the incorrigible d grape: What Does it Mean to be a Steward of the Land

What is a steward but a guardian? What does it mean to be a steward of the land? By marketing and distributing wine am I by transference a guardian of the land? Yes, I believe so and this is something I take very personally.

Last July I visited Cornas. Cornas, which means burnt earth in Celtic, is at the southernmost tip of France’s Northern Rhone region. Staring down the sheer walls of the “Les Royes” vineyard, a south facing amphitheater which is a scree of limestone and granite, the idea that viticulture could be heroic became strikingly clear. Our guide that morning was Dominique Courbis of Domaine Courbis. Domaine Courbis is a 33 hectare estate divided between Cornas and St Joseph, most of their holdings are hillside vineyards which must be farmed by hand as they are too steep for machines. There are records of farming in Cornas which date to 800 A.D.

Cornas and Hermitage are the archetype for Syrah not only in France but in the world. The Chave family of Hermitage traces in roots in the Northern Rhone to 1472, twenty years before Columbus came to America. What prevents Chave from selling their 14 hectares to Chapoutier, Jaboulet, or Delas Freres? Why not sell the vineyards and live comfortably for generations? When Alain Voge of Domaine Alain Voge joined his father at their family winery in Cornas apricots were more valuable than grapes, this was 1958. What compels a person to persevere and endure with the land when the land is a crucible?

For murdering his brother, Cain’s punishment was to become a wanderer. It was Cain who founded the first city. Cain was a farmer, a “tiller of the ground”, his brother a sheppard. Cain was cursed by the ground, he became a fugitive, an exile. “My punishment is greater than I can bear! Today you have driven me away from the soil, and I shall be hidden from your face…” Genesis 4:14. For Cain the face of the Lord was the face of land.

The task of the wine professional is to deliver wine into their community with passion and direction. There is a difference between a merchant bottling from a commercial maker and a wine of place and distinction. This is a calling as the land is a calling. Through transference we share in the stewardship. Drinking wines of place we share in the passion of place.