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Building The 2012 Monte Bello: Part II

May 10, 2013

We’ve just completed the second round of the Monte Bello Assemblage Tasting, and the blend is in!

It was quite a remarkable tasting; somewhat unique in its architecture, as compared to some past editions, in that it was essentially divided into three distinct phases: Audition, Assemblage, and Vertical.

For those of you not familiar with the process by which the Monte Bello is created, I humbly direct you to the following posts:

Beauty Is A Rare Thing: Building The 2012 Monte Bello

Building Monte Bello: The 2011 Assemblage

A Seat At The Table: A Day In Which I Am Invited To Participate In The 2010 Assemblage Tasting!

The Second Assemblage Tasting was held in The Old Torre Winery Barn, and in attendance were the following:

Paul Draper
Eric Baugher
John Olney
Shun Ishikubo
David Gates
Kyle Theriot
Shinji Kurokawa
Amy Monroe
Christopher Watkins (me)

~

As the warm spring sun began to wend its subtle tides through the warming window panes, Eric inaugurated his singular oeno-alchemy…

Eric_Preparing

… as, one by one, we sought our seats and prepared our palates.

Thebeginning

We began with an auditioning of sorts; a blind tasting, 5 glasses …

5glasses_I 5glasses_II

… no explanation, no context, only the instructions: taste, assess, write, vote; 2 plusses, 2 minuses, 1 neutral.

MoleskineNotes

When the veils were lifted, we were found to have been auditioning 4 blocks’ worth of possible inclusion candidates (three different cab lots, and a merlot option); snuck into the line-up was the First Assemblage, crafted back in April. Two of the lots received majority votes. Then it was on to Round II.

Five glasses again, blind tasted again. And again, the directive: taste, assess, write, vote; 2 plusses, 2 minuses, 1 neutral. 4 of the 5 lots fared very well; one block fell by the wayside for showing a bit too ripe.

With Round III came the “proper” assemblage process: two glasses; one with the “control” (in this case, the First Assemblage), one with an “addition.” A and B. Taste, assess, write, vote. Plus or Minus.

Eric&Shun_Pouring

Eric Baugher & Shun Ishikubo

“A” took it by a nose, 5 to 4. A 7% addition of South Slope South Cabernet (S3).

Round IV. Two glasses again. A and B. Control (now including S3) and Addition.  “B” essentially sweeps; a 7-2 majority. A blend of Camp and Back Hills falls by the side of the vineyard road.

Paul_Tasting

Paul Draper

Round V, an override! I am on the right side of history for this one; I alone voted with Paul and Eric in favor of a 10% addition of 10-acre cab, and as is his right, Paul opted for the addition. None complained, it had been a tough vote.

David Gates

David Gates

Round VI, we would find out later, found us debating the future of a block I’d loved on its own; my colleague Amy as well, joined by David Gates; however, David, a veteran of the assemblages, predicted it would not, in the end, be “assembled.” He was right, it lost out to a 6-3 majority in favor of the control. But I am holding out for a solo bottling; on its own, the block is beautiful.

Paul&John_Talking

Paul Draper & John Olney

Round VII, the final round of the Assemblage. “A” took the majority, which was the control, but Paul and John came out swinging in favor of the addition; a small block of stressed Merlot. To be continued …

And then came the final round. A 6-wine blind vertical of Monte Bello; the preceding 5 vintages, plus the “new” 2012.

MonteBelloVertical

I wrote “proper” tasting notes on each, and was able to spot almost all of them as what they were, though much to my surprise, I confused the 2009 and the 2007 (which, I would say, says a great deal for how the 2007 is currently showing, given the overwhelmingly positive critical response we’ve received for the 2009 of late –Wine Advocate: 98 points, International Wine Report: 97 points, International Wine Cellar: 96 points, Wine Spectator: 95 points–given that we’re currently offering the 2007 in our tasting rooms, perhaps a good time to visit!)

But anyhow, in addition to my “proper” notes, I also wrote a spontaneous Haiku in response to each:

2009 Monte Bello
A walk through the trees;
wet, the path, twilit, the leaves.
Into the green mist.

2008 Monte Bello
The red blushes of
beauty; luxuriant youth,
serene  age; timeless.

2007 Monte Bello
As a great trunk’s broad
shoulders grow, ask yourself: Which
is stronger? Roots? Limbs?

2011 Monte Bello
Sweet soul perfection
of campground wisdom; as with
smoke, so with memories.

2012 Monte Bello (2nd Assemblage)
There is strength to fear
and strength to love; run from one,
run to the other.

2010 Monte Bello
Elegance within
a corset; beauty of denial,
of promise: a dream

~

When all was said and done, a new Assemblage had been born: The 2nd Assemblage. The new details are as follows:

62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Franc 7% Petit Verdot, 13.6% ABV

Welcome.

~

As we do every year, we continue to invite our Monte Bello Collector Members to experience firsthand the burgeoning development of the vintage that will one day be theirs; they have now seen the 2012 Monte Bello in its Component state (for more, please click here), in its 1st Assemblage incarnation (for more, please click here), and next weekend, they’ll sample that which we have just created, the 2nd Assemblage. And if history repeats itself, it’s quite likely this will be the Final Assemblage, meaning this will be the last opportunity to taste this wine before it goes into bottle for its long hibernation; not to awaken again until its release in 2015. For more information about this very special event, please see below:

Final Monte Bello Tasting
Saturday & Sunday, May 18th & 19th
11-5pm each day
Cupertino, CA

This event is for Monte Bello Collector members only (a total of 4 attendees per membership), there is no fee to attend, and an RSVP is required. We look forward to seeing you!

Eventbrite - Monte Bello Final Assemblage Tasting - May 18th & 19th, 11am-5pm

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Posted in Bordeaux varietals, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Events & Photographs, History, Merlot, Monte Bello, Paul Draper, Petit Verdot, RIDGE Staff, Tasting Events/Opportunities, Tasting Flights, Tasting Notes, Varietals & Blends, Vineyards and Oenology, Vintage Wine Labels, Virtual Verticals, Viticultural Salmagundi, Wine & Poetry, Wine Clubs, Wine Tales | 2 Comments »

Pro Tools: Ingredient Labeling, Pre-Industrial Winemaking, & The Seventeen Syllables of Wine.

April 26, 2013

Ridge Vineyards is adding ingredients to its back labels.

~

StillLifeWithGeyservilleLabels

~

“Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.” – Chopin

~

The premise is this, that if the raw materials are there, and they’re good, then not that much else is needed.

 

Son House and a National

 

Basho and seventeen syllables.

 

Rothko and red.

 

Kerouac and an Underwood.

