I’ve seen some amazing wine cellars - dazzling collections of bottles. I too have a wine cellar, but it’s not filled with bottles - it’s filled with friends.

My favorite wines are all from people that have meant something in my life. When I was younger I chased labels like everyone else, always seeking the latest and greatest. Now, decades later, I want to hear the voices of far-away friends when I swirl their wines in my glass. Memories are mixed into each wine.

Wine is a living beverage crafted by people full of life. It is that energy that makes wine more compelling to me. Perhaps this feeling is what led me to biodynamics as the essence of practicing biodynamics is weaving the power of life into agriculture - into wine. Vibrant wines, wines that live and speak of the people and the soil that made them.

There are so many memories that pulling the corks on these bottles releases. Wines without those emotions seem somewhat academic to me now. Delightful to be sure, but intellectual exercises as compared to passionate ones. The emotional connection to wine given to me by all of these memories is what I want to express in our wines at Troon. A winemaker’s wines should be filled with the dreams of other winemakers that have gone before them. Winemaking should be a quest for to transfer the life energy of the vineyard into the wine. The world is full of technically proficient winemakers and there is a need for industrial wines. However, there is still a niche left for soulful winemaking. It will always be a niche, but it is in this niche that memorable wines are found.

The wine is no longer enough. I want to remember a face and a voice, recall a conversation, a walk through their vineyard, remember a special dinner and on and on. Fortunately for me, after many years in the wine business, that list is long.

Now when I taste an exciting new wine, the first thing I want to do is meet the winemaker and walk in the vineyard. It is only there you can discover the more profound meaning to be found in wines full of life. That life comes equally from the vineyard and from the people that grew the fruit and made the wine. The total of a wine’s energy comes from all of these things. Perhaps this should be the definition of natural wine.

Of course, there is the other side of this. Wines that come from mistreated farms made by people that care more about trends than character always leave a bad taste in my mouth, no matter how expensive or famous they are.

Most people can never have these experiences. I know I am more than lucky to have met so many wonderful winemakers and walked in so many true terroirs. But there is the next best thing. This is where fine wine writers make a difference. I’m not talking about wine critics here. Nothing can steal life from a wine's story more than point scores. A great wine writer’s words made you feel like you know the winemaker and walked in the vineyard. If you choose well in what you read, you too will have a cellar full of friends.

Time to open a bottle for dinner. I wonder which one of my friends will be joining me tonight?