{"id":7036388,"date":"2026-08-10T08:39:40","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T08:39:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/uncategorized\/hand-in-hand-tim-atkin-master-of-wine\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T08:39:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T08:39:40","slug":"hand-in-hand-tim-atkin-master-of-wine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7036388","title":{"rendered":"Hand In Hand \u2013 Tim Atkin \u2013 Master of Wine"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

Rowan Hooper\u2019s new book, Togetherness<\/em>, is a fascinating study<\/a> of symbiosis, what he calls a \u201cneglected silo\u201d of scientific research. The subject might sound a bit geeky and pointy-headed, but it\u2019s central to the way that nature works.<\/p>\n

To anyone brought up on Charles Darwin\u2019s On the Origin of Species<\/em>, or who has watched an hour of Nature\u2019s Deadliest Animal Showdowns<\/em><\/a> narrated by a whispering Sir David Attenborough, the idea that nature favours co-operation and collaboration over conflict and the survival of the fittest will seem counterintuitive. An unashamed Darwin fan, Hooper says that the notion that competition is the only driver of evolution is incorrect.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a human element to this too, although it goes against the precepts of capitalism and \u201csocial Darwinism\u201d. \u201cWe live on a symbiotic planet,\u201d he writes, \u201cwe are a symbiotic species, and only together will we thrive.\u201d Hooper argues, convincingly, that \u201csymbiosis blurs the meaning of individual\u201d, a message for our times perhaps.<\/p>\n

The book contains numerous examples of symbiosis in action, from lichens to coral, ants to orchids, wasps to figs. Different species seek out and, invariably, find the right partner. What\u2019s more, they communicate with each other at some non-verbal level. Far from being static, the relationship is fluid and evolves, as all good relationships must.<\/p>\n

Vines do not feature in the book. I attended a lecture that Hooper gave in London recently and he admitted that they are not his area of expertise. But in a recent podcast<\/a> I did with Katia Nussbaum of San Polino in Brunello de Montalcino, I was fascinated to learn about her experiments with \u201cvitiforestry\u201d, which is another example of symbiosis.<\/p>\n

The link between trees and grape vines is older than wine itself. Wild vines are essentially creepers, or climbers, seekers of light to drive photosynthesis. Until they were domesticated, they used trees to find it. You can still see this form of arboreal viticulture in Chile \u2013 Bouchon\u2019s Pa\u00eds Salvaje label has a drawing of a picker on a ladder \u2013 and especially Bolivia\u2019s Cinti Valley. Trees provide a form of natural trellis for the vine, as well as shade and frost protection. The downside is that they compete for water \u2013 a concern with climate change \u2013 and may bring new pests and diseases to vineyards.<\/p>\n

But the positives seem to outweigh the negatives, not least in terms of biodiversity. At Cheval des Andes in Mendoza, the multinational LVMH, not a company to waste money for the sake of it, has planted 2,000 trees among the rows of vines at its estate in Las Compuertas since 2021 to create what it calls a \u201cpolyculture\u201d.<\/p>\n

Back in Montalcino, Katia Nussbaum and her family have incorporated maple trees into one of their vineyards to see if symbiosis occurs. The whole estate is surrounded by forest, but now she\u2019s taken the connection a stage further.<\/p>\n

Thanks to the work of writers such as Suzanne Simard and Peter Wohlleben, we know that trees communicate with each other through networks of mycorrhizal fungi. They also work together as a community, with older trees nurturing the younger ones with food and water. Healthy vineyards, too, have their fungal network. Is this more developed in older, more established parcels? Are organic, biodynamic or regenerative forms of agriculture more likely to allow it to flourish? The answer is almost certainly yes.<\/p>\n

Well-farmed vineyards are alive. I once walked through a biodynamic vineyard in Burgundy with the late Anne-Claude Leflaive and it was like treading on a thick carpet; a chemically treated one next door was a stretch of concrete by contrast.<\/p>\n

Talking to Katia made me think about terroir, which is not an easy term to explain. It\u2019s sometimes called a \u201cthree-legged stool\u201d in France, combining soil\/geology, climate and a human element, with knowledge passed down through the generations. Of course, terroir is considerably more complicated than that. Katia describes what\u2019s happening in vineyards as a cat\u2019s cradle, \u201cits strings held not only by human hands but by all the organic and non-organic elements whose togetherness gives rise to the living whole\u201d. I think she\u2019s right. Some of these relationships we understand; most we don\u2019t. Yet soil health is \u2014and should always be\u2014recognised as a vital part of terroir.<\/p>\n

Are the vines, too, communicating with each other, working together as a unified entity? Does terroir think, as it were? Are the fungal networks of trees and vines stronger than the sum of their parts? \u201cWe don\u2019t know,\u201d she says. \u201cAll we\u2019re doing is asking questions.\u201d The right questions in my view.<\/p>\n

Originally published in Harpers Wine & Spirit; photo by Sebastian Dumitru on Unsplash<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rowan Hooper\u2019s new book, Togetherness, is a fascinating study of symbiosis, what he calls a \u201cneglected silo\u201d of scientific research. The subject might sound a bit geeky and pointy-headed, but it\u2019s central to the way that nature works. To anyone brought up on Charles Darwin\u2019s On the Origin of Species, or who has watched an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7036389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[49798,1363,3968,6832,9182],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7036388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-atkin","tag-hand","tag-master","tag-tim","tag-wine"],"yoast_head":"\nHand In Hand \u2013 Tim Atkin \u2013 Master of Wine - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7036388\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hand In Hand \u2013 Tim Atkin \u2013 Master of Wine - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rowan Hooper\u2019s new book, Togetherness, is a fascinating study of symbiosis, what he calls a \u201cneglected silo\u201d of scientific research. 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