 

Anonymous Four and Hildegard von Bingen.

 

Chopin and a piano.

 

Tenshō Shūbun and ink.

 

~

 

Pro Tools.

 

If you’re familiar with it, then you either curse it as a devil, or praise it as a god, but whatever your feelings, it’s hard to dispute the truth of Pro Tools and the music industry.

 

It changed everything. Can’t sing in tune? Pro Tools has you covered. Can’t play in time? Pro Tools has a drum loop just for you.  Third verse should have been the first? Pro Tools can shift that around for you. Need a piano part, but no one in the band plays piano? Pro Tools. Real marimba cost too much? Pro Tools.

 

And so on.

 

I may sound cynical, but I’m no Luddite. I was working with Todd Rundgren in San Francisco back in the very early nineties, on an interactive music project. We were still in the CD-Rom days then. I was there at the beginning. I recorded an entire album on ADAT when it was only me and the Grateful Dead team using them. And while my first album was on analog tape, my last one was with Pro Tools.

 

Pro Tools.

 

There is a great story about Pro Tools.

 

The setting? A music production conference. All producers and engineers. No rock stars, just tech geeks. Pro Tools was looming on the horizon; to some, it was the beginning; to others, the end. A team of designers gave a talk. They extolled the virtues of what Pro Tools could and would do. It was controversial. People shouted, friendships collapsed, factions formed. In the middle of it all, a seasoned veteran stood up. The place quieted down. He had a lot of gold records. When it was down to silence, he pointed to himself, and said the word, “Pro.” Then he held up a razor, and said “Tools.” And he walked out.

 

Buffalo Springfield’s “Broken Arrow” famously took some 60+ takes to create, with all the different sections spliced together; this was how it was done in the old days; tape and a razor. And yes, this was manipulation of a kind, but what’s important is that EVERY note on the final recording is a REAL note, played by a real person, using a real instrument. The song was assembled from native parts, and raw material.

Just like Monte Bello is assembled.

 

~

 

Ridge Vineyards has elected to include an ingredients list on its labels. Here is Paul Draper on why:

 

At Ridge we call our approach to winemaking “pre-industrial”. We believe that for anyone attempting to make fine wine, modern additives and invasive processing limit true quality and do not allow the distinctive character of a fine vineyard to determine the character of the wine.

 

Ridge is adding to its labels a list of actions and ingredients to demonstrate how little intervention is necessary to produce a fine, terroir-driven wine from distinctive fruit.

 

This is philosophy, and this is principle. And this is reason enough.

 

But not the only reason. Consider safety and health.

 

Did you know that The TTB (Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau) has approved over 60 different additives for use in wine? Some are fairly benign of course, but some are not. Consider Velcorin. It’s approved. And here is just a sampling of what our friends over at PinotBlogger.com found out about it:

 

Special Remarks on other Toxic Effects on Humans:

Acute Potential Health Effects:

Skin: Causes skin irritation.

Eyes: Exposure to vapor or mist will cause eye irritation.

Inhalation: Inhalation of vapor or mist may be irritating to mucous membranes and upper respiratory tract.

May affect behavior/central nervous system. Symptoms may include somnolence, tremor.

May also affect respiratory system (dyspnea), and metabolism

Ingestion: May cause gastrointestinal tract irritation.

The toxicological properties of this substance have not been fully investigated.

 

Nice, no?

 

No.

 

Want to see all the additives currently approved? Click here to review the TTB’s website.

 

There is also taste. Do you know what Mega Purple is? It’s concentrate, essentially. Cheap grape concentrate. Sold for about $135/gallon, and added to so many wines it’d make your head spin to see them all. Not enough color in your wine? Mega Purple can fix that. Not enough body? Mega Purple can fix that too. Don’t like the final texture? Mega Purple it. Need some sweetness? Mega Purple again. Oops, bit of Brett get in there? Mega Purple can mask that. Mega Purple: You can put that s*$t on everything.

 

Dan Berger contributed a great article on the use of Mega Purple in Wines & Vines magazine; you can read it here.

 

~

 

The first wines were made—or, better said, made themselves—some 8000 years ago between the Caspian and Black Seas in the area that today includes eastern Turkey, northern Iran, Georgia, and Armenia. We can surmise that early hunter-gatherers picked wild grapes. Occasionally, instead of eating them, they may have crushed them for juice and perhaps forgotten them for a week or two. Attracted to the sugar, bees and wasps would have carried yeasts to grapes already broken on the vine by birds or wind; those yeasts fermented the juice. When tasted, it had been transformed—as if by magic or a divine hand—from simple, sweet fruit into something affecting the senses in surprising and enjoyable ways. In the Christian ritual of Communion, this natural transformation became a symbol for wine as the blood of Christ.

 

Thus begins a new essay from Ridge Vineyards entitled “What’s In  A Wine?”. It’s heady stuff at first glance, but upon closer inspection, it’s real, it’s direct, and it’s now. Consider a Ridge Vineyards label:

 

ingred1

 

It’s right there at the letter C. “Yeasts brought to broken, mature berries by bees and wasps.” Just like before Jesus.

 

But consider all the letters:

 

A-D are pretty straightforward; not a great deal being done by us in the way of invasion or manipulation. Cutting each cluster by hand? Well, short of waiting for the cluster to fall off of its own volition, that’s about as minimalist as is possible if your intention is to produce wine. Farming practices that protect environment, workers, and community? Well, that certainly involves some proactivity, and verdicts on the methods are certainly subjective. For Ridge, we define sustainability like this:

 

A system that is sensitive to the environment, responsible to the community, and economically feasible to implement and maintain. These three principles provide a framework and direction to guide our decision-making. Sustainability is an ever-changing target, even a state of mind: improvements can always be made to lessen one’s impact on the planet.

 

Integrated pest management. Beneficial crop cover. Organic farming. Sap Flow Monitoring.

 

These are just a few examples. For more, please click here.

 

C we already discussed. D is pretty much the same. What’s needed is already there. We rely on that, and nothing more. But E is an addition, this is true. How invasive is it? Go back to that TTB list of approved additives. Notice anything? Calcium Carbonate is one of very few items without a restriction associated with it. Why? Because it’s harmless. It’s basically Alka-Seltzer for wine. Settles the acid a bit.

 

And then we come to F. This is the big one. This is the Firestarter. S02. If there is a line that separates “Natural Wine” from whatever ostensibly isn’t, it’s probably drawn in S02.

 

The matter of S02 is probably one of the most misunderstood issues in the contemporary world of wine, and truth be told, I’m not going even come close to solving the mysteries here. What I am hopefully going to do is clarify the language of F.

 

Smallest S02 addition needed to maintain vineyard character.

