Disclaimer: The article that this blog post was a trigger of, is only a point of reference; and so is any article that I may have referred to on the internet, on the subject of wine blending. Any errors in my understanding, is mine alone. What appears in a font that is made bold,  are my thoughts on people blending.  

The teetotaler me is always fascinated by anything to do with wine.. I would peg that down (no pun intended :-)) to the way vineyards, colors of wines, names of wines and in the way the process of wine tasting have been described, in the books and the articles that I have read. And so when an article on wine blending (in the newspaper ‘Business Line’) caught my eye, I just gravitated towards it. As I read the article, I could not help, but draw a parallel of the process of Wine Blending to the process of People Blending.

As I started this blog post, I wanted to understand more about wine blending and when I googled, I realised that this was indeed way more vast than what I thought. What I have shared in this blog post seems to be just the tip of the iceberg.. Oops, the tip of wine blending, I mean 🙂

Wine made from the different grape varieties grown in different vineyards, are sometimes blended. This wine that is blended is greater (I assume in the taste and aroma and other characteristics of a wine) than what each wine was, prior to the process of blending –  Wine that is greater than the sum of its parts.

As I read this, the parallels that I drew are:

Grapes = Each one of us human beings which are the basic raw materials

Vineyard = The environment (comprising of family, friends, school etc) that we grew up in which influence each one of us, the way grapes are influenced by the environment it grows in..

Wine = The essence of each one of us, in terms of our attributes; and each one of us have our own unique attributes / characteristics that we bring to the bottle.. Sorry, into the life that we all live.. Well, can a bottle be compared to life? A comparison that seems so inappropriate as life is so vast and opens out endless possibilities and opportunities..

Wine Blending = Bringing together attributes of two or more people, in a relationship / situation. This then makes the ‘togetherness’ greater than each individual.. The whole is greater than each of the parts..

Before two or more wines are blended, it is important to taste each of the wines, to understand their individual characters (their taste and aroma). This will help to also be aware of their unique characteristics; to see how they will blend together. The proportion of the wines in the blend will need to make the person who tastes the blended wine, get the taste / aroma of the each of the wines. Neither one of the wines should dominate the other (s). Any imbalance in the proportion, may make the uniqueness of one wine to be hidden or jarringly seem obvious. This imbalance perhaps, is what would make the wine fall flat in the palate. Balance in the blend is the key criterion, for the taster of the wine to get the uniqueness of each of the wines in the blend.

Prior to two or more people consciously being brought into a relationship / situation, it is important to understand their individual attributes and their uniqueness. They need to blend well and the people who are the beneficiaries of the blending, have to see the uniqueness of each of them. The beneficiaries could be within their family or their friends or even people working with them, in an organization. When there is an imbalance in the characteristics of the different people in a relationship / situation, it does cause a lot of hardship to them and to others.

When a wine blend falls flat in the palate, at best one would not choose that blend the next time. The wine does not feel the impact, of it being not chosen. However, as people when we don’t really blend well, the impact is felt by us and by others around us. Each one of us (unlike wines) have the free will to choose and alter the proportion of our attributes / characteristics, as appropriate to the relationship / situation. So initially if we are put together in a relationship / situation, where we think that we are not blending well with the other (s), we have the choice to change ourselves or be the catalyst to change the other (s). Beautiful isn’t it, that while we may not have decided on the other (s) with whom we HAVE to blend, we have the choice to change ourselves to blend in well..

When wines are blended, it is important to know and understand where each wine is from. The type of grape, the climatic condition in the year the grape was grown and the soil in which the grape was grown. The climatic and soil condition of the place in the year that the grape was grown, has the power to change the aroma and  taste of the wine. This then makes the person tasting the wine, to travel the journey of the wine. Interesting to see how environment has the power, to change the characteristics of the raw material. Well, looks like the raw material has no control whatsoever!!

What a pleasure it is to draw a parallel to this!! Every person comes with a background and this background has its foundation from perhaps an earlier life (lives), experiences faced during childhood and right up to adult life (vineyard). The way a person is in his / her physical stature (grapes) also plays a key role, in the baggage they carry and the background that they demonstrate. In a relationship / situation, when different people are put together and are expected to blend in seamlessly, it is important for each of them and the others traveling the journey with them, to know and understand their baggage and background. This would certainly go a long way, in relationship building or in the way a situation is handled. The raw material that is us as a human being, has no control over the way we appear in our physical stature. However, each one of our attributes / characteristics (wine) could be changed by the environment that we are in. We have no control on the environment but unlike the wine, we have the power to bring in change to our attributes / characteristics. We call the shots sometimes and are helpless at other times!! That’s life -)

Anything that needs to be effective, has to have an expert or subject matter expert behind it. The winemaker is the one who blends the wine; and an expert winemaker is one who carefully blends the different wines in the appropriate proportion. They also ensure that each of the wines’ aroma and / or taste, is experienced by the person who tastes the final blended wine. The wine should taste well on the palate of the winemaker, as much as it does on the others tasting the wine, each time and every time. While it is said that anyone can be a winemaker, it takes many many years of effort and practice to master the right balance of blending. Nothing happens overnight and everything needs to go through significant time and effort.

Either we ourselves choose the person we want to blend with in a relationship / situation, or others make the choice for us (the wines that are blended do not have that choice, you see). If we are the people who choose those who are to be in a situation / relationship, a responsibility weighs certainly heavily on our shoulders. We need to be aware of the uniqueness of the individual’s attributes / characteristics. We also should be well tuned into the fact, that they may carry a baggage / background which makes them act the way they do. A tough responsibility for anyone to have, and maintain consistently too, each time and every time. The final result of the blending should be in harmony with the people blender and to the others, who maybe influenced by it. Strange but true certainly – We are the maker and the material.

As I come to the end of this blog post and one that will perhaps remain a special one to me, I can see myself in the future, touring a vineyard in France and also having the opportunity to meet an expert winemaker to learn more. Abba’s number ‘I have a dream’ is singing in me now..

Learning comes many times, from the most unexpected quarters!!