Spiritual Truths I Gleaned While Visiting Wine Country (NY Finger Lakes Region)

Recently, I was able to travel with a fellow travel writer to upstate New York wine country (the Finger Lakes Region) and explore some amazing restaurants, vineyards, and sites.  I could’ve spent all day riding horseback through the mountains, wandering through the rows of vines, and chatting with farmers and bed and breakfast owners.  I walked away refreshed to head back to everyday life, and encouraged by the hospitality of the business owners we visited.  But maybe even more importantly, I walked away chewing on some spiritual truths I gleaned while visiting wine country.  (Because isn’t it true that God can remind us of His truths in any context?  And whoah – delicious food, beautiful places, and kind hosts seem to help that happen.)

A few spiritual truths from winemaking:

Stress can create sweetness.

In wine world, stress on grapes can actually add to their sweetness.  It seems the harder a plant has to work, the sweeter the fruit and the resulting wine.  A particularly bad weather season puts stress on the plants, and somehow they seem to thrive from the hard work they do to get through it – they become stronger for the hardship.  We learned at one vineyard that the plants seem to actually love hard, dry areas, and the wine they produce shows it in its depth of flavor.  In the same way, when we walk through hard times, if we yield to the possibility, we can actually become stronger, as we nourish a sweet spirit, a tender heart, and a wiser self, because we tune our ear to hear what God wants to teach us in the moment.  Conversely, if we fight His gentle ways, we can become bitter and ugly, and miss the opportunity He’s given us in the hardship to grow stronger and sweeter for it.

Late harvests and old vines make for depth and richness.

When grapes stay on the vine later, as moisture evaporates, the sugars become more concentrated and the fruit becomes sweeter.  Known as late harvest grapes, these grapes produce dessert wines and other sweeter varieties.  When it comes to spiritual life, sometimes we must wait and watch for how our experiences and our knowledge will grow wisdom and equip us to serve well.  Often, I see myself and others try to quickly speak and show off our “knowledge” when it’s still fresh and undeveloped.  We can be afraid our chance might pass us by if we don’t do all the things everyone successful around us seems to be doing (by whatever we measure “success”).  We can rush to “produce fruit,” or dump out all our struggles for the world to see, without waiting for the resulting development of our stories our our souls, we can put the glory on ourselves or our struggles, instead of on the Vine-Keeper who knows how to nurture us to maturity.  We often think we have to be young and outspoken and visible to leave a mark.  Yet I’ve seen some of the most amazing influence wrought by older, quieter friends who’ve truly walked hardship, who’ve lived a lot more years than I have, and haven’t missed their chance at all.  If we can be patient and wait, often God will pour into us and out of us, because we’ve added depth of knowledge and richness of wisdom to our character.

“Noble rot” can add character.

Recently we heard a sermon about Job, and one of the things I took away from this heart-wrenching, but hope-giving story from history, is that God can, and will, use evil for good.  He promises that He will (see Romans 8:28 for context).  In grape growing and wine making, there’s this gross thing called noble rot, which is a fungus that essentially rots grapes, causing them to shrivel on the vine.  Like late-harvest wines, grapes that have experienced noble rot have higher sugar content, because as they’ve dehydrated, their sugar levels are intensified.  This leads to wines with a sweeter flavor, richer feel, and highly desired, complex flavor profiles.

While we need to use wisdom with our company and time, we can be assured that even when bad things come our way, they can be used for our growth.  When I’ve walked through (am walking through!) really, really, hard things, I’ve had to wait sometimes a seemingly interminable amount of time to see this come true.  But I have seen it.  When bad things happen to God’s people, He will use them to grow us and to be glorified so that others might know Him.  He is that kind of good.  

A good wine is worth the wait.

Did you know it can take years before a vineyard produces a usable crop for wine-making?  You don’t plant a few, or even a lot, of plants and whip up a batch of Merlot in a season.  Patience and diligence and really hard work are required, for what seems an unfairly long amount of time.  And there are “old vines” which have been around for generations, known for their incredible product precisely because of their age.  Similarly, we may plant seeds spiritually, invest in relationships, invite others into our hearts, our homes, and our lives, and not see “tangible” response for years.  But when we commit to investing in the lives of others and we’re willing to stay in it for the long haul if called, there is often an incredible sweetness that builds in friendships and family.  Sometimes, lives are even transformed by our willingness to give big, love deeply, and speak truth in love, over time.

Want more information on the Finger Lakes Region of New York?  My friend Naomi wrote an awesome travel guide to the Finger Lakes Region.  She and I were graciously welcomed by  Watkins Glen Area Chamber of Commerce and Steuben County CVB during our stay in the Finger Lakes. All opinions shared are my own.