Which is most important:  knowledge and precision or inspiration and free thinking?

Well, to make a very good violin or a very good  wine, it's absolutely necessary with lots of knowledge and lots of precision. With only inspiration you'll not produce anything above miserable. But to reach a level beyond "very good", once you have the necessary knowledge, precision and experience, that's where inspiration and new ideas come in handy. Luckily, there have been luthiers and winemakers in the past who have expanded the frontiers, creating instruments with new possibilities for musical expression, or new styles of wine.

                                 Kloo violin nr.50, based on late examples of the work of  Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesú.

Today, luthiers and winemakers have access to a vast amount of information about different styles of violins/wines, and the methods of production used today, as well as historically. So we have more spices in the spice rack than previous generations. We only have master the way of combining them to get those really delicious textures of sound or taste that can make people experience moments of bliss.

During some periods I've made great efforts to solve different problems, like getting a better sound and response when playing in high positions. I've studied the way the violin vibrates in different frequency ranges, and tried to control these vibrations by controlling the flexibility of different areas of the violin top and back. I've thought about the influence of the bassbar, varnish and so on. Then, suddenly there's a breakthrough without even the feeling of effort. I think that's when intuition has done it's job, combining all the information and experience at hand in a smarter way than logical thinking was able to do. We all know the experience of desperately trying to remember a name, and then when we forget about it and relax, it suddenly appears in our consciousness.

So, the answer is:  both knowledge and intuition is needed to reach the really high levels of artisanry, and to expand the frontiers. In winemaking, violinmaking, architecture...you name it. Of course, we all knew that, didn't we?

Domaine Saint Ferréol is a vineyard located close to Nizas, south of Pézenas. It's run by Jorje and Ania Maslakiewicz, a charming English couple with Polish ancestry. I met them yesterday and tasted their excellent wines at the Christmas market at the Château de Cassan.

It was obvious from the first sniff that these wines, a viognier and a syrah/grenache had seen some really well managed oak ageing. The viognier was really something special, and I'll get back to that wine another day. I brought home a few bottles of course, and tonight I opened the syrah/grenache.

The wine has a brilliant ruby colour. The nose reveals an earthy, complex aroma of prunes, cedar, vanilla, black pepper and black currant. On the palate there's quite a bit of acidity and tannins, with prunes, black currant, cedar and black pepper dominating, and with hints of vanilla and really dark chocolate, all in an autumn forest setting. The texture is elegant and mouth watering, which makes the wine a good companion to a fine dinner.
I had a piece of Cantal Entre Deux with the wine, which was a perfect match. Deer or elk with a mushroom sauce would probably be fantastic.
This is not a typical Languedoc wine, but more reminiscent of a fine Bordeaux. It  would be difficult to find a wine in this style, with this quality for less than twice the price.
I encourage you to visit the St. Ferréol website. You might be tempted to book a week or two in their beautiful vacation villas, right here in wine paradise.
Domaine St.Ferréol