Is Winemaking an Art or a Science? | Mariam Robakidze | TEDxIBEuropeanSchool
The speaker, drawing on a 136-year family winemaking tradition, argues that while winemaking involves scientific processes like fermentation, the final quality is rooted in the winemaker's emotional investment. The core message is that wine conveys the winemaker's love, passion, and feeling, which cannot be captured by a mere formula, as demonstrated by a historical incident where correct steps failed to yield good wine. ## Speakers & Context - Speaker: Winemaker whose family has a 136-year tradition in winemaking. - Background influence: Winemaking within the speaker's family has been the biggest tradition influencing and inspiring the speaker. ## Theses & Positions - Winemaking is understood by some as a combination of art and science. - While science details the technical steps, the ultimate quality of wine is determined by the winemaker's emotion and care. - The speaker's grandfather taught that "winemaking myths loss without love you cannot get perfect wine." - The art aspect of winemaking is the expression of human creative skills and imagination, which brings joy and beauty to the audience. - Perfect wine requires infusing it with the winemaker's love and emotion. ## Concepts & Definitions - **Fermentation:** The chemical process where a substance is broken down into simpler substances, which alters the wine's flavor and color. - **Hot Fermentation:** Can reach up to 37 degrees Celsius; used for red wine to increase color and tannin; can lead to vintage condition in white wine. - **Cold/Cooler Fermentation:** Preferred method for red, white, and rosé wines to preserve delicate aromas that can be lost at higher temperatures. - **The Masterpiece of Art:** The expression of human creative skills and imagination through producing products that bring joy and beauty. ## Mechanisms & Processes - **Wine Creation:** Requires understanding the chemical process of fermentation to change grape juice into wine. - **Emotion Transfer:** The wine transmits the emotions (love, passion, beauty) felt by the winemaker, which is observable through taste, color, and smell. ## Timeline & Sequence - Family winemaking tradition: **136 years**. - Incident year: **2008**, when Georges of survival wore the family's collection. ## Named Entities - Georges of survival: Involved in a 2008 winemaking incident. - Plato: Cited philosopher whose quote suggests nothing more excellent or valuable than wine was granted by the gods to men. ## Numbers & Data - Family tradition duration: **136 years**. - Date of historical incident: **2008**. - Fermentation temperature threshold: Up to **37 degrees Celsius**. - Wine-making loss without love inability: A direct statement from the grandfather. ## Examples & Cases - **The family tradition:** Winemaking has been the primary influence for the speaker. - **The 2008 incident:** Despite following all previous successful steps, the wine produced was small, lacked good taste and color, and was undrinkable, demonstrating science alone is insufficient. - **Painting Analogy:** Painters with the same brush and canvas can create different results because they possess different feelings and emotions; no two paintings are identical. - **Plato's statement:** *nothing more excellent or valuable than wine was ever granted by the gods to men*. ## Tools, Tech & Products - Grape juice (raw material). - Wine (final product). - Brush and canvas (used as analogy for art materials). ## References Cited - Plato: Cited regarding the value of wine. ## Trade-offs & Alternatives - **Scientific approach:** Focuses on chemical processes (e.g., hot vs. cool fermentation) to achieve stability and technical output. - **Artistic approach:** Focuses on emotional input, believing this generates the superior, perfect wine that cannot be replicated by mere formula. ## Counterarguments & Caveats - The speaker notes that the search for a "perfect formula" in their own family was unsuccessful. ## Methodology - Comparing the fixed, repeatable chemical steps (science) against the variable, emotional input (art) to define the source of true quality. ## Conclusions & Recommendations - The ultimate goal of wine is to evoke specific emotions in the drinker through the synergy of taste, color, and smell. - The audience should aim to perceive the winemaker's emotional investment in every glass tasted. ## Implications & Consequences - The emotional narrative of winemaking suggests that human passion is the most valuable, non-quantifiable element in the process. ## Verbatim Moments - *"winemaking myths loss without love you cannot get perfect wine"* - *"wine is like a baby you need give it all your time to raise it but in the end your hard work will pay off"* - *"winemaking is not only the science but the masterpiece of art"* - *"nothing more excellent or valuable than wine was ever granted by the gods to men"* - *"I want to say that one brings not everything every emotion that was felt by the winemaker"* - *"if you take one painter there is no two identical painting"*