It’s not an accident that fungal colonies live on the skins of grapes and continue the life of the fruit long after the leaves have been blasted off by frost. In fact, this activity takes place under the leaves, where the frost can’t get at it, until some clumsy human comes along and disturbs the natural way of things.

It’s best to think of these grapes and this fungus as forming one complete organism, in which each plays a role in the life of the other. This is what is meant by terroir, in its richest sense. The vineyards of Burgundy have cultivated this relationship so intensely for nearly 500 years, that the grapes and the yeasts are making wine together long before the crop is picked, and long after.

They look like scans by an electron microscope, or what! Like here.  And yet, some grapes, such as these seedless himrods, look like they could keep fresh under a carpet of leaves for many months…

Can you tell I’ve been grippling and marvelling?