Page 10 - Code de Vino, #3/10, s/a 2009

Code de Vino #3
Винный клуб
10 10 Code de Vino Wine Club Code de Vino #3 Code de Vino #3 Беседа с Янисом Каракезидисом 11
10 Винный клуб Code de Vino #3 Code de Vino #3 Беседа с Янисом Каракезидисом 11
— Yanis, please, let’s taste your wine before it starts
warming up.
— Let it unfold, don’t be impatient (Yanis pours me a glass).
I called my wine Stretto because it reminds me of the
quintessence of a musical piece. It’s like a powerful harmonious
accord, the grand finale.

— It’s amazing (about the wine, after tasting). It’s leaving
a backwards aftertaste. Incredible! Only now did the wine
start working.
— You’ll wake up with a berry taste in your mouth. It’s a very
dynamic wine, it will keep surprising you... People often ask
me: “How do you get this effect in your wine? You play the
flute, right? Or something else is going on there...” I used
to brush it off, but recently I’ve started to think it over more:
something indeed must be happening. On the one hand, it’s
constant unpredictability and worries, because it’s kind of like
praying, like a mother praying for her child. Some effect indeed
does take place... Faith is important, nothing works without it.

— You remind me of Robert Mondavi, the renowned
American winemaker who brought America’s wine
production to a game-changing level, but did so by
expressing his attitude towards wine, without which
understanding and unfurling true wine is impossible. I
mean, it is one thing to make wine, but learning to express
it is an entirely different story.
— Right, a person must age together with wine! The ageing of
wine is a life-like process! So it is only fair. If I had more time
to position myself better, I would have probably achieved a lot
more. But the idea is most important, and the money comes
later. Maybe the money actually never comes, it doesn’t really
matter... You’ll always have some money if you’re skilled, but
what is it all worth without an idea? Without one, can a person
just keep drowning himself in existence? Do you see how this Янис – философ, музыкант, винодел
I might take a part of my own grape from the Sukko Vallery, or happens? Wealth is also a concept invented for the majority of
I might sample them from some other place. I can even source people to give them motivation. For example, you understand Янис – философ, музыкант, винодел
from Rayevskaya village, where there’s a small plot about half that money is not a global philosophy, and I do too. But...
an hectare in size, it’s all so fascinating...

— So it’s the experience of it, the pure alchemy that
attracts you most in this process?
— To a certain extent, yes. I can’t say in these moments of
insight that I follow any particular technological methods.
Rather, there is a certain period of time over which we,
sometimes several generations of people, sharpen the process.
And it always rewards us in turn with pleasant gifts.
You see, in my opinion it is the barrel that defines the wine.
I think that fermentation is best performed naturally, through
staves. The wine must breathe, that is, we must allow
microoxidation. We replace quick filtering with ageing wine in
barrels of Caucasian oak, which is no less superior in quality to
French oak.
Another interesting moment is that I use my own natural
carbon dioxide, not factory-made. When we’re crushing
grapes, the pomace, using traditional technology, I pump the
carbon dioxide directly in, leaving no time for unwanted active
oxidation.