 

What does that mean? Or, more specifically perhaps, how much is smallest, and how does that maintain character?

 

Thomas Ulrich wrote a tremendous article in Wines & Vines recently (January 2013), entitled “Going Native, Very Carefully.” In it, Ridge Vineyards winemaker Eric Baugher details with astonishing specificity our winemaking processes, and in particular, our handling of S02. To the question of how much, there is this:

“The winery team adds 30-35 ppm of SO2 to the must (at crush) to select for native Saccharomyces and limit the growth of bacteria that could spoil malolactic fermentation.”

 

—and this—

 

“To reduce the risk of oxidizing or spoiling the wine, the winery team adds small amounts of SO2 before crush, immediately following the completion of malolactic fermentation and during each quarterly racking thereafter. According to Baugher, a small dose of sulfur dioxide is 5-10 ppm. For him, the amount of SO2 depends on pH and residual sugar-aldehyde formation produced by any in-barrel springtime fermentation.”

 

To get at some of the technical detail above, I direct you to an excellent article by Shea A.J. Comfort; you can find it here. In the meantime, to get to the real nitty-gritty, the important thing to know is this: ppm stands for parts-per-million. Parts-per-million. Meaning, 30-35 ppm is … not much. Numerous sources will confirm that the total SO2 allowed in wine in the US is 350 ppm, and in the EU it is 160 ppm (for red wines). So again, 30-35ppm is … not so much.

 

So why add it at all? This is where the “maintain vineyard character” part comes in. Paul Draper spoke to the issue in an excellent interview posted on Alice Feiring’s site “The Feiring Line.” Consider the following, excerpted from said interview:

 

The difference of opinion over natural wine often occurs over the use of SO2. Of course we have the problem that EU regulations allow an addition of 10ppm and US regulations allow 0ppm addition for “organic” wine. That problem is really beside the point as an addition of 10ppm in virtually every case is insufficient to keep the natural process on the proverbial straight and narrow in order that the wine will consistently express the distinct character and quality of its site. Of course that presupposes that the site is sufficiently good terroir to provide that character and quality in the first place. My experience of growing fine wine and of tasting wines made with 0ppm to 10ppm is that unless the minimum effective level of SO2 is used the wines will not consistently express terroir. Given that, that expression or the attempt at that expression is essential to what I love about wine, we carefully analyze the wine to determine that effective minimum level.

 

If I can offer a translation of sorts, I believe the gist to be this: At Ridge, we add just enough S02 to PREVENT anything changing the flavor of the juice, as opposed to adding S02 specifically TO change the flavor of the juice.

 

And that is the A to F of a Ridge label.

 

~

 

We provide other resources as well. Consider a “typical” wine page on our website, say, for the newly-released 2011 Ridge Vineyards Geyserville (the wine whose label we analyzed above). Scroll down the page, and you’ll find this:

 

Winemaking

 

All estate-grown grapes, hand harvested. Destemmed and crushed. Fermented on the native yeasts, followed by full malolactic on the naturally-occurring bacteria. 16.9mg/ liter calcium carbonate added to ten small fermentors to moderate acidity; minimum effective sulfur (30 ppm at crush; 92 ppm over the course of aging). Pad filtered at bottling. In keeping with our philosophy of minimal intervention, this is the sum of our actions.

 

That’s it.

 

~

 

We have considered health and safety. We have addressed taste. We have discussed terroir and vineyard character. There is also a bit of the activist behind it all. In a recent e-mail, Ridge winemaker Eric Baugher wrote the following, as regards additives and ingredient labeling:

 

We feel, by listing our ingredients, we can bring the issue into the consciousness of consumers.  Not that we want to make enemies in the industry, or attack any wineries for what they might add to their wines, we are looking to consumers to become more knowledgeable about these additives and practices by volunteering this information on our labels.  If they begin to make their purchasing decisions based on the level of purity of the wines they drink, then it possibly could have an effect on making those wineries think twice before they add something.

 

And in a letter Paul Draper recently penned on the matter, he wrote:

 

We refer to winemaking at Ridge as “pre-industrial” – an approach that involves the use of native yeasts, hand-harvested, sustainably grown grapes, naturally occurring malolactic bacteria, and a small number of natural ingredients used in making fine wine over the last two hundred years. We are hoping to encourage other fine-wine makers to provide a list of ingredients for their customers.

 

For more on Paul Draper and the concept of Pre-Industrial Winemaking, please click here, but for the purposes of this post, I hope the following definition will suffice:

 

Pre-industrial winemaking begins with respect for the natural process that transforms fresh grapes into wine, and the 19th-Century model of minimum intervention. When you have great vineyards that produce high quality grapes of distinctive individual character, this is not only an environmentally and socially responsible approach, it’s also the best way to consistently make fine wine.

 

~

 

The point is, in the end, it’s for you. We want your wine to be healthy and safe. We want it to taste good. We want it to be unique. And we want it to be honest. We want you to know the pro, and the tool.

We want the wine to be symbolic, and we want it to be transformative.

We want it to be Son House and a National; Basho and seventeen syllables; Rothko and red.; Kerouac and an Underwood; Anonymous Four and Hildegard Von Bingen; Monk and a piano; Tenshō Shūbun and ink.

 

~

Most of all, we want our wine, to be your wine.

~

The17SyllablesOfWine 

~

Before the white chrysanthemum

the scissors hesitate

a moment.

 

(Yosa Buson, translated by Robert Hass)

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Posted in Business of Wine, Geyserville, History, Monte Bello, Paul Draper, Press Reviews, RIDGE Staff, Video, Vineyards and Oenology, Viticultural Salmagundi, Wine & Art, Wine & Health, Wine & Literature, Wine & Music, Wine & Philosophy, Wine & Poetry, Wine & Spirituality, Wine Quotes, Wine Tales, Winemaking | Leave a Comment »

A Ridge Vineyards Spring Release YouTube-A-Looza!

April 18, 2013

Moist spring moon -

raise a finger

and it drips.

-Issa

 

Who is it for,

this pillow on the floor,

in the twilight of spring?

-Buson

 

Oh, these spring days!

A nameless little mountain,

wrapped in morning haze!

-Basho

~

Springtime is magical in so many ways, not the least of which is the arrival of our New Spring Releases!

If you’re a member, you’ve received them

If you’ve visited, you’ve tasted them.

If you’ve been shopping, you’ve bought them.

But for those of you for whom the Wine Spring has not yet arrived, you can experience the flowing magnificence of these new wines virtually via the moving image!

Behold, a Ridge Vineyards Spring Release YouTube-A-Looza!

