Jason Haas of Tablas Creek Vineyard (left) shows a visitor how to check grapes for ripeness.
"We are passionate about what we do," "Our passion translates into quality," "Our family has always been passionate about wine."
Using the word passion does not convey passion. In fact, it does just the opposite. The word passion is too broad and imprecise.
To communicate your passion, take the same care in describing your business as you do in your growing, winemaking, and packaging. The goal is to make other people use the word passion when referring to you … without ever using it once yourself.
How to convey your passion:
1. Look at the details of your operation. What specific things do you do in the vineyard and the winery that make you different from your competitors? What methods require more time or cost than other available methods?
3. Look at the things that annoy you, that you feel constantly at odds with, the things you are eternally tweaking. Is adjusting humidity in the cellar your pet project? Does soil testing and dirt mapping fascinate you? Does the leaf pulling or shoot thinning always need perfecting? Do you have an obsession for experimenting with yeast or oak?
4. What are you constantly seeking to learn? Sometimes one’s passion is defined more sharply by humility and a quest for knowledge than by certainty and braggadocio. What aspect of viticulture or enology is the most mysterious and endlessly fascinating for you?
5. Do you want to tell the story of your family heritage? Include intimate details of the family connection to wine; bring us into your home and life. Spin a tale. Was the smell of fermenting wine part of your childhood? What did the cellar look like to a child? Do you have a memory of your father or grandfather’s strong hands and forearms punching down the inky purple wine? Do you remember him tasting his wine and closing his eyes, his head thrown back in a trance-like communion with his palate? Was this a favorite time for you to be underfoot; were you invited to participate; was there a feeling of family bonding during harvest? It is a mysterious feeling for a kid to be involved in something so historic and transitional—it’s a rite of passage of sorts. Or perhaps the family history is more centered on vineyard life—again, share the details, the very precise memories.
Brad Buckley explains the myriad dangers that can beset young abalone at the Ocean Rose Abalone Farm in Cayucos.
Communicating your passion is not hard, but it does take effort. Tap into your innermost memories, look at yourself with unsparing clarity, describe what you see and hear. If your passion is real, make it real for us too—your readers and customers. Tell your story, and then other people will say about you, "Wow, that family is really passionate about what they do."
Great post! Love reading your articles.
Posted by: Tia | 11/25/2011 at 03:55 PM