Recently, my wife and I watched a nationally televised football game between Humboldt
State University and Central Washington University (last year's league champions). HSU
won that game 38-36. Our son played on the offensive line. A lot of kudos were given to
the quarterback for his great throws and plays. Few kudos were given to HSU's offensive
line, which also played a great game.
Playing offensive line is a relatively thankless job. Defense gets kudos when they break
thru the offense and sack the quarterback or break up a play. Offense gets attention
when they screw up.....
A few days later, I realized a sort of analogous situation occurs in the wine industry.
The winemaker is the quarterback; the offensive line is the grape growers and the football
becomes the resulting wine.
In a football game, the offensive line protects the quarterback from the defense (growing
conditions, mildew, pests, etc.) and hands him the football (grapes). Their protection
allows him to throw the touchdown pass (a great wine) and win the game. It is interesting
that commentators at football games tend to highlight the quarterback when a great throw
is made. Rarely, do they give credit to the offensive line for allowing that throw to
happen.
So it is with great wines. Wine writers talk about the winemaker (quarterback) when he
makes a great wine. Rarely, do they give any credit to the offensive line (the grape
growers and their vineyards) without whose fruit, the winemaker couldn't have completed
the pass.
Like football, making wine is a team sport and there is no "I" in the word team. It would
be nice once in a while if wine writers and winemakers spent a little more time sharing the
spotlight and acknowledging the "offensive line" for the part they played in completing that
touchdown pass. The old maxim "quality grapes can make poor wine but poor grapes
cannot make quality wine" still holds.
