Turning Wine into Race Car
From Gewürztraminer to horsepower
I find myself in a dimly lit cellar, surrounded by row upon row of oak barrels. Their earthy aromas mingle seductively with the smoke of my Cohiba Siglo IV.
A Bordeaux sits before me, a deep crimson beast waiting to be unleashed. I feel a surge of anticipation, primal energy coursing through my veins. I raise the glass to my lips. With a long, slow sip I allow the elixir to envelop my senses.
The taste is an explosion - simultaneous power and finesse. It is a symphony of blackcurrants and leather dancing on my tongue. This is a wine that demands attention - a wild stallion tamed by the hands of a master. Each sip is a journey into the depths of my own consciousness, a transcendental experience that leaves me craving for more.
In this moment, I understand why Bordeaux is the stuff of legends. This is an elixir defies convention, a rebellious spirit captured in a bottle. As I finish the last drop, I know that I have tasted a fragment of the divine - a fleeting glimpse into the heart of the Bordeaux beast.
What About Race Cars?
Winemaking leaves behind solid waste (grape marc) and liquid waste (wine lees and deposit of the must). These wastes are “oenological by-products”. Under stringent EU regulations, this waste must be disposed of under very strict environmental regulations. Of course, it’s the EU - an entity that seem to exist only to impose regulations…
Enter Total Energies. Since 2018, TotalEnergies has been the official fuel supplier for the 24 Hours of Le Mans - what may well be the most famous race car event in the world!.
So by now you are asking - where does all this talk of wine come in to this?
TotalEnergies makes a 100% renewable bioethanol fuel derived from the aforementioned wine residues of the French agricultural industry. For the technical details I’ll quote from their website:
This bioethanol or advanced ethanol is an agricultural by-product. It is made from residues from the wine industry, such as wine lees and grape pomace. Following several steps (industrial fermentation, distillation then dehydration), this base is then blended with ETBE (Ethyl Tertio Butyl Ether), itself a byproduct made from ethanol, and with several performance additives issued from the Excellium technology developed by TotalEnergies.
What a Concept!
I love this. By supporting the wine industry I am simultaneously fueling race cars! I don’t know why, but this seems to make more sense than burning our nations’s food supply to make ethanol out of corn.
Seeing a car top out over 200mph on the Mulsanne Straight fueled by the same grapes the fueled my lustful Bordeaux experience? This is cosmic stuff!
Pour One Up…
So I say we pour one up, our favorite vintage, out favorite glass, with our favorite people. Enjoy the taste and relish the experience.
Let your nose savor the aroma, let your tongue savor the taste, and let your ears savor the sound - the sound of an engine’s roar at full throat, the downshift into a chicane, the throttle blips and the rev matching to perfectly sync the engine’s revolutions to the car’s inertia, and the sound of that pure acceleration out of the turn. Why? You know the answer…
Because Race Car!