Life Among the Vines
My apologies for the month or so of silence; I’ve been taking a bit of a reset during the rain and chill of California winter. Drear and dark makes me weary and short of energy and ideas. Perhaps living in vineyard country has made me take on the life cycle of a grapevine?
I have felt much like the vines lately, pruned and bare, resting and waiting. But there are sunny days of budding and growth ahead, and I’m trying to spur those days on a bit faster, get back into a writing routine, and catch up with a number of other neglected tasks. For example, today I racked my home wine (siphoned it off the dead yeast cells that have settled in the bottom of the container) in preparation to bottle it soon. It smells great, tastes pretty good, but has a higher alcohol content than I would have liked, and at this point there’s not much I can do about that. Orange Viognier spritzes, anyone?
I also had a friend in town and got out for a bit of tasting on the Napa side of the mountains. I spend less time tasting at Napa wineries now than I did before I moved here, which I know sounds odd given that I work at one, but I live on the Sonoma County side, and after driving across the Mayacamas five days a week, the last thing I want to do on my day off is make the trek again. Plus, I sometimes feel a little ho-hum about all the expensive Cabernet. But I was pleasantly surprised by my visits and can’t wait to tell you about them - and the revival of my appreciation for Napa Cabernet - in a few days.
The Grape News
The biggest stories of the last month have been closures, downsizing, and layoffs. Gallo shut down the Ranch Winery and cut staff at Louis M. Martini Winery and the Orin Swift tasting room, J Vineyards, and Frei Ranch. Breakthrough Beverage laid off 500 workers. Trinchero is selling off its Haystack Vineyard in Atlas Peak and Clouds Nest Vineyard in Mount Veeder, just two months after it purchased Mumm.
In this time of being confronted yet again by Nazis, it’s good to remember how the French managed to subvert their occupiers back in WWII:
Pais is finally getting a little (very, very little) respect.
I wish more people would give Georgian wine the same courtesy. I recently heard a popular podcaster blithely discard all Georgian wine, and it really ground my gears. You may not like a particular style of wine, or certain grape, but if you consider yourself a wine educator, it’s irresponsible to dismiss an entire country’s wine as not worth your consideration. Anyway, to contrast that, here’s a list of some growers and wines from Georgia:
Tariffs are ruled unconstitutional, and Trump is big mad. Oh no.
I for one am just yearning desperately for the day when U.S. citizens understand what a tariff is and who pays it, and can’t be manipulated by the Cheeto in Chief offering them up as the magic solution to all problems. Dare to dream.
Vineyard Maintenance
Thanks for hanging in there with me during this hibernation season. The vines currently look like they might as well be dead, but there are buds breaking any day, and I hope the same will be true here. In the meantime, let me know what you’re drinking, learning, and wondering about wine. Cheers!
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