Napa County coverage: Visit us online at NapaValleyRegister.com/wine ON WINE for more coverage of the wine industry. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2020 | napavalleyregister.com | SECTION C Wine prose that animates lifeless liquids orced by circumstance to and Charles Walter Berry may Choice,” Waugh (who died 19 driven pheasants, most of which ing days of the season is the isolate from the virused be long forgotten by most of to- years ago at age 97) wrote this have been hand-reared. Christmas Shoot, only half a F world, we celebrate today day’s wine lovers, but the scant tale of a Christmas-time outing “From fifteen to twenty beat- day in fact, but more memo- as best we can, which in wine remaining copies of their works he attended, likely to bag some ers come out every Saturday…” rable because on this occasion terms means breaking out a sip- command exorbitant prices. game birds. (Beaters are hardy souls willing we concentrate more on the per and cherish- (One reason: You can consume “Most of us have at least one to trek through rugged scrub ‘goodies’ for lunch. Our most ing it with some a book and still have it around extravagance – mine is shoot- lands scaring the birds so they’ll affluent member usually brings wisdom of wine afterward.) ing,” he wrote, “but at least this take flight and are easier targets.) a magnum of Champagne, ei- lore that reminds These writers’ paeans to wine is a comfort to my wife, because One of the more delightful ther Dom Perignon or Taittinger us how venerated inject vivacious illusions that it gets me out of the house on adjuncts of a day’s shooting is Comtes de Champagne, as well is this elixir we animate and illuminate lifeless Saturdays during the three the break for lunch, and after a as a Christmas pudding from revere. liquids. months of the season and this really cold morning exposed to Fortnum’s, accompanied by the DAN Fine writing on One delightful vin-essayist gives her some time to get on the east wind or whatever it may essential brandy butter.” BERGER wine goes back whose works aren’t hard to find with things. be, what could be more welcome (Fortnum & Mason, https:// centuries, the ma- was Harry Waugh, wine mer- “There are eight of us guns in than a warming drink (even if www.fortnumandmason.com, is jority emanating chant and former director of the syndicate and we shoot over it is a cold one!) and something a highly regarded culinary-ori- from Great Britain, which has Chateau Latour, and a man who a large estate some sixty miles hot to eat. In some places, as for ented London institution.) a long, steadfast (and financial) spent lots of time touring the north of London. And although example in France, the shooting “[On one special occasion] I connection to the great of Napa Valley with local friends, this used to be a famous par- lunch can be a rather grand gas- could think of no more agree- France, Germany, and Portugal. often detailing his travels in Bae- tridge shoot in the days when tronomic affair, but ours is pretty able, nor more appreciative with Wine writers like H. Warner deker-like volumes. this table delicacy abounded, simple… Allen, Prof. George Saintsbury, In his 1973 work “Winetaster’s 90% of the bag nowadays is “One of the more amus- Please see BERGER, Page C6

WINE TO SAKE Looking back at the best of 2020 s the year comes to an end, it is important to re- A flect on some of the pos- itive results of one of the most difficult rides of our lives. With- out a doubt 2020 brought chal- lenges that continue to have re- percussions and will for months to come but it sure has made us reflect on what re- ally matters. In this last piece of a long year, I wanted to share some of my most relevant EDUARDO and memorable DINGLER experiences as I’ve done in prior years. CODY GEHRET Some of these instances in- Night harvest of at Hyde Vineyards in Carneros, which had something close to a normal harvest, albeit one still fraught with smoke and volve our strong community, a pandemic. some safe travel, before and during the pandemic, and valu- able pieces worth sharing. The year started with planned outings to some of my favorite destinations that feel like a sec- ond home to me, as well as epic GOOD NEWS wine tastings and local restau- rants, back when we could share a table with friends. Speaking of wine, the first grand tasting of the year was led by the great Alfred Tesse- ron, proprietor of the celebrated Château Pontet-Canet in Pauil- STORIES OF 2020 lac in Bordeaux. The tasting organized by Wine Access took us through a journey of vintages from 2000 to 2015, Winemakers and grapegrowers see hope amidst the challenges showcasing the impact of each vintage along with the longevity TONY POER ticularly, the devastating Glass of other wines — from sparkling marketability of 2017 wines, that of these wines. My top wine of Tucked under the heading of Fire in late