The Stories We Drink
What Pinot Noir and attention teach us about the lives we choose
I have never been good at reading fiction, as in, if given a choice, I will choose a nonfiction book over a fiction book. I also realize that this is not necessarily a virtue as history and culture has been shaped by the story tellers, both to liberate and oppress.
I am working on broadening my reading horizons, mostly as I drive (my job as a wine rep requires me to spend quite a bit of time in the car driving to see clients between Flagstaff, Sedona, and Prescott). For the most part, I try and choose audiobooks that I would not typically make the time to read a physical copy of. So for instance, I have recently listened to The Given Day by Dennis Lehane and Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. Neither of these books will be remembered as a classic that shaped culture, but they were still enjoyable.
Stories are important, whether they be stories we read or listen to or the stories we tell ourselves and live by. Stories shape us and our orientation to our neighbors, our community, and the broader world. Again, sometimes they are stories that liberate us, but sometimes, especially with the stories we tell ourselves or the stories we let others tell us, they are stories that oppress, confine, or squash us.
One of my guests on The Biggest Table was Jeremy Jernigan (you can listen to the podcast here). I came across Jeremy’s podcast, Cabernet and Pray, when he had a guest on that I follow on Instagram and it showed up in my feed. We connected online, briefly, and then met in person in Minneapolis at Theology Beer Camp. The irony of us meeting in person in Minneapolis is that we both live in Arizona—I am in Flagstaff and Jeremy is in the Phoenix area.
He reached out to me about being a guest on my podcast as he had a book coming out and wanted to promote it, and he said we should also probably talk about wine as we both love wine. In fact, on Jeremy’s podcast, he and his guest each enjoy a bottle of wine while recording. I find it interesting to listen to what each guest picks, because many of his guests don’t typically drink wine, so they will confess to quickly running to a grocery store or even a convenient store to grab a bottle, picking it because of the name or label more than anything else. I don’t say this to disparage or judge people (okay, maybe I judge a little), as if you are not in the wine world day in and day out, choosing a bottle can be overwhelming.
As I thought about how to make the conversation different and fun, I came up with the idea of each drinking the same two wines…Meiomi Pinot Noir and Lemelson Stermer Vineyard Pinot Noir. Two Pinot Noirs but two very different wines.
Meiomi is a widely available Pinot Noir from California that began as a project by Joe Wagner in 2006. In 2023, they sold 1.8 million cases, which amounts to over 20 million bottles. On their website, they don’t tell you much about the wine, where the grapes come from, how the wine is made, or what else might be added. Because the label says California Pinot Noir, we do know that the grapes come from California, and the wine is comprised of at least 75% Pinot Noir grapes (for a bottle of wine to say it is Pinot Noir, or any other single grape varietal, by law, it has to be at least 75% of that grape). Most people assume and agree that Meiomi is adding more than just Pinot Noir to their Pinot Noir.
Lemelson Stermer Vineyard Pinot Noir is from a family-owned winery in Willamette, Oregon which was started by Eric Lemelson in 1995. Before buying the vineyards and building a winery, Eric was an environmental attorney, so when we built the winery, he used all reclaimed wood from around the site, as well as concrete from the state. The vineyards are also farmed organically, and the winery uses a gravity flow system which means there are no pumps to move the wine, thereby not altering or changing the wine through the process.
Again two Pinot Noirs but two very different styles, and I would add two different stories being told.
Meiomi strives to produce a wine that tastes the same year in and year out. People go and buy a bottle of Meiomi because they know what to expect, much like people veer towards Starbucks when traveling because they can rely on the product whether in Flagstaff, Portland, or Paris.
Lemelson Pinot Noir, on the other hand, will taste different each year. What is awesome, beautiful, and a bit crazy is that Lemelson has three different vineyards that produce Pinot Noir, and they make a single vineyard expression of each. Tasting them side by side you get to taste the difference the vineyard site makes on the grape and the wine. The story of each vineyard is slightly different. That truly is the beauty of the Pinot Noir grape.
As Miles, the lovable character from Sideways, states, “It’s a hard grape to grow... It’s thin-skinned, temperamental, ripens early. It’s, you know, it’s not a survivor like Cabernet... Pinot needs constant care and attention... Only somebody who really takes the time to understand Pinot’s potential can then coax it into its fullest expression.”
Wine tells a story, especially good wine. There is the technical information behind the wine, information like harvest dates, brix (the amount of sugar in the wine grape), fermentation process, oak regimen, etc. And that information is definitely helpful and useful, especially for me as a rep but also some of my clients. But for the average person, they probably don’t care much. What they want to know is price and does it taste good.
And if Meiomi, or any other big label wine, is what started you on your wine journey, that is great. But hopefully you don’t stay there. If I can carry the story analogy here: when you were learning to read, you read simple stories, easy stories, but as you matured and grew in your comprehension you began reading more advanced and complicated stories. Meiomi is the simple story. It can serve a purpose, but if you stay there, you are missing out on so much beauty and intricacy and nuance that can open new horizons.
Eugene Peterson states it this way: “Without stories we end up with stereotypes—a flat earth with flat cardboard figures that have not texture or depth, no interior.” To put it bluntly, Meiomi is a stereotype of what Pinot Noir can and should be. It lacks texture, depth, interior. But again it can serve a purpose as long as we recognize it for what it is.
Peterson continues,
Storytellers invite participation. Storytellers make us aware of the way things are, not just aware as spectators but aware so that we can get in on this world of wonders, get our feet walking on its ground, picking a McIntosh apple from a tree and relishing its tartness, diving into a mountain lake and coming up invigorated by the baptism, holding the hand of a child and feeling trust pulse through those fingers.
A good wine, much like a good story, invites you into a world of wonders. While it would be great to go and visit each and every winery, that is not possible, but with a good wine, you should be able to, in some small ways, feel your way into the vineyards and the winemaking. You should taste the soil and the climate. You should taste the care and respect the winery and its team show the grapes, the soil, and the whole process.
Which story do you long for?
But as I sit here and write, I also sit and write from a place a privilege that many do not have access to. My job requires me to drink and sell wine of all different price points, which has allowed me to drink wine way beyond what Claire and I would normally be able to afford. I have drank beautiful Pinot Noirs from all over the world, Champagnes, Barolos, Cabernet Sauvignons, and on and on. It is easy for me to pick on Meiomi wine as I sip my Lemelson Stermer Vineyard Pinot.
I recognize this. If and when I do leave my job as a wine rep, Claire and I will have to evaluate our budget for wine, and make choices about what we will drink. Will we drink less so we can drink better wine?
Like with most choices in life, it will come back to the story we want to live and write for ourselves, our children, our community, and the world.