The Dream of a Vineyard, The Nightmare of the Reality

Every office worker dreams it.  I am sure of it, not that I have ever worked in an office.  But the dream of "chucking it all in" and heading of for a tree change and plunging into the world of living off the land is very alluring.

Of course the dream of fleeing the office-scape for a vineyard is all to enticing.  Who would not want to wake up every morning, looking out over their sea of vines.  Spend a bit of the day in the vineyard, chat with guests in the cellardoor, an agrarian lunch on the patio, a siesta, then playing in the winery in the afternoon.  Maybe some friends over for dinner with a bottle of the 2001 vintage from the cellar, such a great year.

Sorry folks, it ain't like that.

First off, it is agriculture. The seasons play havoc, plans never stick, too little rain and you struggle, too much rain can destroy you.

Then, you have to sell it. This seems to be put way back in the minds of a lot of small producers. It reminds me of a 1989 movie with Kevin Costner, Field of Dreams. The main punch line of this movie is "build it and he will come". Kevin builds himself a baseball field and people flock to his door.

Well it does not work this way for a small producer. You don't just make a wine and then it sells. People will not "just come". It takes a lot of hard work and marketing to be successful in selling wine.

And this week on the show I have spoken to 2 young winemakers Paul and Gilli, full of optimism and punch.  They have recently bought a vineyard and are renovating it with the aim of producing their own wine.  After a year they understand how hard it is, how high the highs can be and how heart wrenching the lows can be.  And with Paul's marketing background I hope they succeed and don't fall into the traps others have.

Here is the audio:

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