September yet be- and to Char- it seems to have worked just fine. the evening had to be the 2000, the 2020 growing season sum- ing felt by growers and wine- donnay and Pinot Noir — will And I’m thankful for it.” which resonated with rich min- mary they released earlier this makers, the jury is still out on be produced from Napa Valley At that time four harvests ago, eral complexity and stamina month, Napa Valley Grape- the ’20 Napa Valley harvest in in 2020, since those grapes were the traumatic Atlas Fire cast a that, to this day, is still seared in growers included an appropriate terms of potential smoke dam- mostly picked before the Glass shadow of doubt across wine my mind. quote by Brian Brett: “Farming is age to wine grapes. Unpicked Fire blasted across the valley. productions from both Napa Our first memorable dining a profession of hope.” clusters of dark, shriveled fruit Comparing this past grow- and Sonoma Counties. But up to experience of the year took place The Canadian author and poet dot vineyards from Calistoga to ing season and harvest to an- now, the earlier concerns voiced at Singlethread Farm Restaurant wrote this in the introduction Oak Knoll, all the more visible as other fire-threatened vintage, by many in the wine and main- in Healdsburg. Joined by a small to his 2009 memoir, “Trauma leaf canopies fall away with the Schramsberg and Davies Vine- stream media have yet to bear group of long-time friends, Chef Farm: A Rebel History of Ru- change of season. yards President Hugh Davies fruit. Kyle and team delivered a one- ral Life.” If Brett’s observation And yet, even though NVG ac- was upbeat. As the respected wine critic of-a-kind experience, bite after rings true for farmers in years knowledges in its summary that “I’m actually pleased that not James Suckling wrote on his bite. The presentation and pair- of normal expectations, the one the fires “exposed varieties to only are we seemingly selling the website in February, he’d tasted ings were spectacular with ar- currently drawing to a close may smoke and ash, influencing har- 2017 Cabernets, our ‘17 Pinot is more than 1,000 wines from rangements laid across the table have gotten winegrowers up and vest operations in both the vine- already gone, and we’re selling Northern California going back displaying the best ingredients down the valley to go searching yard and cellar,” it’s encouraging the sparkling wines from that to the fall of last year. “I continue Northern California has to offer for new wells of optimism. to remember that not all Caber- year,” the veteran vintner said to like the 2017s, especially from With the effects of August’s net Sauvignon was abandoned recently. “We now have enough Please see DINGLER, Page C5 LNU Complex fire and, par- and, furthermore, that plenty of a sample size, relative to the Please see GOOD NEWS, Page C6

THE WINE EXCHANGE Is it about taste or place? few years ago I partici- pleasant but did bringing a Sangiovese and one pated in a blind tasting not convey any member raised another ques- A with one of my favorite of the expected tion, “Does it have to taste like groups where at each meeting, signature char- Sangiovese just because that’s one member selects the cate- acteristics of the grape, or should the wine- gory of wine and all members Sangiovese. While maker be free to deliver a tasty bring a bottle (in a brown bag) the wine was not wine in his own style?” ALLEN representing that category. That BALIK faulty in any other A spirited discussion ensued evening’s call was Sangiovese way, I raised the and most agreed with me that a from anywhere (not just Tuscany question, “What is wine should be true to its origin. where it is the key player). this wine as it certainly does not But a few others expressed their As we went through the wines taste like Sangiovese?” opinion that a wine need only BARBARA BALIK, NEW WAYS TO SEE. with three poured for each flight, My comment was met with Alessandro, the manager of guest relations at Poderi Boscarelli in their M 1 I came upon one that tasted some surprise as everyone was Please see BALIK, Page C2 vineyards just after harvest. C6 | FRIDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2020 ON WINE NAPA VALLEY REGISTER Good news From C1

