Wrestling reality just as fine as wine

You wouldn’t think there would by any confluence between making wine and professional wrestling, but that’s the great thing about this job. If you keep an open mind, all sorts of good things happen.

I had the pleasure last week of attending a couple of local events: the Wrestling Reality show in Kentville Monday night and Gaspereau Winery’s ‘Evening with Riesling’ on Wednesday. Each was outstanding in its own way, although I daresay the wrestling was certainly more physical an exhibition than the winery event.

But if you consider artistry and artifice then it’s possible to recognize that both evenings were part of a general mosaic. Indeed, consider elements of presentation, detail, public response and product and winemaking and pro wrestling aren’t so different after all.

I’m not saying that crushing those extraordinary grapes to create a superb Riesling is comparable to a piledriver and a pin. That would be outrageous. However, look carefully at the four elements noted above: presentation, detail, response and product. Each defines the other and forges, for lack of a better term, a business case.

First, it’s helpful to have something people want. If you love wine, for instance, the advent of Riesling in this region is cause for celebration. Its delicate balance of sugar and acidity literally thrills the palate and Gaspereau’s winemaker Gina Haverstock has done a stellar job of coaxing a playful, fulsome flavour from the grapes.

Wrestling, to my mind, is a direct descendant of the Roman circus. It has a popular appeal that boggles and fascinates. It’s rough, sweaty work, but there’s no denying its precision and artistry. Only the best are chosen to perform; you either have it or you don’t and fans ultimately determine your fate; thumbs up or thumbs down.

Winemaking and wrestling rely on nuance, an unyielding attention to fine detail. If the fermentation temperature is off or the grape isn’t handled lovingly, the wine will not be as satisfactory.

In the ring, a misstep could lead to serious injury. Each move must be precise and the technique ingrained so the action is seamless, choreographed so that participants have the physical ability to do it again the following night for another throng of cheering fans.

Finally, after trial and error, you have a product. For Gaspereau Winery, a 2006 Riesling that’s available to the public in two weeks and which was received lustily at last week’s pre-launch.

For those associated with Wrestling Reality, a program rife with action and intensity that had fans on their feet at Centennial Arena, and a concept that will assume even greater proportions when it airs on The Fight Network.

The products are different, to be sure, but the process? Nearly identical in execution and each seeking the same goal – popular appeal.

Whether a brand new wine or a routine as old as recorded history, each adds to our lives in one way or another and it was great to have been included.