It's the Olympics, a brief period of sports dominance. The TV programme is on full blast for me too, and that although I wouldn't call myself a sports fan. In any case, my preoccupation with and enthusiasm for sport is kept within narrow limits. Above all, the constant sprinkling of superlatives gives me trouble, especially with the Olympic coverage. But then - at very specific moments - the dams break for me too: I'm happy, I'm annoyed, then I can understand the (sports) world well or no longer understand it, and - at very emotional moments - I'm even tempted to give advice and instructions as if I could do it better. "Emotions," says the sports commentator just now, "are what sport can give us!" And the term "momentum" keeps coming up. Yes, momentum - it seems to me - ultimately decides victory and defeat at an Olympics where so much skill, experience, practice, commitment, performance, ambition come together. This reminds me incredibly strongly - forgive me for the comparison - of situations in the wine scene. For example: Only wines that trigger emotions are really good. Or: Who gets the coveted hundred points from the jury (mostly self-appointed and often consisting of only one person), and who even is the best among the hundred-point winners?
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| Momentum is a decisive factor at the Olympics. (Photo: P. Züllig) |
Olympics in the field of wine? An absurd thought? Actually it would be, if an almost Olympic fever had not broken out there long ago. This fever to reach the top of the world does not only last 17 days, and it does not only take place every four (or - including the Summer Olympics - every two) years. It is almost omnipresent in the global wine scene. Emotions everywhere! The terms that are constantly buzzing around both in sport and in the wine world are almost: identical: gold, silver, bronze, but above all emotions and a mysterious word derived from Latin, "momentum". I wrote about gold and silver - the medal blessing - 14 days ago. But what is this strange momentum that is always held responsible for victory and defeat? Even the much-knowledgeable Wikipedia doesn't quite get to grips with the term: "Momentum equals (duration of) a movement and stands for ● the English term for the physical quantity (impulse) ● a chart analysis, as a procedure for analysing stock market prices ● the title of a film from 2003 ● the name of a political-scientific congress in Hallstatt, Austria". But what does all this have to do with sport or even with wine?
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| Subject to judgement; it is usually the momentum that decides. (Photo: P. Züllig) |
If you look a little closer, momentum is something that can have a decisive influence on the performance of a sportsman, a winegrower, a wine critic or even the judgement of a consumer. Namely, when momentum is used to describe the momentum, the verve, the instant success or the favourable situation. "That's how she seems, quite calm - animated by momentum", I read in a recent report about the mayoral candidate of Paris. So the momentum has made its way into politics. It is supposed to inspire, calm, but also bring momentum and élan, as the case may be. Something that the wine scene can also use and uses extensively. At the moment, the momentum is favourable for organic cultivation, ageing in barriques, the so-called Bordeaux blend (assemblage of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and usually another more regional grape variety), the concentration of wines, for alcohol and fruit bombs, autochthonous grape varieties and, and, and... And almost like at the Olympics, there are more and more disciplines (in Sochi about a hundred) in which gold and silver are up for grabs. Mind you, only if the momentum is right.
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| Bordeaux tasting% the picture resembles a victory parade - only the podium is missing. (Photo: P. Züllig) |
This is how sports get swept up at an Olympics, for a few days or weeks, but soon nobody talks about them any more. They disappear again, at least from the consciousness of sports fans, hardly appear in the sports news and have to wait for the next Olympics. Only then will they perhaps be lifted up again onto the podium where there is gold and silver.
Isn't it very similar in the wine world? There are no Olympics (and no world championships either), but there are major events and fairs like ProWein, Vinexpo, Vinitaly, Wine and Spirits Fair, etc., where there is (mostly) no official competition, but there is a fierce battle for podium places that are rewarded with the gold and silver of attention, which is worth much more than those three hundred medals that are awarded at an Olympics. Momentum, which is so hard to grasp, plays an important role there too: only those who also use the momentum (and stage themselves in such a way that they are heard, seen and noticed) make it to the podium. Almost like an Olympics. At that moment, no one talks about the effort, the exertions, the failures, the disappointments that preceded. Those who reach the podium (perhaps) create a new momentum that - if it goes well - can last until the next competition - read: until the next wine event. And it's like everywhere: winners are celebrated - and soon forgotten again.
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| Wine fairs are also wine Olympiads. (Photo: P. Züllig) |
But in the field of wine there are officially no Olympics, no world championships either, but again and again (quite a few) occasions where the same terms as during the Olympics appear almost inflationarily - but are probably also quickly forgotten again. Terms like emotion, momentum, podium places, winners and losers. And just like at the Olympics, I'll be glad when the hype of all these terms dies down again soon. Perhaps then it will be time to take stock in an unspectacular way and soberly determine where, at best, the momentum is to be found. For me - attuned to my taste - probably solely in the quality of a wine, and largely independent of the momentum.
Sincerely
Yours/Yours