The Sonder of Time and Place
On a hot day in July, I stood in the dappled shade beneath a canopy of oak trees, surveying the faces of my beloved family. All 17 of us had carefully managed the outdoor stairs in our appointed order, made our way to our seats under the pergola, and now waited for the ceremony to begin.
We rose with the bride’s mother to watch my son and his beautiful bride make their way down the rustic, grand staircase on the hill to stand in front of their families.
When the music stopped, I got up to welcome everyone and start the ceremony. Overwhelmed with emotion, my voice caught in my throat as I invited each person to consider what it took for them to be present at this moment. How many hours did it take to fly from Canada or Switzerland? How many years and how many decisions had been involved in getting to live in those places? Even before we were born, our parents’ lives were orchestrated so each of us, whether two or 75, started out on a particular day in a particular place. Every step we took from that day forward had been part of our journey towards this very moment.
We sat and marveled together at the miracle we were experiencing. Our gathering was unique in every way and would never be repeated again.
We broke bread together symbolizing the sustenance of home, family, and our dependence on God. When it came time to pour the two glasses of wine as a symbol of joyful abundance, I pulled the wine bottle out of its white velvet bag and showed the two of them the label.
It was a 2024 Zinfandel from A. Rafanelli, made from grapes grown in Dry Creek.
2024 was a significant year for our family. It was the year the two of them met while living in Vancouver, and it was the year she first came to visit us in California. Dry Creek, and especially A. Rafanelli, was a significant place where she did some acting for a Conversations in the Vineyard promotional video. The label on the wine bottle invoked some of the sweeter family memories of 2024.
Later that day, we enjoyed a few more bottles of the 2024 A. Rafanelli Zinfandel with our abundant wine-country feast. The complex wine featuring a red fruit profile harmonized with the fig, brie and arugula flatbread, the panoply of roasted summer vegetables, the Baharat chicken with roasted grapes and walnuts, and the Za’atar laced tofu with melted eggplant for the vegans and vegetarians among us.
The 2024 vintage in Dry Creek was marked by a rainy winter, an early bud break in April, and a heat spike in July, causing harvest to come earlier than expected in August. This created a vintage that is described as energetic but balanced, with polished, rounded tannins. It’s a very approachable vintage.
The weather certainly impacts any vintage, but every vineyard is planted in a particular type of soil which also affects the flavor profile of the varietal that is planted. The orientation of the vines and whether they are on a hill or in a valley can change their access to water and sun. Of course, the decisions of the farmer and winemaker affect every vintage. All these influences, taken together, is what makes every bottle of wine unique.
Every bottle of wine is a signature of a time and a place.
Time and place are important markers for humans as well. Every birth is stamped by a time and place. Graduations, weddings, deaths are all time-stamped. Places carry the history of all that has happened there, and we point to places that carry meaning for us, almost as if they were part of us as well. Think of the home(s) you grew up in, a special vacation spot, or a place that has spiritual meaning for you.
In some ways we are each like a bottle of wine with a unique time and place reflected in what pours out of us into the cups of our people and places. Maybe it’s not just one bottle... Maybe it’s a whole collection of the various vintages that our life has produced. Each vintage is defined by the increasing awareness of our location in life, the ever-changing vicissitudes of life, the soil from which we draw nourishment, and the decisions we make along the way.
I’m regularly overwhelmed by the uniqueness of every human and the singularity of every moment. Think of it! Every human…every moment…throughout all of time in every place…unique!
In his book The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, John Koenig coined the term sonder to describe this sense of awe and wonder that every person has a story and no moment is like any other moment. I feel that same sense of sonder with wine.
So many wines, so little time!
But, even in wine’s myriad forms, they all share something in common. They are all situated in a time and a place. What are you drinking these days? Where did it grow? When was it harvested?
Next time you pick up a bottle of wine, connect a personal memory with the year it was produced. Be curious about where the grapes grew. Was it a single vineyard or did the grapes come from a larger region?
This month, the 2026 harvest has begun in the northern hemisphere. While we definitely enjoy past vintages, we look forward to what 2026 will bring. What will you remember about 2026 when you pick up a bottle in a couple of years? I’ll remember this was the year of the wedding under our pergola!
Cheers to 2026! Mazel Tov!
*All photos courtesy of the inimitable Cynthia Glassell.