions may yet imperil their licensing. In addition to appealing the judge’s decision, wholesalers are proposing new legislation that in its most draconian state would prohibit all direct shipping in Indiana, assuring that consumers could buy only from a retailer or directly from a winery.

            To preclude this, consumers must unite. First, lend your name to a free membership in VinSense (www.VinSense.org), a wine consumer advocacy organization which is drafting legislation designed to open up the wine market in keeping with the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution.

            Second, let your elected General Assembly representatives know that you belong to VinSense and that you favor wine legislation that protects consumer rights. Tell them that, like VinSense, you oppose underage drinking and that you favor the state collecting its rightful taxes on wine purchases. VinSense legislation, by the way, does not attack the three-tier system so beloved by wholesalers. Consumers recognize the convenience of having a fairly large array of wines on display in one retail shop. What consumers really want is the right to step outside that system for access to the hundreds of wines that the wholesalers either will not stock or cannot obtain.

            So on this busiest season of the year for those who produce the most healthful, sacred beverage known to humanity, let us all join forces to protect our right to support their work and our Constitutional rights.

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            Subscribers to Sheer Lunacy are automatically members of VinSense, but we urge all of you to enlist more members (read: voters). Membership is free. The easiest way to join is via the VinSense web site – www.vinsense.org -- where you can also read about opportunities to donate to VinSense to help cover costs of lobbying, maintaining the web site, and furthering the cause. We would like 10,000 voter-members by the end of 2007.      

    Vintage Story is an e-newsletter authored by Ole Olson and published by the Story Inn, and is available free of charge to all who appreciate good wine. Vintage Story is published at each full moon. The author and the Story Inn specifically authorize the republication, reprinting and circulation of any issue Vintage Story so long as due credit is given to the author and to the Story Inn (which holds the copyright).

If any newspaper or website desires to make use of any issue of Vintage Story, we do request that you notify us. Thanks, and here's to your health!