{"id":45,"date":"2019-08-22T09:22:57","date_gmt":"2019-08-22T09:22:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/winedivinity.com\/?p=45"},"modified":"2019-08-22T09:22:57","modified_gmt":"2019-08-22T09:22:57","slug":"wine-is-a-divine-potion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/winedivinity.com\/?p=45","title":{"rendered":"WINE IS A DIVINE POTION"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At the Bibich Winery\u2019s booth at this year\u2019s BeoWine Fair, I had the opportunity to meet one of the great charmers, poets and philosophers of wine, Mr. Darko Petrovi\u0107 Skradinjanac. After a rather long and pleasant conversation with him about the concept, essence and harmony of wine, Petrovi\u0107, although reluctant to grant interviews, nonetheless agreed to answer a few questions for <\/em>Svet Vina, for which I am immeasurably grateful. The interview was conducted during this year\u2019s Belgrade Wine Fair (BeoWine) and the Novi Sad Wine Salon. In order to fully preserve its authenticity, we are publishing the conversation in its original form.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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S.V.:\nListening to your thoughts on wine from the philosophical and metaphysical\nstandpoints, without trying to sound pretentious, in some way I see you as the\nsuccessor to the work of the brilliant Hungarian writer B\u00e9la Hamvas, who, at\nleast in these parts, is revered as a great philosopher of wine.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

D.P.:\nI consider B\u00e9la Hamvas my spiritual mentor when contemplating the phenomenon of\nwine. A great philosopher. When we consider the circumstances in which he lived\nand which surrounded him, his significance to the modern development of thought\nbecomes even greater. He fostered awareness of wine with its own principle\nusing magical poetics like a veritable wizard. Continuing his line of thought,\nI attempt to conceive of the essence of wine as a necessary confrontation with,\nor perhaps better stated, enhancement of the conventional view, which defines\nwine in its physical manifestation, in its materiality, outside of the\nrelationship with its intrinsic spiritual principle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nconventional view, based entirely on sensory perceptions and rationality, sees\nwine as a real thing based on its material presence, which is a pure illusion.\nWhy? Because, eternally oscillating or transient materiality is only\nsubstantive but not real, as this is only the world of things, while\nextrasensory principles or laws are those upon which reality exists, they are\nimmutable and that is why they are real. They govern the material world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imagine\nif I were to prove your essence through your physical, chemical parameters.\nYour height, your weight, the colour of your hair, eyes, the way you dress and\na thousand other similar data points. What have I actually said about you?\nNothing. By contrast, when I experience your emotions, your thoughts and\nfeelings, then I say, \u201cOh, this is a man with a big personality, I\u2019ll stake my\nlife on it.\u201d That\u2019s also how it is with wine. The mystery of wine lies\nprimarily in the experience ahead of any form of rationality, which are dead\nends, except for those which, having embraced intuition and instinct, move in\nthe direction of extrasensory levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Universal\nawareness as a constituent of time, i.e., the endless present, implies a higher\nlevel of awareness or abstraction than naked materiality in its physical\nmanifestation. And here B\u00e9la Hamvas, in a poetically unique and enchanting\nmanner, inspired by wine as a harmonious structure, i.e., \u201charmonized noble\nintoxication,\u201d raised high a cup of ruby tender wine, revering human nature in\nthe context of the supreme law of nature, the law of continuity, eternity or\nthe Divine Principle. The mystery of life is nothing other than resolving one\u2019s\nown finality, ascertaining how to be eternal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(\u2026) ’tis the morn; full of wine, a goblet make: The sky’s revolution delayeth not; haste make.\u00a0Before that ruined this vanishing world becometh, With the cup of ruddy tender wine, us, ruined make.\u00a0From the east, the cup, the sun of wine made appear; If pleasure thou seek, abandoning of the sleep make. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So\nsaid Hafez, certainly one of the greatest poets of all time, in the 14th\ncentury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From\nDarko Petrovi\u0107\u2019s photo archive<\/p>\n\n\n\n

