Italo Calvino on Cider?

We all know how embarrassing it is when someone tries to tell a joke but lacks tempo and gets everything wrong.  In defense of certain virtues in art Italo Calvino provides the perfect metaphor for the cider maker (here cider stands in for "novella")...

  Cider is a horse, a means of transport with its own pace, a trot or a gallop according to the distance and ground it has to travel over.  The listed defects of a clumsy cider maker are above all offenses against rhythm, as well as style, because he does not use the expressions appropriate either to the characters (the land, the season, the cultivar) or to cider itself.  In other words, even correctness of style is a question of quick adjustment, of agility of both thought and expression. 

2014 cider vs. 1814 cider

  Recently I was talking with Ben from The Queen’s Kickshaw, a landmark cider-restaurant in NYC, and he challenged my assertion that early Americans drank history's best cider.  I’ll skip the pros and cons of both arguments but I’m revisiting the thought now in lieu of having just visited John Bunker of Fedco Trees, a nursery and growing resource, in Maine.  Among the many oversights I’m guilty of when I assume 1814 to be the better cider era is the ability for today's cider makers to pick and choose their peers.  What with rapid transportation and instant world communication, we have at our disposal something very adventageous for good cider.
   It's probable that back in the early 1800’s my only sources for inspiration would be other local apple millers and nearby homestead cider makers. Maybe they were learned, but if they weren't my growth would be limited to what was locally only known about apples and cider making.  Now with instant communication, vast markets, and trade groups we are able to "find one another" like never before.  I am able to hand-select my peers from Maine to California, from Australia to Europe.  As a small community spread far and wide today’s networks do, in fact, create cider culture.  And we are able to find the cultural niche that best fits our personal standards and beliefs.   

  I still believe the soil was infinitely better, agricultural practices were better, and the level of community involvement goes unchallenged- it just was better.  The spiritual link to cider is not at a level comparable with 200 years ago but in certain segments of today’s cider community we are discovering our own holism and we are in better position to apply it.

Good, Better, Best

  We are often invited to enter competitions but we always decline because it is not our practice to define ourselves in relation to others.  We simply don’t care how we measure on a linear scale.  Polly and I are from a fine art background and we know that there is no measure of excellence other then authenticity and devotion.  I may prefer Morandi over Picasso but I can not rate the two as artists, they were both true to themselves and masters of their craft.

  Authenticity may come in the form of high art, outsider art, popular art and even commercial art, but if it is not authentic then it is not good.  That’s one measure.  The other is devotion.  Call it talent, craft, skill, excellence, or whatever, the artist needs to be a master of their voice.  They need to be devoted to their voice.  Without a developed language (self developed- not borrowed) an artist will be at a loss for words when it comes to articulating their authenticity. 

  I pray other cider makers choose the unfamiliar road.  This a time when consensus is forming on "good-better-best" but placed within a ratings system young cider makers are steered away from finding their true voice.  Just remember: The top cider makers all got there by showing authenticity and devotion to their craft, they did not arrive by climbing.