Grape vines, (the very organisms that produce the grapes that give us glorious wine), are after all nothing more than living and growing things. The vine\u2019s only goal in life is to flourish. If the vineyard site has plenty The point here is that, the easier the vine has it on its planted location, the more water and nutrients available to it, the less the need to have to \u201csearch out\u201d a better location for it to take root, and the more \u201cthe vine\u201d will prosper. On the other hand, if the vine is stressed, maybe the soil is less than fertile or perhaps water is a little harder to come by and has to be \u201crooted deep for\u201d, the more the vine will \u201cwant\u201d to search out a more hospitable site; perhaps a site with a better water supply or more fertile soil. To do this, the vine will place most of its energy into producing the juiciest, most beautiful grapes in order to attract birds and animals that will in turn eat the grapes and spread the seeds. The healthier the grapes, the greater the chances of them being eaten and taking root someplace else. Therefore, a stressed vineyard will normally produce better grapes, therefore a potentially better wine. This is the first and most important step in producing a good wine.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/vinosseur.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/060820084974-300x225.jpg\" "\\"Cinque")
<\/a>I noticed that in the Cinque Terre, the vineyards were situated in the most inhospitable, seemingly impossible to get to sites, making the Mosel in Germany seem \u201cflat\u201d (well, almost) by comparison. Small vineyards perched high up on extremely steep hills. And this got me thinking about the similarities between vineyard stress and the human stress factor related to working and making wine from these vineyards. The point that I would like to make is that, just like the stressed grape vine will generally produce better quality grapes, the \u201cstressed\u201d human working those vineyards will produce a better wine!<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/vinosseur.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/0408200837631-300x225.jpg\" "\\"Cinque")
<\/a>of water, loads of nutrients and is sitting comfortably in an seemingly \u201cideal\u201d site, the vine will be \u201chappy\u201d where it is and will concentrate most of its energy on vegetative growth and less energy on reproductive (grape) growth. If on the other hand, water is in short supply (perhaps the roots have to dig deeper down) and the soil is a little less than fertile, the vine will concentrate its energy on reproductive growth rather than on vegetative growth \u2013 in other words, the grapes. These grapes contain reproductive seeds. These grapes, and thus the seeds, are eaten by birds and other animals, excreted out someplace else, and left to take root in hopefully a new vineyard site with \u201cbetter\u201d soil and a more convenient water supply.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/vinosseur.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/050820083971-300x225.jpg\" "\\"vigne")
<\/a>I feel that this scenario can also be applied to the vineyard owner. Vineyard owners, like the ones in the Cinque Terre, whose vineyards are perched high up on nearly impossible to reach slopes, will have to work a bit harder to pick those grapes to make the wine. This vineyard owner will have to have an immense will power and passion to work these vines and make wine. No machines here, just pure, hard labor by hand, translating to a hand-crafted wine where a lot of sweat, soul and some blood was shed to create. On the other hand, most large cooperatives normally plant their sites on flat, easy to work vineyard sites (with plenty of water and nutrients) that they can easily maneuver with machines in order to quickly make tons of machine \u201ccrafted\u201d wines without much hard work, soul or passion.<\/p>\n![\"Limited](\"http:\/\/vinosseur.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/0208200833511-225x300.jpg\" "\\"Cinque")