Welcome to the newest facet of the Afianes webpage, our blog! We are excited to create this space as a way to better connect with our community. We want this blog to act as a place of creative convergence, in which we explore the intersections of wine, culture, art, gastronomy, and the emotional ties they bring about to our lives.
We want to go beyond that of a typical wine blog and truly build a platform of both reflection and relation, of curiosity and creativity. A place where wine is understood outside of its esoteric values, and is instead understood in a more holistic approach that complements our lives.
For us at Afianes, wine is the central tenet that holds us in place. It is the physical manifestation of the revolving forces of our lives, holding within it elements of our land, our culture, and our ancestors. It is both a creative force and a scientific marvel, a comfort and a connector. We weave our lives around our vines, and in doing so, absorb the natural wisdom revealed through this inherent connection to our past.
We love wine because it represents our own human potential. Our world very often mirrors that of the natural world, with some seasons bringing difficulties, and other cycles bringing delights.
Like vines searching for roots, we dig deep into the earth of ourselves grappling for answers. We ask the same primeval questions that have been echoed throughout time before us:
Who are we? Where do we belong?
To extend the metaphor, our fates depend on the same potentials as that of the grapevine. Consider the individual terroir of a human life: the circumstances of our beginnings, the particular growing conditions, the family that has shaped us. Have we been tended to and cared for along the way? Have we pruned and pulled the harmful aspects of ourselves that limited our growing? Have we honored our roots, savored our own unique intricacies?
Like wine, we evolve and age over time. We gain complexities and characteristics; we unfold into new versions of ourselves again and again. Wine represents to us the possibility of ourselves: to grow, to weather difficult periods, to reinvent ourselves, to bring joy, nuance, and maturity to our lives, and to continue getting better over time.
In this new project, we will be showcasing the voices of various writers. The first featured writer will be Mary Kate Fitzpatrick, an American sommelier and poet that is finishing her Master’s degree in Wine Tourism and Innovation. She will be working with Afianes Wines for the next few months, sharing her perspectives and experiences of her time on Ikaria.
We hope that you will follow along with us on this exploratory journey, to comment if desired, and to take part in our greater conversation. We want this space to feel the way that you feel when sharing a bottle of wine with a loved one. The world blends its edges a bit, the light seems softer. A sort of sacred atmosphere arises that encourages a space of reflection and connection.
That is our hope for this blog as well. Thank you for reading!