The similarities between flowers and wine

This week I've been thinking about my flower journey and the parallels it has to my journey learning about wine.

When I want to learn about a new topic, I have a tendency to dive in deep. When I first decided to learn about wine in my early 20s, I went all-in and enrolled in a Certified Sommelier training program. The Somm course changed the trajectory of my life in many ways. First, it helped me discover my love for Sonoma County Pinot Noir, and is a big part of why I now live in Sonoma today. Next, it changed the way I shop for wine and how I read a wine list when eating out.  Prior to my wine education, I felt like reading a wine list at a restaurant was like reading a foreign language. I'd glance through the list and randomly pick something, not sure what I was going to get or whether I'd like it. When you learn about wine, you learn to associate certain regions or grapes with different aromas, textures, and feelings. Soon enough, you start to read menus differently and pick out the producers or varietals you know from the list. I'd argue that wine knowledge can greatly enhance the quality of your life by helping you make more informed decisions about what you drink and where it came from. 

Learning about flowers has a surprising number of parallels to my experience learning about wine. In the past, I'd occasionally grab a flower bouquet at the grocery store and never thought twice about what type of flowers were in the bouquet or where they were grown. Over the past year, I've given myself a crash course in flowers by growing over 50 varieties from seed at a commercial scale. Just like wine, this education has changed the way I look at the flower aisle and opened my eyes to appreciate flowers in places I'd never noticed them before. Have those beautiful little gardens around Sonoma always been here, or have I just not noticed them until now?  Like wine, there's something oddly satisfying about seeing a flower and knowing how to identify it.

My final parallel between flowers and wine: they are both little luxuries that can make a big impact. In the same way that wine can enhance a meal, adding a bouquet of flowers can totally transform a table setting or change the vibe when you enter a room. 

You don't need to become a sommelier or start a flower farm to enjoy the transformative powers of wine and flowers. I encourage you to get curious about both - I'll bet the learnings will lead you to a beautiful place. 

Photos: Shelby June Photography