~


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Posted in Geyserville, Lytton Springs, Monte Bello, Paul Draper, RIDGE Staff, Social Media, Tasting Notes, Video, Vineyards and Oenology, Wine & Poetry, Wine Clubs, Wine Quotes, Wine Tales, Winemaking | 1 Comment »

Can You Define Terroir In A Single Sentence?

March 15, 2013

Ah, Terroir.

MB

To some, it’s the Sasquatch of the wine world; its existence oft spoken of, but never proven.

To others, it’s akin to pornography. As Justice Potter Stewart famously put it in Jacobellis v. Ohio:

I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description ["hard-core pornography"]; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that.

Otherwise known as the “I can’t explain it, but I know it when I see it” defense.

To still others, it’s a simple fact. The German viticulturist who brought rocks from his vineyard for guests to lick at a trade tasting in Chicago that I attended, for example.

And for still others, it’s rubbish: lies, propaganda, or worse still, marketing.

My good friend and colleague Jameson Fink (he of Wine Without Worry fame), recently decided to tackle the matter in rather unique fashion. Per his article, as it ran on BottleNotes:

We challenged ten wine professionals–from writers to sommeliers to winemakers–to come up with a compact and concise definition of terroir.

And that’s exactly what they did. Quite an illustrious lot, actually, and a group I was quite proud to find myself amongst. Terry Theise, Christopher Howell, Dr. Yiannis Paraskevopoulos, and more.

I took the challenge seriously, and in the end, decided to try and go Jameson one better; not only did I provide a single-sentence answer, but I did it in the form of a haiku!

You can read all ten definitions here: Can You Define Terroir in Just a Sentence?

How do YOU define Terroir?

~

“That which makes a place
unique, that produces wines
unrepeatable.”

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Posted in Press Reviews, Vineyards and Oenology, Wine Blogs, Wine Quotes, Winemaking | Leave a Comment »

“One Word Tasting Note Rock, Paper, Scissors” + “7-vintage Estate Cabernet Vertical” = “Monday Funday!”

January 31, 2013

Oh Susanna!
Don’t you cry for me,
cuz I’m goin to Monte Bello
with Estate Cab on my knee …

And by Susanna, of course, I mean Susanna Hoffs; she, of The Bangles, who formerly noted that, as opposed to Monday, Sunday was in fact her Funday.

SusannaHoffs

Not so I.

Monday is my Funday.

At least this most recent one was.

This Monday most recent, we had cause to open, pour, and taste a SEVEN-VINTAGE-VERTICAL of Ridge Vineyards Estate Cabernet: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and the not-yet-released 2010.

cre1_vert

To be honest, this may have been one of the best tastings I’ve ever been involved with; these wines just tasted extraordinary!

So, “standard” tasting notes were simply not going to cut it. This was too special, too powerful, too spiritual.

Thus, “One Word Tasting Note Rock, Paper, Scissors!”

How does it work?

You partner up with another taster, and you taste a wine together. And together, you become as the Haiku artist becomes:

“He is like a tuning fork placed before a vibrating one of the same frequency. When he contemplates the impassionate, living object he immediately realizes its quality just as the sound from the tuning forks will become audible. He is in a state of aesthetic resonation, a harmonized whole of all the meaningful experiences he has had, brought to bear upon the moment of aesthetic contemplation.” — Kenneth Yasuda, “Japanese Haiku: Its Essential Nature and History”

And then you count to three, a la Rock, Paper, Scissors.

And then you give voice to your one-word tasting note; your audibilized vibration, your harmonized whole.

And then, with time, you may seek common threads in the spontaneous vibrations of your respective tuning forks.

I was with my colleague Sam Howles-Banerji.

01CSC1.ai

We began with the 2004 Estate Cabernet.

1, 2, 3:

Soulful
Mushroom

Commonalities? Obvious! Just two other ways of sayin’ Funky!

funk·y

2 /ˈfʌŋki/ Show Spelled [fuhng-kee] Show IPA

adjective, funk·i·er, funk·i·est.

1.

Jazz. having an earthy, blues-based quality or character.
 

funky 1 (ˈfʌŋkɪ)

— adj , funkier , funkiest

1.

(of music) passionate, soulful; of or pertaining to funk

2.

authentic; earthy

3.

stylish and exciting; cool: funky jeans

–

05XSC1-L

Next up, the 2005 Estate Cabernet.

1, 2, 3:

Incantatory
Terrier

Common Themes: Incessant, Devotional, Hypnotic

–

06XSC0-L

2006 Estate Cabernet

1, 2, 3:

Horse & Buggy
Velvet Mineral

The thread? Contrast; the rusticity of horse-drawn old-fashionedness amidst a fresh, new spring day – velvet & mineral

–

07cse_front_hires

2007 Estate Cabernet

1, 2, 3:

Country
Biker

Common Theme: The wild open spaces! Freedom! Limitless possibilitiy amidst boundless beauty! An internal code of honor, a rhythm and law all its own.

–

08cseLOfront

2008 Estate Cabernet

1, 2, 3:

Carnival
Punk Rock

Commonalities? Condensed, concentrated, intense; distillation of raw passion; decadence and excitement

–

09CES1-frontS

2009 Estate Cabernet

1, 2, 3:

Racy
Largesse

Thematic unity? Expressive and generous sensuality

–

10CRE1-front

2010 Estate Cabernet

1, 2, 3:

Pistachio Ice Cream on the beach
Sunset

Ok, that first one is hardly one word, but the commonalities here are really quite fascinating … That two wine tasters, upon tasting a specific wine at the indentical time, should then each, interdependently of the other, audibilize the idyll … aesthetic resonation indeed.

–

And that, my friends, is One Word Tasting Note Rock, Paper, Scissors.

And that, my friends, is our 7-vintage Estate Cabernet Vertical.

And that, my friends, is a Funday.

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Posted in Bordeaux varietals, Cabernet Sauvignon, Santa Cruz Mountains Estate, Tasting Flights, Tasting Notes, Varietals & Blends, Virtual Verticals, Wine & Art, Wine & Literature, Wine & Philosophy, Wine & Poetry, Wine & Spirituality, Wine and Jazz | Leave a Comment »

#VineWatch13: Week 3!

January 21, 2013

As followers of this year’s special VineWatch series now know, Lytton Springs has joined our program, so to accommodate their schedule, we’ll now be posting  our dual-property VineWatch updates together on Mondays.

And with that said, may I present #VineWatch13: Week 3!

First, Monte Bello. I took this photo last night, just as the sun was about to drop below the horizon …

VineWatch_13_3

Such a lovely, beautiful, striking being; such an amazing, gravitas-laden, dignified and present entity; so alive, so real, so zen …

Winter seclusion:
once again I lean
against this post.

