I wrote this on my return from a ten-day trip to Brazil to visit the wine country in late June 2012 ( Brazil's winter, with my patner Laurent Donchegay of Bralvin Imports of Brazilian fine wines to the United States, anthony@bralvin.com, Facebook : Bralvin , and on my blog : chatbrasil.blogspot.com ). Please check these out as we are about to receive our first order of the wines of Brazil in January, 2013 and I want to share more of all of that along with this initial enthusiasm that still feeds me so much later and makes me feel so great about this " new ' and timely venture/ adventure that Laurent Donchegay, Katarina Zubber and Anthony Quinn ( me, all of Bralvin Imports ) are involved with : sharing the wonders of both Brazil's fine wines and pretty much everything Brazilian with a public here in the United States that is still largely unaware of any of this magnificent bounty in Brazil.
It is also so timely with both the Olympics and the World Cup coming next to Brazil. Cheers, obregado, ola e bom dia para tudos! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn
Brasil is a study in so many contrasts and the experience of being there can completely transform one to a better place as one settles into the experience that is still typically Brazilian. I do not claim to know it myself : only my observations from looking, listening, recording and of course absorbing. I call it pretty much wonderful sensory overload. I welcome it all and have such a positive impression recently that I am pretty much exploding at the seams with excitement : like a giddy child just running up to almost anyone and blurting out one thing after the other in a steady stream and really not caring if anyone is really listening or not : just needing to let loose and share everything. This is a good place to be, believe me and this first blog is really just about making some general comments to stir the soul and further inspire the imagination.
I wish that I could be completely expressive in Portuguese and not have to rely on English to express myself here. I look forward to the time when my Portuguese comes back to me as I was once fluent in the Brazilian version of the language and started to forget it regrettably when I returned to the United States with my diplomatic, foreign service family at the impressionable age of just eight years.
Brasil is a tapestry and a filter of so many things all at once. It's winter there now and for many there it is cold. For us here in the United States I believe that we would consider it overall a very welcome relief from the intense heat that we are experiencing here on the East Coast now that has the temperatures at 100 degrees or so? I am currently comfortably sitting downstairs in our air-conditioned basement here in northern Virginia trying to collect my many thoughts and express them here as concisely and movingly as possible. Pictures will soon be added to this commentary as there are many and I may resort to some soon to better remember some of the sights, sounds, smells, colors and textures and patterns and wonderful contrasts.
Being an artist pretty much everything inspires me and often motivates me to express myself and share with others as much of my absolute joy and rapture of current feelings and sensations washing over and penetrating my " open-fully-to-life's-experiences " being. The more the better, just where to put it all? Where to record it - to preserve it all?!? How not to miss anything? I know that I missed many things and in some ways that saddens me. However, I also know that I learned and gained many things, too : so the balance of things gained versus those not is definitely in my favor.
The language is, of course a huge barrier of sorts. Seems like many Brazilians want to and are in fact learning English and yet their willingness to speak it first before falling back on Portuguese is obvious. In two occasions I heard English spoken immediately with no falling back on Portuguese immediately after introductions were made. That made me warm immediately as I have never until now tried to get my Brazilian Portuguese back. Now it is all that I can think of and I am busy reading the letters and thinking I need an English-Portuguese dictionary immediately.
So, having to translate from one language to another is indeed a great obstacle and yet even though I knew I was only getting some of the information I wanted, and giving some of the information I wanted to give : I was still immensely happy and proud and not complaining. You may ask me why that is? Well, there are so many things to take note of about Brasil that it is an impossible job and one that will take time and patience and more from me and so that simply further stimulates me to do more to learn the language so that I may more fully communicate and learn more about this rich tapestry of everything that is Brasil and that speaks to 5 generations now of immigrants that came from Europe, mostly from Italy and Germany to those areas that produce the wine in Brasil.
The pastel colors everywhere in southern Brasil are so inspiring : I call it " eye candy " and I cannot get enough of it. The delicate lavender, yellow, pink, peach, greens, baby sky blues and more on the buildings, homes, sides of the roads, clothes worn and hanging so often to dry in the available amount of sunshine and winter's breezes : it makes an immediate impression on me. I loved it : ate it all up with my eyes.
There are also the stronger, brighter, more intense colors of Brasil - the " Cadmium colors " of the oranges and the lemons growing everywhere that the eye could travel : even in the winter! The bright red walls of the small bus stops with bright deep dark greens along the road from Porto Alegre to Bento Concalves was an amazing meal for my eyes to register and digest and made for as rich an experience for me recently as many that I could ever hope to have - ever .
