How we plant vineyards #3: hobby or way of life?
“How much acreage is under cultivation?” was one of the three key questions I asked myself at the very beginning. Statistics show that currently, Poland has no more than 700 hectares of vineyards, and more tellingly, we have the same number of vineyards.
This means that our winemaking is still a hobby, with a typical vineyard area of less than one hectare. Of course, considering that viticulture in Poland has only been reviving for the past ten years, and practically from scratch, even the current hobby stage is already a significant achievement.
I must admit, however, that although this is a fundamental question, I knew the answer from the start. It’s probably hardwired into my DNA that when something sparks a sense of passion and a willingness to commit myself completely, I take it seriously. It’s the same with wine. It was the same when I was collecting stamps as a ten-year-old, then publishing an international affairs magazine at university, and later, in my professional life, creating an internet company and teaching and promoting Argentine tango in Poland.
It’s a known fact, however, that life throws us into various ruts, and the image of jumping from passion to passion would be too good to be true. I took on jobs, especially at the beginning of my professional life, that I instinctively disliked. This included selling classifieds, working in a university library, and even positions in bureaucratic government and corporate structures. These jobs simply weren’t for me; I felt it in my bones, and perhaps because I didn’t feel any greater obligation to others, I could afford the risk of trying something new. Although I didn’t see it that way at the time, now I’m grateful I was exposed to things I disliked, because such activities teach humility, and besides, often, to recognize what you like, you first have to drink from the cup of bitterness. Trite, but oh so true.
From these considerations, we can guess that my answer was: I will produce wine as a way of life. This means, above all, that at some point we will make a living from wine, and with a bit of luck, we will pass the baton to the next generation. Of course, everyone has different requirements and an idea of how much they “need” to live, so there’s no single rule. For us, after initial calculations, I concluded that we need a minimum of 5 hectares of land to cultivate.