Are we fiddling like Nero while the vineyards around us burn? World wine production soars due to climate change and increasing appetites for good juice... Hall Vineyards in Napa Valley hires Frank Geary to build a Gearyesque monument to insatiable tourism...Constellation Inc. continues to buy up every major winery within spitting distance... and people complain when they see immigrant laborers lining up in the local grocery parking lot to pick grapes for $5.00 per hour. What's up here??
In the "free" market economy, strap yourself in and hold on to your spit bucket. Look, I am the first to admit to being a card carrying romantic when it comes to wine. Hey, give me a tarte tatin, hum a few bars of La Vie En Rose and I'll buy that pile a rubble you call a "charming, quaint farmhouse". But in the wine biz, the seismic reverberations shake many lives. When Napa cabernet sells for over $100 a bottle, then anything goes and it seems that the bottom line always wins. But attached to that line are countless people who invested far more than hedge funds in the endeavor.
This is an organic system. Field workers cannot get local housing because the rents are astronomical, vineyard owners aren't going to invest in housing that takes up valuable farmland, wine buyers won't pay the extra premium to support these invisible issues, French winemakers are turning their juice into industrial alcohol because of the impact of Australian prices (perhaps forcing them to turn out cheaper product or give up and sell to housing developers), wine auction prices soar, and in my corner of the world... I'm taking a break to tend to personal issues (see last posting) and make sense of something I dearly love.
In the interim, I adhere to the premise of Stay Local. No, I can't give up Domaine Tempier Bandol just yet, but I am surrounded by talented organic farmers and if I support them, I believe they support me. The Slow Food groups in my region of central CA have frequent dinners where you just show up, meet new folks, share ideas and enjoy great local food. My grandparents taught me that issues are solved around the dinner table. At least if I can't make sense of the larger issues, I am in good company.
The San Francisco Chronicle recently issued their Top 100 Wines of 2007. Check out the full article at their website. Glad to see that Ehern Jordan (winemaker for Turley Vineyards and friend, Bruce Neyers of Neyers Vineyards) is recognized for his incredible syrah. He has been busy burrowing into the hillside on the Silverado Trail for his winery cave, Failla. Don't miss it.
Here are a few of my favorite friends that you REALLY need to enjoy/support:
..Kenny Likitprakong of Hobo Wines (currently brewing at Moshin Vineyards on the side)
..Peay Vineyards
..The lucious pinot of Gary and Rosella Franscioni of Roar Vineyards
..The outrageous Gary Pisoni of Pisoni Vineyards
Enjoy. RP
