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I N T R O D U C T I O N . F R O M T H E . E D I T O R |
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. . . . Let me explain |
Not sure how, but in the last year, I took a seamless step from surf mag editing to wine mag editing. Kid you not. I know, I hear you - "Ludicrous!" cry some. "Where's the link?" ask others. "Surfers can read?" mumble the rest.
Well since I traded in the board shorts and 6'4" swallow tail for a waiters mate and a swollen liver, I can assure you that in all of my travels, I have never met two breeds of people, two niches in society who are more alike. LET ME EXPLAIN. There's the relationship both types have with the weather, nay, the way the weather plays with them like a teenage boy in the bosom of a woman. The quality of the surf and ultimately the wine produced are at the mercy of the greatest Mother of 'em all, Nature. The wrong wind with a beefy swell can have disastrous affects on what could have been the session of the year. Likewise for those watching the grape - wait a day too late to pick and your prize harvest ain't nothing but fruit salad. As a result, the conversation rarely strays far from the weather "Yeah it's not bad, nothing special but I hear there's a big low brewing down south that could bring some of the good stuff, eh." And on it goes, cultivating a constant bubble of hope and possibility riddled with having absolutely no idea. But that's cool, 'cause that's where the weather forecasters are launched into a dependency status much like that of an addictive substance. The length to which surfers and wineheads go to pursue and maintain their passion is often at a ridiculous expense. There's an old saying in the surf industry that's been plagiarised from one t-shirt to the next, it reads "My boyfriend said if I go surfing one more time, he'll leave me ... shit I'll miss him." Or something like that. You may laugh (and in fact, I think you're supposed to) but at the end of the day when the surfs good, you go. Same goes with the winemaking freaks of this world. I've heard stories of people airdrying grapes by hovering a few choppers over their vines. And of another, who sent pickers out into the vineyards with tweezers and a blowtorch, sorry that was in Pulp Fiction, just tweezers and a torch to pluck off split grapes from the rain-damaged bunches. Sure there were probably a few million dollars worth of product and livelihood being protected here, but please. The number of k's clocked up in the admirable pursuit of experience and knowledge is also similar. Both are pretty well travelled, showing a constant awareness of other regions and countries, always referring to people by the regions they come from: The west coast grommie, a trip to the east coast, a Burleigh Heads surfer. The Mornington Peninsula, the Barossa Valley, a Margaret River winemaker. Break up these regions and you get what defines these passionate few even more - their own patch of paradise. You see, the surf break is to a surfer what a vineyard is to a wine maker. It's their own pocket of bliss where they make it their business to know what happens in every weather condition, of every rock and soil type that characterises it, what the hierarchy of the locals is and, most importantly, when it works best. And if you own it, which is a much more lawless task when you're trying to nail down a slab of the Pacific with nothing but machismo and Heavy Local status, you really are the goods. And it's not just local knowledge, hell no, this thirst begs for quenching from all over the globe. The worldwide nature of both passions forces participants to look outside their box a little more than say, your average netball enthusiast. Some surfers are so savvy they can pick a break from a glimpse of a photo that reveals nothing more than the arc of the wave or the colour of the water. Same deal with wine, 'cept those blokes can sniff their way from one region to the next before the drop even hits their lips. Then there are barrels ... and we all know how important these are. The motivation for being a wine buff or a surfer really is little more than pure passion. If you had to try and explain it to someone who doesn't know, it's 'cause you love it. So, with the similarities exposed the question still remains - why go from surfing to wine if they're so similar? Well, I'd love it to be a little more highbrow than this, but it's not - it's fun, it tastes fantastic and I didn't believe the old geezer who told me you've gotta be old, rich, male and as dull as a bag of hammers to enjoy it. Easy as that. Sure there's a couple of challenges - he's one of them and I'm sure we'll all encounter a couple as we get on with it. But let's do just that now shall we? I mean, get on with it. And get into it. It's all there and waiting - exciting regions to discover, characters to meet, wines to drink, good times to be had. This is the beginning of some pretty exciting times. But for now I'm settling into my new chair and I can tell you from experience, that at the end of the day when you just wanna do what you love, it's much easier to frollick in a glass of wine, good or otherwise, than to paddle out the back and tuck into a few. You know not so long ago, a surf label used as one of it's advertising mottos "Only a surfer knows the feeling." Yeah? Well now there's two of us. Welcome aboard. Andrea Frost |