Napa Valley. Many have a firmness and drinkability that is so attrac- tive and intriguing.” Such char- acteristics have emerged, he ob- served, “despite the troublesome hot weather during the growing season and the devastating fires in October.” Whether or not Suckling or other critics will offer such a positive assessment of the 2020 vintage remains to be seen. Ev- ery growing season and harvest is different. What’s clear is that, CHRIS HYDE because of the Glass Fire — not I felt like as a community, everyone to mention all of the COVID-19 really came together,” Chris Hyde safety protocols that have been in says of 2020, “We were able to place for months — the ’20 har- keep everybody employed. We vest was, unsurprisingly, both an got through this harvest working aberration and a wild ride. successfully with our winery The valley’s grape crop came in partners to get the fruit picked.” at a fraction of what was shaping up during the growing season to Sauvignon Blanc, but nearly all be a normal yield of exceptional of the and quality, a fact lamented by NVG Bordeaux varieties that go into Executive Director Jennifer Put- TONY POER PHOTO the Spottswoode red wines. Ex- nam. “[T]he prospect of a severely Shriveled grapes in Calistoga after fall’s wildfires. cept for a small amount of Lake reduced harvest or one where no County fruit, Weinkauf noted, grapes were harvested was sadly “We were able to bring in every- realized” by some of its grower thing else before the Glass Fire, members, she summarized. which obviously had very close, But for 2020, Davies said he very serious and direct impacts doesn’t predict an issue with the on us right here.” marketability of the Cabernet He was careful to point out that Sauvignons and Pinot Noirs that owing to their growers’ vineyards’ fall under his eponymous label. and their own property’s proxim- “Where I do think there’s a chal- ity to the Glass Fire, they had fin- lenge is that there’s not going to be ished samples of all of their wines much of those wines made.” lab-tested for smoke damage. The On the red wines side of his results brought the winemaker joy business, he and his director of and relief. “I literally wrote all of winemaking, Sean Thompson, PHOTO COURTESY OF SPOTTSWOODE our growers as of like a week and saw a significant drop in produc- Spottswoode’s winemaker and vineyard manager, a half ago telling them the good tion in ’20. For the Schramsberg Aron Weinkauf says, “Our yields are down kind of SUBMITTED PHOTO news that we got the numbers sparkling wines, which are made consistently 20 to 30 percent, but that has nothing to Hugh Davies, president of Schramsberg and Davies back, and we’re clean. We’re mak- from early-picked do with the fires. It only has to do with drought and the Vineyards, said he is encouraged by strong sales of ing the wines.” and Pinot Noir, the hit was less climate conditions of the growing season.” wines from another fire-challenged vintage, 2017. With several weeks of hind- severe. sight, Weinkauf has had a chance “Sparkling production is down Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grower of the Year for 2020. He given Hyde some valuable per- to consider his colleagues’ vary- a bit, but that’s because yields , and . established the now-200-acre spective. ing responses to the Glass Fire. were light this year,” Davies wrote “We’re quite proud of the fact property in the early ‘70s, when “We got all of our fruit picked They consisted, in part, of grow- in an email. “The sparkling base that Dad’s vineyard has been in it was only a third that size. Like and off the vines, and we were able ers and winemakers deciding to wine quality is quite good. We’re every vintage of Chateau Mon- the Hannas, Hyde father and son to deliver it. And from everything leave fruit hanging on the vines actually really pleased. telena’s Chardonnay,” the elder grow grapes for dozens of winery I’ve tasted so far, we’ve got a great for justifiable fear of smoke dam- “We’re lucky that Cabernet Hanna wrote in an email last clients. vintage,” he shared. “That being age. “People were really just going represents a smaller portion of our month. Their property sits south of said, we’re looking forward to about this every possible way they overall program,” he added. Over the phone more recently, Highway 121 opposite the Car- another year ahead of us. It’s all could think of, and there were a lot When it comes to wildfires he said with a note of relief in neros Resort in the windswept about planning and looking to the of people who came out and said and which direction the wind is his voice that the 2020 crops AVA that is Napa Valley’s coolest future. That’s really what agricul- that they are not making wine.” blowing, both good and bad luck of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir growing region. Thanks in part tural farming and what the wine He continued, “You know, I played important roles in the fire were picked successfully. Like to Larry Hyde’s early efforts with business are all about.” don’t want to pretend to know the events of 2017 and this past Sep- Schramsberg, Hanna’s clients at Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, these Only a small fraction of Hyde circumstances of every other win- tember. Vineyard locations and Mumm Napa incorporate Pinot vines are synonymous with Car- Vineyards is planted with another ery, but I absolutely know there picking dates, meanwhile, are Noir into their méthode champ- neros. They make up the majority vine closely associated with Napa were a lot of