~Basho

–

As to Lytton Springs, this shot was taken bright and early this morning …

VineWatch13_3_LS

Ah, what an amazing life you are!

My spring is just this:
a single bamboo shoot,
a willow branch.

~Issa

–

That said, anybody notice anything different about our beautiful Lytton vine?

Compare against last week’s shot:

VineWatch13_2_LSVineWatch13_3_LS

Can  you see the difference? Yes! It’s been pruned!

We’ll talk more about pruning in the coming days (for some antecedental detail on this amazing — and amazingly impactful — process, please click here and here), but suffice it to say there are few endeavors more important to the long-term health, development, and success of a vine than pruning; it is something so specialized, and requires such great and intimate knowledge, that only the most experienced, most mojo-laden, most connected, vibrating, and in-touch individuals can do it; shamans of the vine, they are, and they’ve done beautiful work with our precious ol’ gnarly Lytton baby …

As to our vine here at Monte Bello, pruning day is just around the corner; who knows, by the time of next week’s photo, we may be looking at an altogether different look!

And until then, all the best to everyone, from #VineWatch13!

–-

Please stay tuned as we follow our lovely vines through the 2013 vintage!

We’re only three weeks in so far, but for a quick look back, please enjoy the links below:

Week 2-Lytton Springs
http://blog.ridgewine.com/2013/01/14/vinewatch13-week-2-the-lytton-springs-debut/

Week 2-Monte Bello
http://blog.ridgewine.com/2013/01/13/vinewatch-week-2/

Week 1
http://blog.ridgewine.com/2013/01/06/on-a-mountain-you-can-see-a-vine-forever-the-long-overdue-return-of-vinewatch/

(if you’re following #RidgeVineyards on Twitter, you can also track VineWatch 2013 by specifically filtering for the following hashtag: #VineWatch13)

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Posted in History, Lytton Springs, Monte Bello, Social Media, Vineyards and Oenology, Wine & Poetry | Leave a Comment »

Freshness, Energy, and Balance: In Pursuit of Zinfandel

December 21, 2012

I lived in New York once, and then left, and then moved back and lived there again. That should tell you something about my feelings for New York.

That said, I lived in Northern California once, and then left, and then moved back, and I am now here to stay. That should also tell you something about my feelings for New York.

That said, my missus and I have maintained our subscriptions to The New York Times and The New Yorker.

Meaning, I read Eric Asimov.

Because, as the great and wise Tom Hill says, he has original thoughts. And because, as I say, his heart and his palate are in the right place.

So when Eric wants to talk Zinfandel, I want to listen.

Particularly because Eric doesn’t normally much like Zinfandel.

Fortunately, it turns out he likes ours.

It was an odd quest Mr. Asimov recently set out on; a search for Zinfandels evidencing restraint.

Zinfandels that exhibited freshness, energy, and balance.

Fish in a barrel, or Nessie in the Loch?

They searched, they selected, they tasted. The results?

You could say we were mildly disappointed by our tasting. Certainly, lower alcohol levels by themselves are no guarantee that a wine will be lively and energetic. Yet we hope that more zinfandel producers will embrace the notion that wines can be both agile and intense rather than aiming simply for blockbuster power.

Ok, sounds like it didn’t go very well, right?

Not so!

They did indeed find the wines they were hoping for, just not a great many of them. But the ones they did love, they really loved. And they weren’t even surprised to be loving them. Dig this:

Our No. 1 wine was no surprise. For decades, Ridge has been making great zinfandels from its old-vine vineyards in Sonoma County, and the 2010 from Lytton Springs in Dry Creek Valley was yet another. It was hefty enough at 14.4 percent but beautifully structured, nuanced and refreshing.

I knew I admired Eric for a reason!

In all seriousness, I do indeed admire what he’s done here, because he is raising vital questions relevant not just to the world of wine, but to the world in general. Inadvertently perhaps, but he is  raising them just the same.

What he is really doing, is asking us to face our definition of power.

What is power?

Buson

As a species, we’re pretty feeble in many ways. We cannot fly like birds fly. We cannot “breathe” under water as fish can. Our eyes are weak, and we cannot see in the dark. Our ears are weak, and we cannot hear long distances or wide pitches. We cannot hibernate like bears, nor run as fast as cheetahs. Our skin is fragile; it protects us from neither heat nor sun. We do not live as long as turtles.

What we can do, or should I say, what we do have, is brains. Big brains, with big thoughts in them. And by virtue of our brains, we have achieved a unique sort of power in the world.

But what is important, what is so very important to remember, is the origin of this singular power. It is not a power rooted in physical strength. It is not a power rooted in size, or velocity, or scale. It is not a power of oppression, or violence. It is a power of nuance, and complexity. It is a power of responsivity; compensational in nature, conciliatory in spirit. It is a power of compromise, humility, and respect.

It is a power of observation, a power born from the act of seeing the world, and striving to find a place in it. It is an integrative power.

Misused, it becomes all the things it is, in fact, not. It becomes violent. It becomes oppressive. It becomes ugly. It becomes destructive. Eventually, it ceases even to be power. It becomes merely a weapon.

There is power in a haiku. There is violence in a gun.

Drink freshness, energy, and balance.

Drink haiku.

Before the white chrysanthemum
the scissors hesitate
a moment.

(Yosa Buson, translated by Robert Hass)

–

To read Eric’s full article, please click here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/26/dining/exploring-zinfandels-that-hold-back-on-power.html?emc=eta1&_r=0

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Posted in Lytton Springs, Press Reviews, Tasting Notes, Varietals & Blends, Wine & Literature, Wine & Philosophy, Wine & Poetry, Wine Quotes, Wine Tales, Zinfandel | 4 Comments »

Things I’m Thankful For …

November 22, 2012

I am an admittedly idiosyncratic traditionalist, in that I am rarely much for traditional traditions, but am conversely rather boffo for my own rather less-than-traditional iterations thereof; which makes it all the more of a personal revolution in the offing that I am posting these words today.

This is, of course, the rambling preambling to the preamble of my annual “Things I’m Thankful For” post; which I traditionally, per the terms of my own tradition, post on the 23rd of November. Which I was dead on track for doing again this year. Except here it is, Thanksgiving, and I’m feeling all thankful-laden, and it simply feels odd not to commit these lines to the blog-o-web on this most gratitudinous of days. Yet it’s the 22nd, a proposition that defies convention. But blast it all, tradition be damned, what? On with the show! Pip Pip!

When I ponder the word Thankful, I see my wife’s face. As I do when I ponder the other following words:

Fortunate, Blessed, and Grateful.

