Isn’t it interesting that while you’re reading a book, a word, phrase or a sentence will just grab you and resound inside you?

I have always enjoyed reading a book. Ever since I can remember and when the family would go to town on Saturday night, I would head for the town library. I would check out two or three books and read them during the following week before we would head back to town the next Saturday night where the cycle would began again.

While other friends and classmates were fooling around town, I sat with books. I still do sit with books and have found my taste in them has gone from those early Western novels, to the Cold War spy novels, to history books, to nature books to philosophy and religious books. What am I seeking in those books and why?

Recently I was reading Ann Lamott’s latest book entitled, “Dusk, Night, Dawn…” and something hooked me. I’ve read a lot of her books — she is real and doesn’t flinch from using any language to tell her personal and professional story. I like that in her. My favorite book of hers is, “Help, Thanks, Wow!…” because of its humanness and basic reflections. As I read her latest book, a sentence literally stopped me cold…

The Earth is faith.

Yes! There it was! Something I had grown up with, believed in, have tried to pass on to our children and have talked upon — the Earth is faith. All of life’s necessities come from the Earth and it keeps giving to us with the hope we’ll treat it with love and care. Do we collectively deserve that faith? There are times I wonder about that but I keep going back to the idea that the Earth is one very large book and, as we turn each page of Earth’s existence, it’s my hope we’ll begin to see Mother Earth for what she is — us.

All of us have stories to tell about the earth beneath our feet and how we have planted, cultivated and harvested crops, veggies or flowers from our efforts. It’s the soil that continues to give us the ability to be enriched by its essence — wine is a perfect example of how soil affects a wine.

The vine’s root system gets its energy and taste from the soil and its interaction with the environment. Some grapes need a hefty black soil with warm days and cooling night breezes in order to flourish. They need time to reach their potential and the soil hangs on to the vine and gives it time to do so. Other wines need the stony soil to reach their potential — Mother Earth provides it.

Argentina produces some of the worlds best Malbec wines and it’s because of a combination of soil and location that those Malbec vines give us the beautiful red full bodied wine. From the Mendoza region of the country, we have the excellent and reasonably priced Alamos Malbec. It’s very full bodied, dry with lots of heavy cherry tastes buttressed by some nice chocolate tastes. From this far south area of the Earth, we go to California.

California’s Russian River located in Sonoma County is a champion wine region. The region has a variety of soil types that range from dark loam to flinty and the wines reflect these soils of Mother Earth. La Crema Winery gives us an absolutely stunning Chardonnay that echoes the rich soils of that winery. The wine has terrific buttery tastes that incorporate some caramel tastes –what’s not to like?

Now to Minnesota and its challenging climate for grape growers. Thanks to the University of Minnesota’s wine development program, we can now grow wines in this sometimes very cold climate. The root stocks can live through our rather long cold winters and then raise their snouts to the sun in springtime to give us a nice variety of hardy wines. Falconer Vineyards in Red Wing has a very nice La Crescent that reflects the soil of the Driftless area — an area left alone by the last glaciers and is full of rich hardy black soil and stones.

Falconer’s La Crescent reveals a flinty taste, is acidic, off dry and semi-sweet. It kind of reminds me of a nice German Riesling. Along with some nice soft floral scents came a taste of apricot? Hmmm … very interesting and enjoyable as I sip a glass in a patio overlooking the vineyards. Yep, Mother Earth gives and we must receive with humility, love and care.

Ann Lamott is right. The Earth is faith. From it we gather our strength, nourishment and enjoyment and we must show her we have enough faith in ourselves to treat her and ourselves with tender loving care. She’s watching us!

As always, eat and drink in moderation but laugh with reckless abandon!

Cheers!