people in a position more dependable factors in the enoise wines, and all of that fruit of Hyde Vineyards’ ten planted Valley, but Sauvignon Blanc rep- like us and just said, ‘Yeah, we’re pursuit of a successful harvest, goes to the sparkling wine opera- varieties. resents a strong bond between bringing the grapes in. We’re go- even in a year like 2020. A pair of tion on Silverado Trail. Echoing Hugh Davies, Chris the Carneros growers and Spotts- ing to treat things normally, but established growers in two of the These successes notwithstand- Hyde commented over the phone woode’s Winemaker and Vineyard we’re going to be working with all valley’s coolest area, Carneros and ing, he spoke frankly about the that the ’20 vintage was smaller Manager, Aron Weinkauf. Even of our growers in every situation. Oak Knoll, can attest to this. challenges of harvesting in the for their signature wine grapes, before Weinkauf came on board And then we’re going to test ev- Bill Hanna and his family have midst of a terrible fire season. but the quality of Chardonnay and the esteemed St. Helena estate erything as thoroughly as we can hung their hats on Oak Knoll When the Glass Fire burned in Pinot Noir appears to be very high. in 2006, the Novak family were afterward and hopefully make a Chardonnay for half a century. Napa Valley, “the smoke arrived He and his vineyard team had to grape clients of the Hydes. decision based on real results in- They also claim a fascinating lin- here sooner, and so anything that work extra hard through both the Spottswoode Winery produces stead of predictions.’” eage. Hanna’s father, John, was was left out hanging, which for fires and the coronavirus restric- one of Napa Valley’s most sought “The fact that 2017 happened, the grandson of the naturalist us included Cabernet, Cab Franc, tions to make it happen. after versions of Sauvignon Blanc. and now ’20 has happened to us, and conservationist John Muir. and Merlot, was exposed and did “We’re fortunate that, as an It’s a variety typically harvested in it gives pause,” Hugh Davies ob- In 1970, he planted Chardonnay show signs of smoke. So, we’re agricultural business, we could August and September, so vint- served of the last four harvests’ in what would come to be known dealing with that,” he confessed. continue to operate an essential ners like Weinkauf were able to outcomes. “On the flip side of as the John Muir Hanna Vineyard, Then Hanna returned to a hap- business. We were able to keep bring in their lots of fruit before that, ’18 and ’19 were pretty suc- at the corner of Dry Creek Road pier subject. “All of our Chardon- everybody employed,” said Hyde. the Glass Fire began on Sept. 27. cessful. So, I think we have to take and Orchard Avenue. nays were picked. It was after the “We got through this harvest “Our verdict is in,” he said on the hits in stride. And this whole The property figures into con- LNU complex. By all accounts — working successfully with our a phone call, the bearer of more COVID thing, no one asked for it. temporary his- and we sell to quite a few differ- winery partners to get the fruit good news about the ’20 harvest. “There are going to be good years tory, as it supplied some of the ent buyers — everything is looking picked. And, you know, I felt like “Our yields are down kind of con- and bad years. There are going to grapes that went into Chateau rosy in terms of the fruit quality as a community, everyone really sistently 20 to 30 percent, but that be tough moments. I think that we Montelena’s 1973 Chardonnay, from the Chardonnay.” came together.” has nothing to do with the fires. just have to try to be strong and the top-rated white wine in Ste- As a grower who works land With Hyde Vineyards situated It only has to do with drought work our way through these more ven Spurrier’s Judgment of Paris down in Carneros planted by his in an even cooler location than and the climate conditions of the challenging moments. There are blind tasting in 1976. father, Chris Hyde is a younger Oak Knoll, and that much further growing season. We were lucky definitely better days ahead.” Hanna, his son, Michael, and version of Bill Hanna. He has been south and away from the Glass enough that we had picked almost Meanwhile, if the Canadian au- their vineyard manager, Steve Hyde Vineyards’ General Manager Fire, it allowed for something 100 percent of our grapes” before thor Brian Brett is a wine enthu- Kline, continue to grow Char- since 2012. Larry Hyde is one of close to a normal harvest, albeit that late September date. siast, his hope for 2021 and the donnay for a number of clients, the valley’s most respected grow- one still fraught with smoke and These included not just Hyde future of Napa Valley viticulture including Montelena, along with ers and in July was named NVG’s a pandemic. 2020 seems to have Vineyards’ and other growers’ might just spring eternal.