These are of course self-referential. When I simply ponder her, as opposed to how I feel when I consider the blessing upon me that is she, these then are some of the words that come to mind:

Wise, Beautiful, Magical, Powerful, Amazing, Fragile, Astounding, Tender, Perfect, and Love.

I am so thankful for my wife. My friend, my lover, my partner, my wife. I am so thankful for my wife. One can define the almighty in whatever ways one wishes, of course; but if the definition of God has something to do with that which gives life to life, that which governs all, that foundational being that is the alpha and omega of all things, then she has dominion over all my world. She is the Bodhisattva come to help me, the Savior come to save me, the God come to raise me. I am so thankful for my wife.

And I am so thankful for my daughter, before whom I am a positively helpless puddle of mush. What hasn’t this small, beautiful creature given to me? There is no shade of blue in the sky, no streak of green in the sea, that she has not alerted me to. No whisper of wind in the night, no chirp of bird in the day, that she has not called my ears toward. There is no tear duct in my eye she has not drained of its feeling, no cavity of my heart that she has not filled. What hue of autumn leaf, what scent of springtime blossom, has she not drawn me to? What a thing, to have a daughter! I am so thankful for my daughter.

For my wife, and my daughter, I am so thankful. A Love Supreme.

Which reminds me that I am also distinctly grateful for John Coltrane.

And wine glass sizes drawn in fractions. Like 19.75 oz. glasses.

And the wines that inhabit them.

Like, perhaps, the 1981 Monte Bello, which tasted so fine just this past Sunday.

Which would also taste so fine in, for example, a flat-bottom glass.

I am so thankful for people who drink red wine from flat-bottom glasses.

And grandparents. There is no insanity like the insanity of grandparents. That my little family of three – Papa Bear, Mama Bear, Baby Bear – has two hearty and hale sets of grandparents, is a blessing beyond compare. To watch our little girl in their blissful company is a gift unimaginable. I am so thankful for our parents; grandparents to our wonderful daughter. I am so thankful for this.

As I am for the knoll at Monte Bello. Such a place to stand and contemplate the void, to be temporarily one with the ancestors staring at the walls and seeing truth.

I am thankful for poetry, and the wines that have, through time, lubricated its fragile and complex gears.

Like, for example, the 2004 Buchignani Ranch Zinfandel, which tasted so fine just … yesterday.

There are few moments greater than the moment when your father and your wife bring to their respective lips the wine you have poured for them. I am thankful for these moments.

I am thankful for Haiku.

I am thankful for people who do not ask me to throw away their chewing gum upon their arrival at the Monte Bello Tasting Room.

In fact, I am thankful for people who do not chew gum.

I am thankful for wooden canes, and limping through vine rows relying on one.

I am thankful for Amy Monroe, Sam Howles-Banerji, and Kirsten Anderson. If you’ve ever come to Monte Bello, and accordingly felt a bit of magic enter your soul and there take up permanent residence, there to be called upon whenever your worry and care threaten to overwhelm you in the pursuit of your conventional happinesses, it is likely because you were moved by Amy and/or Sam and/or Kirsten. They are in the practice of providing memories that will last forever, and they are rather excellent at this endeavor. They have given me so much to be thankful for, and are to me canonical saints in the pantheon of Monte Bello magic.

I am thankful for the word canonical.

And the word Vertical. And the thing that is, in winespeak, a Vertical.

And the Estate Cabernet Vertical, which will not be available for much longer. I am thankful it is still available, because the 2004 Estate Cabernet, is, in particular, one of the best wines I’ve ever had. It was also one of my first loves upon joining the family at Ridge, and in it, I taste my good fortune.

I am thankful for P.G. Wodehouse, for having given to the world Jeeves and Bertie Wooster, of whose exploits with the cow-creamer, last night, were so delightful to read.

I am thankful that I do not believe in decent-tasting “entry-level” wines costing $10/bottle, any more than I believe in decent-sounding “entry-level” Telecasters costing $100.

I am thankful for windows that lock and unlock with ease.

I am thankful for wines that taste especially fine whilst standing at windows gazing out at trees in autumn. Like the 1992 Monte Bello, which, out of a 375ml bottle, tastes especially fine whilst standing at a window (open or closed, whatever, it’s easy to lock and unlock) gazing out at a tree in autumn.

I am thankful for candles.

I am thankful for bow-ties, which, perhaps come the New Year, I shall resolve to wear more of.

I am thankful for champys, and the people who use the term.

And for the people who drink champys.

I am thankful for champys.

And Bodhisattvas.

I am thankful that Ridge has found a place in its heart to place me.

I am thankful that, in lieu of a manpurse, I wear sportcoats.

I am thankful for everyone who comes to Monte Bello in the summertime, and doesn’t comment of the fact that I am wearing a sportcoat.

I am thankful for Aaron, Antonio, Barry, Emma, Jane, Jenny, Karen, Kathryn, Kim, Lori, Michael, Nancy, Peter, Samantha, Sonja, and Tara. Because Hospitality is holy, and they are the true keepers of the faith. The foundational saints. The canonical hosts. To truly “host” a guest is an essential act of love, compassion, empathy, sympathy, faith, and kindness. I am thankful for these wonderful human beings, and for the generosity of spirit they so consistently offer.

I am thankful for the XTC song “Dear God.”

I am thankful that the new 2008 Mazzoni Home Ranch is such an absolutely excellent contribution to the Mazzoni canon.

I am thankful for high-quality buff cloths, and the wine hosts that know how to use them.

I am thankful for ritual, and what it teaches us, and I am thankful that the world of wine is so ritualized.

I am thankful for people who, when confronted by those who know a bit more than themselves about something, think first, “Wonderful!” as opposed to “Snob!”

I am thankful that I know so little, because I look so forward to learning.

I am thankful that a great deal of my “work” at Ridge is “learning” more about wine.

Learning more about, for example, the 2007 Monte Bello. For reasons soon to be revealed!

I am thankful for things that are soon to be revealed, as I do not enjoy surprises or secrets, though I am thankful for them. Thankful that they offer the opportunity for revelation.

I am thankful for Son House.

I am thankful for anyone who can figure out a way to work wine into a tattoo without looking like a rather foolish sort.

I am thankful for Syrah co-fermented with Viognier.

I am thankful that part of my “job” at Ridge involves sitting at table with people like Kathy and Ingrid, and “working” on food & wine pairings.

I am thankful that I very often have occasion, while at work at Ridge, to deploy the term “culinarily companionable.”

I am thankful that I get to write this blog. Not only is it a still-very-overwhelming honor, but it also allows me to make up a great many words; a great many made-up words that, when discovered and subsequently called out as being made-up, become the springboard for me to deliver my patented lecture on the true value of language and its purposes. Which no one needs to hear anymore.