S.V.:\nB\u00e9la Hamvas classified peoples by their preference for wine or brandy. According\nto him, the vinous peoples are the FRENCH, SPANISH, ITALIANS, GREEKS and\nHUNGARIANS. Since these assertions were made one hundred years ago, would B\u00e9la\nhave revised his opinions today, keeping in mind that viticulture and wine\nproduction have massively expanded throughout the world in the meantime?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

D.P.:\nMan is an integral being of nature. Everything that exists in the Cosmos exists\ninside him. At the level of contemporary inductive awareness, man is not even\naware of this. A major barrier on this path is the illusion of the material\nworld that man cannot break down by sensory and rational categories. That is\nwhy he uses his instinctive and intuitive cognition to find the way to his\nconcealed essence, his permanence, by using an \u201cunmoved mover\u201d or stimulant.\nHere I am speaking in the context of wine or brandy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

B\u00e9la\nHamvas conceived of wine as the \u201charmonious noble intoxicator\u201d which has the\npower to meld one\u2019s own consciousness into one\u2019s own supraconscious and\nsubconscious through a transpersonal act. Such an experience of one\u2019s own\ntotality necessarily conveys man to a higher level of awareness. This is why\nthere is the saying \u201cIn Vino Veritas\u201d or B\u00e9la\u2019s statement that \u201cultimately only\ntwo remain, God and wine,\u201d etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this world of illusion, take nothing other but this cup of wine.\u00a0In this playhouse, don\u2019t play any games but love.\u00a0 <\/em>\u2013 Hafez<\/p>\n\n\n\n

