From Estate to Reserve
Last week I took a trip to California. I It was a “siblings trip” my sisters and I had planned for nearly a year. We had an incredible time and thoroughly enjoyed the trip to the Napa and Dry Creek valleys. I sampled some really good grape juice out there. While this is not a blog about wine, that incredible drink drove home for me how we can tweak nuance to create stars. At one point we were visiting the Odette Winery in the southern part of the Napa Valley. As we were sampling their Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, our sommelier, Emir, was telling us about their vineyard and the rows from which the grapes were harvested for that particular bottle of wine. They happened to be the ones were looking out on as were we eating cheese and chocolate while sampling the wines. As we were discussing what we were smelling and tasting, he offered a ”side-by-side” tasting of their Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. Those grapes, he said, were harvested about 20 meters closer to the Stags Leap Palisades in the Vaca mountains than the ones in the Estate Cab (closer to the Napa River). Same vintage, same wine maker, same patch of ground. Yet the difference was striking.
Picture yourself in the vineyard, gazing out over the rows of grapes, blue sky overhead, sun beating down, a gentle breeze. The grapes are magnificent looking and ready to harvest. You can see the entire estate. You have tasted the fruit. It’s where it needs to be. I’ll bet you could just blend it all together and make a really good estate wine. Take everything, mix it together, and you’d end up with plenty of bottles most people would happily call “worldclass.” Getting those grapes from vineyard to bottle would still demand knowledge, talent, long hours, and serious commitment. Compared to what they’re actually doing—curating, separating, refining—it would be orders of magnitude easier.
As we work with our patients, do we “blend’ our approach? Does a Dx turn into a plan? “I have a diabetic trans-tibial coming in at 2 and CVA with drop foot at 3.” Maybe I am over-simplifying, but I am sure you get the gist. We tend to do the same with the people we work with, putting them in convenient boxes that make our lives a little less complicated. The work will get done.
I think that is a big difference between the “art” and the “science.” No doubt, the science is going to get you 80 percent of the way there. You will create a functioning system and your patients will be better off for your intervention. And obviously we have to take into consideration the economic reality of life. I am not going to open a $200 dollar bottle of wine every time I want a sip. We can get a decent bottle of Napa wine for $20, but sometimes we have to let the artist come out so we can explore those subtleties and draw out the uniqueness of each experience.
Final Thoughts
As we develop talent, or as we work with patients, we have a responsibility to get to know each person at a deep level so that we can help draw out those unique characteristics that showcase their uniqueness and make them shine on their own. There is tremendous satisfaction when something we create is appreciated by others. We don’t do it looking for compliments, we do it for the love of the game. To see if we can capture one more element…it is about refinement and passion for excellence.
Not that I am comparing selling price with value, but case in point, Odette sells their Estate Cap for $174 a bottle. They sell the Reserve for $724 for a 2-pack. There is a striking difference among the same varietal grown in the same general area and harvested at the same time in the same year yet so incredibly different in outcome. Are you recognizing and developing the people you touch into the best they can be?
I think we think of average negatively. But by its very definition, average is the box most fit in. On the surface, assuming your standards are appropriate, there is nothing wrong with average. I’ll take an “average” Napa Cab, or Dry Creek Zinfandel any day. But give an artist the opportunity to make those grapes, the terroir, the sugars and environment shine through, and the output can blow you away. When you let your artistry shine through to your patients and your staff, how can you go wrong?
