Martin and I were walking the streets of Berkeley on the night of Halloween. We were not trying to scare the kids from behind the bushes, we were just coming back from the wineries we had gone to that day. And it struck me that wine might be a little bit like a Halloween costume.

Some kids — or their parents — will choose to go to a store and buy a complete costume, something already made, the whole shebang. The costume will usually be well made and appealing. These kids will be noticed because their outfit is pretty. Their costume will be a nice replica of whoever they chose to go as. Further, according to the price the kids — or the parents — are willing to pay, the look of the costume will improve.

Other kids will choose to build their outfit from scratch. These kids will make it up, stitch things together, and figure out a way to emulate whatever they want to go as. Their costume is not a perfect replica of a well-known movie character but rather an interpretation of that character based on whatever they had at hand when making the costume. It will probably be easy to recognize the raw materials behind the costume. And according to the creativity and the effort the kids put into it, the end result will improve.

The store-bought costume might be more appealing from a very objective point of view. But the home-made one is telling more of a story. First off, you get to guess the costume. And then you get to enjoy whatever creative quirks went into the making of it. It’s more real.

Maybe natural wine is a home-made Halloween costume. Vying for attention against the store-bought perfect-looking ensembles.