Social Farming

Hello there,

As we enter year 3 of Indie Wineries, I continue to learn so much about wine, life, people, and relationships. Although my time and my world are getting pulled in so many different ways, the "culture of the table" continues to be what I return to- what brings me home.

I lamented about the title "rep" last year. I've been lamenting about it for quite sometime, personally. The craft of what I do- what 'we' do as wine sales consultants is truly a craft. There's an art to it. There's a dedication to it; intricacies to the work that one learns over time.

During Indie Week this past March I was explaining this to one of our growers and happened upon the phrase "social farmer" in my explanation. Sounds under-handed, but it's not. Getting people to open their eyes and see what we see takes only one thing: trust. And trust is the foundation of all relationships. Without it, a relationship does not exist.

Trust cannot be bought, or procured. It's not a commodity. It's one of the truly great assets of the world (the first of which is time). Genuine trust takes no less than somewhere around 2.5 years to build. It requires living together through successes, and failures...through death, through fame...and it absolutely requires all of the grey, non-descript in-between time. Laughter is a healthy component to trust- although not entirely necessary. Being there and caring is what trust is all about.

And that is what social farming is.

Growers will start on day 1 and look at a parcel. They will spend time and muddle over what rootstock to use, what expositions to plant, which direction the vines should face, should there be irrigation, what rootstock should be used, and finally what clones of what varieties should be planted. They will then plant...knowing that they won't see fruit from which they can make wine for 3 years, and with a 1.5-2 year winemaking process, won't be able to sell their wine for an additional 6 months to a year. So, all in, they decide to make a product which at minimum will take them 4 years to get paid on. They are growers, farmers, it's a craft, and a dedication.

Rep'ing is equally as similar. 2.5 years...that's when trust is truly there. That's a healthy relationship.

The money is just a by-product.