Let our spirits soar

Long-time Napa Valley observer James Conaway mused about the impact of drinking wine in an op-ed in the Napa Valley Register on December 3:

I have been drinking alcohol since I was 15. That was a full lifetime ago, and I still have my starter liver….

Stu Smith of Smith-Madrone Winery once spoke of alcoholic consumption as part of the basic human need to feel the spirit soar, an elegant theory I recently asked a Jungian therapist about. He agreed with Stu. “People have always been interested in transformation,” the therapist added, “and that includes the transformation of oneself.”

Few things are more transformative than alcohol. Ancient alchemy – the beginning of chemistry – was an early manifestation of that need for elevation of spirit, with heat as the crucial element. Few things are more transformational than wine and spirits, both of which generate heat in fermentation, and in turn generate it in us, physically and spiritually.

Read the entire piece: https://napavalleyregister.com/wine/james-conaway-my-name-is-jim/article_add85d02-729a-11ed-805f-df5413bb6928.html

Author: corkingnapa

Julie Ann Kodmur is a second-generation Californian who was born in San Francisco and grew up in La Jolla. As an eighth grader she was the runner-up in the state spelling bee. She’s lived in Italy and New York and now lives in the Napa Valley with her family. She is a marketing and publicity consultant in the wine industry. Her business life can be seen at http://www.julieannkodmur.com. This is the home for the overflow. The ‘title’ is a reference to a sculpture honoring an Argentinean journalist who practiced his craft in the 1930s before literally dying for his words. No such drama here, just hopefully some provocative fun.

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