The varied vegetation from Cactus plants in all shapes, forms, textures and sizes coupled with the Hydrangeas with dried, matted, dead dull-brown colors was not immediately evident to me what they were at first? It took me several minutes to digest all of this and to realize that these rows-upon-rows of brown, small clusters of brown that lines the roads and fronted many of the vineyards and rows of vines took awhile for me because right next to them there might also be all these orbs of bright yellow oranges and even brighter lemons just beside them to pull my eyes away from them so quickly!
City life to suburbs to being really in the country to driving up high into the mountains in winter with thick, enveloping fogs that permit for very little visibility with much moisture, narrow lanes to drive in with a small EPS system that can get confused and that does not speak : add to that Brazilian drivers that each own the road or think they do, people walking and crossing just about anywhere without seeming to be much aware of the moving vehicles all around them, especially all the trucks as much of the business there seems to be done with them? Include the hundreds of billboards for announcements of all types and kinds and so many businesses that are temporary and others much more permanent that survive because of the movement on the roads : it's all a moving tapestry by the roads and quite a quick one, too. There does not seem to be as much time or space for errors in judgement when moving along at these velocities.
Then there are the modes of transportation like the small Fiat that seemed much like the older, the first Volvo's that came to the United States that were like small tanks, only in this case even smaller. These all add to the sense of excitement and adventure that is Brasil today in the winter, with one-way roads, small country roads, one-after-the-other with vague-at-best addresses that the EPS systems cannot find and so frequent stops are required along the way to ask the local residents for directions.
You have to take a rather laid back approach to this all and give things more time to accomplish as there are always delays and yet no one seems to be that concerned or worried. In some cases they do not even know about your arriving and do not know the names of your contacts? You ask yourselves how this is possible and the response may be that it is Brasil and the ways things are clearly still done in Brasil.
The great thing though is that things still do get done in Brasil and they are often quite impressive. Patience and not being in a rush are important so as to be able to fully take advantage of the situation and the opportunities open to one. That does not take long to discover if one pays close attention. Expect to do some of the business and the time together speaking mostly Portuguese with some other languages thrown in. Remember that Portuguese is a romance language and that Spanish can be used because the sound sounds much the same even though the writing can be quite different. That's a real bonus if one speaks Spanish. And if one speaks Italian and finds themselves in Nova Mantua then they are really lucky as Italian is still spoken there.
Parts of Brasil really do look like slices of Europe and especially of Italy , especially in the wine regions. That is great news as the overall impression that one gets is that people other than Brazilians come there for business while the Brazilians come for pleasure, too. People come and they visit but I do not think that they stay. I did discover that there was one English gentleman living in Bento Goncalves with his Brazilian wife. And there is an amazing Japanese restaurant in Caxias Do Sul and that the sushi is delicious and as good as it gets. Perhaps they came from Sao Paulo as it is said that there are many people there that came from Japan?
So many things to explore, so many things to learn. It's all well-worth the effort one puts into it. Being proactive and reaching out and not loosing patience and following through on things are the key because perhaps the best word I can come up with are that there is a certain relaxed manner of doing business in Brasil? It may be for them to gain their footing better? To see things more clearly, to not rush? Perhaps things have to be studied and looked into? Perhaps other family members have to be consulted as so many relationships seem to involve the family and not always large and impersonal corporations? Just questions to pose and consider?
I have much to say on the subject of wine and so far I have expressed a lot of it one-on-one as is my preferred fashion of communicating. I think I will leave it that way for the time being and if anyone wants to hear more they simply have to contact me and the dialogue may continue. That is certainly my desire as I have learned so very much recently and have spent much time organizing and developing my thoughts on this subject. I do not feel that by any stretch of the imagination that I know it all yet I do feel that I have gained many valuable insights into the modern, current Brazilian wine world. That excites and energizes - yes, fires me. There's so much to say, so much to learn, so much to do and further develop and this is all so wonderful and refreshing and I do say " bravo " to the owners, winemakers/ oenologues.
It's like going back in time. It's like seeing a bit of ourselves in the past. It's a bit like seeing some of the things that we could have done, might still consider doing and incorporating into the wonderful fabric and textures that are the United States? It's also a real eye-opener as well as a palate treat and an awakening of smells that we may have forgotten along the way and that do not realize anymore that was once a driving-force and " the norm " for life-gone-by? It's also perhaps a wake-up opportunity to steer things back to a direction and time that can inspire us to " right the balance "? Here there is everything for thought and everything to still be learned/ re-learned, gained and enjoyed with little or not time to waste. Please do comment here, please to share and please do feel call to contact me anytime at : tonythewineguy@gmail.com. Let's talk more. Cheers. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn of BRalvin Imports. Reach me at : anthony@bralvin.com and also at : tonythewineguy@gmail.com OBREGADO para tudos ...