I am thankful.

I am thankful for trumpet mutes, and the jazz players who deploy them.

I am thankful that Ridge makes wine like Thelonious Monk made chords.

I am thankful that Sumano’s bakery makes Watsonville Sourdough.

I am thankful for drinking wine, eating bread and cheese, and riding ferries.

I am thankful that Bellwether Farms makes San Andreas. And I am thankful for being able to taste it while sipping on 1978 Monte Bello.

I am thankful for harvest videos, and the opportunity to make them.

I am thankful for #Harvest2012.

I am thankful that I do not dream in hashtags.

I am thankful that if one Googles “Generation X Characteristics,” the very first entry that appears lists the following:

• Cynical

• Skeptical

• Independent

• Problem-solvers/resourceful

• Defy Authority

• Reality driven

• Distaste “touchy feely”

• Technology Competent

• Resist Hierarchy

• Multitasker

I am thankful that I still manage to rarely use the word “Google” as a verb.

I am thankful for walking cities.

I feel thankful when I go walking in a city, and the person I am walking with says, “My, that looks like a nice wine shop!”

I am thankful for Christopher Robin, Winnie the Pooh, and all the denizens of the Hundred-Acre Wood.

I am thankful for the poet Sharon Olds, because she writes about woman things in ways that can truly move a man.

I am thankful that as soon as we were installed in our little post-birth “hotel” at the hospital, my very exhausted and triumphantly beautiful wife called for Cava and Monte Bello.

I am thankful that when my wife calls for champys, she calls for Coupe glasses.

I am thankful for coupe glasses.

I am thankful for trains.

I am thankful for movies made before 1970.

I am thankful for music made before 1980.

I am thankful for wine made before 1990.

I am thankful for balsamic vinegar made before 2000.

I am thankful for books made before 2010.

I am thankful for wonderful exceptions to the above.

I am thankful for wine poured before I wrote “I am thankful for wine poured …,” like, for example, any of our Syrah/Grenache blends.

I am currently thankful for the 2008 Ridge Vineyards Lytton Estate Syrah/Grenache, and I am previously grateful for all the other vintages.

I am thankful that my daughter just announced that her Grandpa “stinks like Thanksgiving.”

I am thankful that some people still roller skate.

I am thankful for limousine drivers that do not park in spaces reserved for the disabled.

I am thankful for wine drinkers that are not drunkards.

I am thankful that calm, clear-headed, self-possessed, serious, alert, concerned, cool, exacting, rigorous, thoughtful, vigilant, and pure are all synonyms for “sober.”

I am thankful that, while it’s today in the news that it’s going to happen, Nikki Sixx’s “Heroin Diaries” is not yet, in fact, a Broadway Musical.

I am thankful that, for the fourth year in a row, I have the opportunity to praise Haig’s Hummus. I am thankful for Haig’s Hummus. And I am thankful for the way Haig’s Hummus tastes when it’s in your mouth, wrapped up in a big balloon-size swallow of Ridge chardonnay.

I am thankful for Ridge Chardonnay. Especially the 2010 Monte Bello Chardonnay, which, when released, will F%*&KIN blow your mind.

I am thankful for %*&.

I am thankful that we have a President who likes wine.

I am thankful for Zen.

I am thankful for the Monterey Bay, and how it makes Carignane taste. Especially Ridge Carignane. Which always tastes so nice, but tastes especially nice when sipped next to Monterey Bay.

I am thankful for John Olney, and I am thankful for the Carignane that he makes.

I am thankful for everyone at Lytton Springs, and for the opportunity to make this appreciation public. I am especially thankful for my counterpart Sandy Johnson, because her greatness humbles me daily, and it is good to be humbled. And I am thankful for her friendship, because it is good to have friends. And I am thankful for her colleagues that I get to, albeit infrequently, work with, namely Jason and Eliot. I wish I got to see them more, because I am always thankful for the opportunity. And it’s good to be thankful.

I am thankful that I rarely see myself in the mirror making air quotes.

I am thankful for Paul Draper, Eric Baugher, John Olney, David Gates, Kyle Theriot, Will Thomas, Shun Ishikubo, and Muiris Griffin, for the absurdity of how much they’ve taught me, and how patient they’ve been with me.

I am thankful for when Petit Verdot gets ripe. Because if swampy and funky can become fragrant and floral, then beauty is forever possible.

I am thankful for every moment there is not violence.

I am thankful for funny instructions on fading paper, push-pinned to dirty corkboard, that say things like, “If  you see a mountain lion, don’t bend over,” because who bends over when they see a mountain lion? And I am thankful that this is based on a true story.

I am thankful for true stories. And made up ones as well.

I am thankful for the opportunity to read poems that were written by people who were drinking wine while they were writing.

I am thankful to Ryan Moore, because he is my boss, and he seems to kind of like me. Which really feels good.

And I am thankful that the fates and powers that blessed Ryan with a wonderful wife have now blessed him with a beautiful, wonderful child, because I am very happy for him, and it’s good to be happy for other people.

I am also happy for myself, and am thankful that I have been blessed with a wonderful wife and a beautiful, wonderful child.

I am thankful that the obvious similarities between myself and my boss obviously continue.

I am thankful for the days when my boss calls and says things like, “Have you tasted the 2007 Dynamite Hill recently?” And I say, “No.” And he says, “Can you pull a bottle and taste it, and tell me what you think?” And I say, “Yes, boss.”

I am thankful for, in no particular order: Love, and the Lack of Hate.

Also for Charlie Christian, Sonny Rollins, Bud Powell, Lester Young, Bill Evans, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Django Reinhardt, Miles Davis, Wes Montgomery, Zoot Sims, and Grant Green.

I am thankful that Duke Ellington is the Monte Bello of Jazz, and that Monte Bello is the Duke Ellington of Wine.

I am thankful for what localism teaches us about being peaceful with one another.

I am thankful that wine from our estates makes people feel peaceful.

I am thankful for peace.

I am thankful.

I am thankful for the certainty that this list will never end, and that, when confronted with all the wonderful things I’ve inadvertently omitted from this iteration of this list, I will have another opportunity at some future time to make amends.

I am thankful for ancient Mountains-and-Rivers Poetry.

I am thankful that I work on a mountain.

I am thankful to Ridge, for forever altering my life in momentous ways I could have never imagined, for, above all else, affording me the means to support my family.

I am thankful to Ridge for trusting me to speak for Ridge.

I am thankful for Merlot.

I am thankful for pine cones.

I am thankful for rattlesnakes, and the ones that don’t bite me.