B\u00e9la mentioned the French, Spanish, Italians, Greeks and Hungarians, and even us Balkan peoples in the context of vinous nations, because these are nations through which a culture of wine developed. But since awareness of wine as a harmonious beverage had not yet developed in the conventional view, B\u00e9la rightfully referred to this as a prehistoric era. Genuine history begins with the self-awareness that wine is a spiritual principle in the form of a harmonious beverage. As noble harmonic intoxication, it takes us ad hoc from materiality and sensoriness directly to our soul, our concealed totality, where we are one with the Cosmic Principle of continuity, in which dimension of higher awareness we overcome our own finality. For B\u00e9la Hamvas, wine is definitely the beverage of the eternal now, the past, present and even future now, \u201cthe Divine Potion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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S.V.:\nWhat is wine, in essence?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nconcept wine<\/em> implies a complete\nsynchronization of the wine\u2019s structure according to its underlying spiritual\nprinciple of harmony. Everything else may not be called wine, but rather simply\na vinous structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nessence of wine is to drink wine, and the golden rule of wine is: \u201cImbibe me in\nmoderation.\u201d Normally this is not written on the goblet, but it is etched into\nthe consciousness. This means that one who is not aware of this is in no\ncondition to drink wine. By literally fleeing from oneself, one conceals oneself\nbehind wine. Many will say that the wine was weak, for it got them drunk. This\nis a blatant lie. Their addled heads got them drunk, to employ a humorous turn\nof phrase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both\nman and the grape vine contain the innate spiritual principle, that ideal principle\nof transmutation of energy, i.e., harmonized fermentation, which is why the\ncivilizations of Antiquity, and even before, revered fermentation as something\ndivine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nconventional wine market, i.e., the wine mainstream, has actually only\nscratched the surface of wine\u2019s essence. To pour wine on one\u2019s taste buds, to\nperceive it, memorizing its physical and chemical parameters, and then spitting\nit out, convinced that they have perceived what wine is, that is impermissible\nfrom the standpoint of the wine\u2019s essence. First, all physical-chemical\nparameters, the 1,350 that are known and the additional unknown two thirds,\nhave a fluctuating and inconstant nature, and as such they cannot have any real\nsignificance. Because if they were real, if this were true, then every normal\nwould produce ideal wine. Naturally, that can\u2019t be. Second, we are only aware\nof a very small objective number of physical\/chemical processes in interaction\nwith nature that create new physical and biological qualities in grapes every year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nprimary, secondary and tertiary fermentation of wine express its variety, or\npedigree, as an introduction to that wine. Time itself, as an absolute\nprinciple, has the power of constituting the harmony of enzymatic processes as\nthe general and core essence of wine. Without harmony, wine is just a physical\nand chemical structure, pedigree as an introduction to the wine is still not\nwine regardless of how many components are structured. Why? Because only wine\nas a harmonic noble beverage has the power to synchronize the human soul. This\nis why wine is the Divine Potion. This is why the wisdom of B\u00e9la Hamvas, who\nfostered awareness of wine as the principle of synchronization, persists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus,\nwine implies a condition in which all physical and chemical components, known\nand unknown, are balanced and harmonized to the maximum degree by the internal\nextrasensory spiritual principle of wine, the principle of time. Only such\nwine, guided by the wine-maker\u2019s vision, his spiritual (emotion \/ thought \/ feeling)\ncompatibility, his experience, instinct and intuitive perception of the\nextrasensory principle of time, or rather the principle of continuity from\nwhich he himself is structured, is wine. Only this kind of wine possesses, as I\nlike to call it, the wine\u2019s halo, as a confirmation of it as the Divine Potion.\nWithout its halo, wine simply remains a physical and chemical structure of\nvinous pedigree. Wine as a positive set of facts does not exist, nor is it\npossible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\nindividual who manages to become identified with the Divine Principle is called\na saint, and that\u2019s why the halo around his head represents the objectification\nof this principle as a general human good. That is also why the wine which\nmanages to identify, or balance, all components of its structure, known and\nunknown, with its own deep-seated spiritual principle of wine obtains a vinous\nhalo. A vinous halo is infinite tenderness, like the most perfect Chinese silk\nor velvet, that degree of synchronization in which all parameters are balanced\nto the utmost, where it is impossible at any moment to isolate one component\nfrom the whole, as every component expresses the whole. In nature only infinite\ntenderness constitutes the energy of eternal duration or continuity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is why in the principle of wine we revel in all of those wine-lovers and spiritual adventurers, who over endless sleepless nights melted into the harmony of wine, exploring their being and spirituality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWine comes in at the mouth, And love comes in at the eye;\u00a0That\u2019s all we shall know for truth, Before we grow old and die.\u00a0I lift the glass by my mouth, I look at you and I sigh.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>– William Butler Yeats<\/p>\n\n\n\n

S.V.:\nDo you agree with the opinion that a wine-maker, no matter how much expertise\nhe has, cannot make a good wine if he is not a good man?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

D.P.:\nVery simply, disharmony does not resonate with harmony, they repel each other,\nthey do not overlap. Malice emerges in disharmony. If a disharmonic soul could\nmake a harmonic wine, I am certain that wine would not exist. In other words,\nmany engage in wine-making, but very few of them manage to make a harmonic\nwine. The career of a wine-maker is very short. It takes an average of 15 years\nto become a wine-maker, and in the remainder of that life such an individual\ncan make a maximum of 7 to 10 harmonious wines. When contemplating the ideal\nwine, Rudolf Steiner correctly observed that wine needs about seven years to become\na harmonious wine. Anyone can engage in wine-making without any problems, but\nthere are truly few wine-makers. Thus, only a person who manages to reach a\nlevel of vinous harmony can be considered a wine-maker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

