The Liberator Ep.44 Mudlarking 2023

This flor-influenced Chenin Blanc resembles one of these pieces of abandoned pottery, found trodden into the bare dirt on a rustic cellar floor. Resting in old 300 litre oak, it was never the intention to allow the wine to develop this way. In fact, it had been condemned by the winemaker himself as being ‘faulty’. But one man’s disfigurement is another man’s Kintsugi. Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the breakage with lacquer dusted with gold or silver, thus highlighting any imperfection. As a philosophy, it chronicles the repair as part of the history of an object, being something to embrace rather than to disguise the flaw. Japanese aesthetics values the patina of time, keeping items around even after they have been broken. The philosophy of kintsugi can also be interpreted as a variant of the adage, “Waste not, want not”. Just like Rick’s new Chenin release…