I am thankful to Penske, for renting me the truck that carried me from New York to California, for helping to prove in yet one more way that Northern California is indeed the promised land, for stopping when I needed it to stop, at that truck stop where I first got on the phone with Nicole and inaugurated the process that would eventually culminate in my being hired by Ridge, and for starting again when it was time to start driving again to California.

I am thankful for my parents. And your parents.

I am thankful for anyone who buys a fine bottle of wine for their parents.

I am thankful for parents who buy Monte Bello from the birth year of their children.

I am thankful for the poetry of Dylan Thomas.

I am thankful for every moment, in every corner of the world, in which someone eats a slice of pizza, then takes a rather healthy swallow of really good wine.

I will never admit it to her, but in truth, I am thankful that my wife did not allow me to name our daughter “Pizza” as I wanted to, because even though this would guarantee I would spend my life saying, “I love you, Pizza” over and over, it wouldn’t have in fact been particularly fair to our daughter, and if there’s one thing that being a parent teaches you, it’s that love means someone else.

I am thankful for pizza.

I am thankful for pizza and wine.

I am thankful for, not Chivas Regal in a $5 room (as Tom Waits had it), but pizza and a $400 Monte Bello.

I am thankful for art, and those who mean to make it.

I am thankful.

I am thankful.

I am thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving to all, and to all a good day.

I am thankful you read this.

I am thankful for that which you feel thankful for.

I feel thankful for you, whoever you are.

I feel thankful.

I am thankful.

Thank you.

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Posted in Viticultural Salmagundi, Varietals & Blends, Wine Tales, Food & Wine Pairing, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Syrah, Bordeaux varietals, Rhone varietals, Tasting Rooms, History, Monte Bello, Wine & Poetry, Virtual Verticals, Wine and Jazz, Merlot, Carignane, Grenache, Petit Verdot, RIDGE Staff, Winemaking, Paul Draper, Wine Quotes, Lytton Springs, Santa Cruz Mountains Estate, Wine & Music, Wine & Art, Wine & Food Pairing, Wine & Philosophy, Wine & Spirituality, Wine & The Holidays | 2 Comments »

The 2012 Wine Bloggers Conference, Brought To You In Linked Haiku! -or- #WBC12 #RidgeVineyards #Haiku

August 23, 2012

(What follows is a series of “Linked Haiku” — multiple spontaneously-composed Haiku on one  single subject. In this case, the Haiku are responses to the 2012 Wine Bloggers Conference; specifically, each Haiku is directly related to a specific agenda event at the conference)

–

A welcome with kind-

ness is kind; a welcome with

wine is sacrosanct!

-

Like brunch; a something

between somethings: between wine

and the writer: love.

-

Writing of wine, we don’t

write of self; rather, we write

of seeking no-self.

-

As with waterfalls,

flowing hospitality

is always holy.

-

Life of many friends,

week of many meetings, night

of many bottles.

-

Wine maker/writer;

we both prefer our glasses

be rosé-colored!

-

There are many kinds

of natural, but only

one kind of honest.

-

Do not stress the ease

of writing unless one is

sure that one writes well!

-

Love at first sight? Per-

haps, but a wine requires

more than five minutes!

-

Certainly we are

all winners. As are the win-

ners, only more so!

-

To truly dine like

a king, one must dine on the

estate of the king!

-

To write well is to

warm hearts. To write with passion;

this is to Ignite!

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Posted in Events & Photographs, Wine Blogs, Wine Tales | 12 Comments »

My Anniversary at Ridge!

July 17, 2012

Every year, on this day, I celebrate the signing of my job offer letter with Ridge Vineyards. It was a big day in my life. A very big day.

It’s been a big day for a lot of people. Erle Stanley Gardner, for example, the creator of Perry Mason.

He was born on July 17th.

Same for Jimmy Cagney. He never played Perry Mason, but for his ”Made it, Ma! Top of the world!” in White Heat alone, his fame was cemented with me.

And it wasn’t just actors. Red Sovine, he of Phantom 309 fame, was born on July 17th.

I think of Big Joe a great deal on Monte Bello road. I’m convinced I’ve seen a ghost biker on more than one occasion.

And speaking of music, Vince Guaraldi was born on July 17th! He was at the center of THE BIG COMPROMISE in the Monte Bello Tasting Room. It was December, some 3 years ago, and the Monte Bello Tasting Room staff wanted Christmas music. I refused to budge. Jazz. Only Jazz. They wouldn’t relent. The obvious compromise? You guessed it!

Lots of things happen on July 17ths.

I’ve of course set down a great deal of reminisces about this day in past posts, so I’ll try not to recycle them all here, but if you wish to read up on July 17ths past,  you might at least wish to follow the following link. It actually makes for sort of a neat bit of reading. In the post you’ll find thoughts on (among other things) They Might Be Giants, Walt Disney, and Frank O’ Hara, as well as a long-form poem chronicling a 3001-mile journey across America that concludes with a series of linked Haiku. Here ’tis:

http://blog.ridgewine.com/2011/07/17/my-wine-pages-my-ridge-anniversary/

Anyhow, July 17th is the first day I “officially” became a Ridge employee. There was a Summer Staff Picnic on that day, and I was invited. Not a bad way to start a gig at Monte Bello! I was dead nervous of course, but Melissa Baker, who I was to find out was my new counterpart at our Lytton Springs Estate, made room on a picnic table bench for me, then yanked me down, noted the salad on my plate, and said, “Where’s The Meat???”

Ah, those were the days …

My first actual “shift” in the tasting room (I was initially hired to be the Tasting Room Manager) was the following Saturday, the 19th. And guess what? It was a Passport Day! A Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrower’s Association Passport Day! One of the four busiest days of the year in the Monte Bello Tasting Room!

I just looked up the daily report from July 19th of that year …

Saturday 7/19/08 492 PASSPORT   SATURDAY
Sunday 7/20/08 100

Yeah, you’re reading that right. 492 people on that Saturday. ‘Twas quite the trial by fire, to say the least.

I remember asking my boss at the end of the day if she’d been ok with my performance. She looked across the bar at me, her tired back supported by a weary elbow propped on a wine-stained counter, sweat-soaked tendrils of hair flat against her reddened brow, and said in haggard low tones, “Well, I don’t remember having to worry about you.”

Which was as good a compliment as a newbie could receive!

Fast forward to 2012. Which is right now. And today is July 17th. And in 4 more days, guess what? Passport Day! It’s a Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrower’s Association Passport Day!

And, yours truly will be celebrating his anniversary.

And you’re invited!

See you Saturday!

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Posted in Events & Photographs, History, Ridge Memorabilia, RIDGE Staff, Tasting Rooms, Wine and Jazz, Wine Tales | 8 Comments »

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