S.V.:\nThe eternal theme: pairing food with wine. Before, certain stereotypical rules\nor principles also reigned here, but today, in an era of molecular cuisine,\n\u201ceverything is paired with anything.\u201d Today presentations of wine without\npairing it with an adequate dish are increasingly rare.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both\noenology and gastronomy rest on the same spiritual principle, the principle of\nharmony, or, in other words, the principle of continuity. One and the other\nonly make any sense according to this principle. In the context of the human\ndiet, both are truly the most sophisticated relationship between man and\nnature. The mainstream, or conventional thought, still has not come close to\ncomprehending this. The phenomenon of pairing wine and food is only fulfilled\nin those attempts that correspond to the question of what to eat\/drink, why\neat\/drink and how to eat\/drink. And such attempts are truly quite rare. This\nset of problems is rather complex and deep and requires separate consideration.\nPerhaps we can delve into this topic on some other occasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

S.V.:\nYet another theme without end: women and wine.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ndeepest sense of a woman plays out in her femininity. This is a supra-rational\ncategory imposed upon man, but exclusively in the experience, as the highest\ndegree of harmony. Thus, femininity is the deepest poetic expression and as\nsuch the sole metaphor in the explication of the vinous halo. The halo of infinite\ntenderness. I repeat, infinite tenderness as the supreme principle of\ncontinuity, the sole energy which has a perpetual duration. I advise all women\nof the world: imbibe the harmony of wine in moderation and there will be no end\nto your femininity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE VINOUS SOUL<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To you who partake of me, I now, with each droplet, give you my counsel:\u00a0 Do not become obsessed with the semblance of my formal content, But while consuming Me in moderation, seek your Soul in Yourself! In it, You and I are One. On this basis, all hearts beat as one!\u00a0I remind you with joy that your existence is not just a mere fact, but rather a special gift! So, by drinking me in, you free yourself!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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DARKO PETROVI\u0106 SKRADINJANAC<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

S.V.:\nAnd in the end, tell us please, where and how did your spirituality of wine\nemerge, and why have you been proclaimed a wine savant?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My\nspirituality of wine emerged from my twenty years of friendship with the young\ncharismatic Skradin wine-maker Alen Bibi\u0107, of Bibich Wines, as an inspiration\nof the essence of wine and the spiritual principle of wine. In his wine-making\ncharisma he unconditionally believes and is fully aware that absolute nature\nrests in each individual grape. This experience which he carries deep within\nhimself, in his intuitive and instinctive knowledge, is that ultimate and\ndeepest dimension that conceals his secret as a vintner. This is that dimension\nwhich conveys his wines toward the phenomenon of harmony. This is not a\nrational dimension and it cannot be taught. You either have it or you don\u2019t. We\nare in essence two parallel worlds, of wine-making and philosophy. His mission\nis to make wine and bring it to full harmony, and my mission is to engender\nawareness of the being of wine, or rather its spiritual principle. This\nrelationship between wine and thought is as complementary as it is not. But we\nhave both, each in our own way, attained that level in which wine has truly\nopened its essence as the Divine Potion. This is probably the only winery in\nthe world in which each drop of wine created in the vision and soul of its\nmaker pours over into the spirituality and philosophy of wine. Bibich Winery is\na small operation, but it has immense credibility in the world. Throughout this\nentire time, inspired by wine as the \u201cDivine Potion,\u201d we create friends of wine\nin all parts of the globe, from New York to Belgrade, in an authentic,\nspiritual, simple and unique way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nnickname \u201cWine Savant\u201d was given to me after a very successful presentation of\nwines in New York by Americans who were delighted by my spirituality and\nphilosophy of wine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interview\nconducted by: Gojko Radanovi\u0107<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the Bibich Winery\u2019s booth at this year\u2019s BeoWine Fair, I had the opportunity to meet one of the great charmers, poets and philosophers of wine, Mr. Darko Petrovi\u0107 Skradinjanac. After a rather long and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/winedivinity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/winedivinity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/winedivinity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/winedivinity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/winedivinity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/winedivinity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52,"href":"http:\/\/winedivinity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions\/52"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/winedivinity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/winedivinity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/winedivinity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}