this had really occurred and one yet the more discreet, the gentler through. grassy bank and adding magic to Berger even rushed out to endeavor to and sweeter perfume of the rose One of the most famous a lunch of bread and cheese.” From C1 retrieve the bottle, but alas, it will abide with the bloom as long quotes about Champagne was Traci Dutton of the Culinary was far too late and had all been as the bloom will last.” reputedly said by Lilly Bollinger Institute of America’s education which to share my very last bot- consumed. All we could do was French-born André Simon of the Champagne house of that department is a frequent judge tle of Taylor 1927 [Port].” to laugh and my great consola- was a wine merchant and prolific name: at wine competitions who often (This was a monumental of- tion came later on when our head writer. The International Wine “I drink Champagne when I’m describes wines transmogri- fering. In 2016, Decanter Mag- keeper Frank Dickens, a teetotaler & Food Society, of which he was happy and when I’m sad. Some- fyingly by using cultural refer- azine’s Stephen Brook wrote, himself, had told us that one of a founder in 1933, wrote of him, times I drink it when I’m alone. ences. Recently (and fittingly) “Other than the rare Nacional the beaters had tasted it and ex- “He believed that ‘a man dies too When I have company, I consider she described one excellent but bottling from Quinta do Noval, claimed, “Cor, that’s a drop of young if he leaves any wine in his it obligatory. I trifle with it if I’m subtle wine as Debussy and said Taylor’s vintage is the most good stuff!” cellar’. There were only two mag- not hungry and drink it when I another wine was Elton John. sought-after and expensive of Waugh’s most oft-quoted line nums of claret left in his personal am. Otherwise, I never touch it – I’ll add one mundane reflec- all vintage Ports, and this wine, was his answer to a question: cellar at his death,” at age 93. unless I’m thirsty.” tion. from an acclaimed vintage, is the Someone asked if he had ever The late winemaker André Much wine writing is devoted Occasionally you find Char- epitome of the style.”) mistaken a Burgundy for a Bor- Tchelistcheff also alluded to the to allusion and one of the most donnays or white Burgundies Waugh decanted the classic deaux? greatness of Burgundy when he enjoyable phrases appeared in that really are red wines without old 1927 wine early in the day, His reply: “Not since lunch.” suggested that to discover its the third edition (1961) of writer color — and Pinot Noirs or red and sealed the decanter, taking Great old Burgundies often true aroma, smell a dying rose. Julian Street’s book titled simply Burgundies that really are white it with him as he was driven by elicit paroxysms of delight, and The aforementioned H. War- “Wines.” wines with color. “the most affluent member” to it is also alleged that Waugh ner Allen, an author of detective Hidden in the text is this lovely the shoot. coined the phrase: “The first novels, also penned this in his passage: Wine of the Week The group started the duty of wine is to be red — the book, “Through the Wine- “Rhônes are important wines, 2018 Langhart & Hill Pinot postprandial period with a second is to be a Burgundy.” Glass,” 1954: particularly friendly and ac- Noir, Sonoma Coast ($34) — A “warm-up” Port, 1960 Warre. As to Burgundy, one of the “The Wine-Glass tempers the commodating. The Rhône Valley striking raspberry/cherry aroma “But as good as this was, what most prolific of the Brit wine- ruthlessness of the Hour-Glass; being in the south has fewer is enhanced by notes of tea and we had all really been looking prose creators was André Simon, wine smoothes the asperities of bad years than Bordeaux or oak, but not enough to make the forward to was the pièce de ré- an author and wine lover who Time. Seen through the Wine- Burgundy and because of this wine unbalanced. Indeed, the sistence, the 1927 Taylor. lived nearly a century. Glass, the past is purified from its wines are less expensive and balance between fruit, acid, and “Naturally confident that our In one of his books he wrote, many of its regrets and unhappy one feels justified in using them barrel aging is ideal and the me- ‘affluent’ member had brought “Burgundies, on the whole, memories, in the specious pres- more freely. A good [red] Rhône dium-weight wine opens hand- the bottle. . . [along with] the do not keep nearly so long as ent ‘present mirth has present will stand up handsomely to somely after it’s decanted for an food, I then asked him to set Clarets. They have more to laughter,’ and the future which venison, a game bird, a rabbit, or hour. Good value. 1927 on the table. There was a give, more bouquet and greater the Hour-Glass reveals with any other dish with which Bur- deadly hush – he turned quite vinosity, at first, but they ex- dark and menacing obscurity is gundy or a very ‘big’ Claret [red Dan Berger lives in Sonoma County, white and exclaimed, ‘Gosh, I haust themselves and fade away gilded with the light of hope... Bordeaux] is usually associated. where he publishes “Vintage gave that bottle to the beaters for sooner than the less aromatic, The Wine-Glass can lend en- “But whereas Burgundy is Experiences,” a subscription-only their lunch as I thought it was a more reserved Clarets. chantment to, or at least veil the King and Claret is Queen and wine newsletter. Write to him at Christmas present for them.’ “It is somewhat like carna- horror of, the grimmest moment Champagne is a gay old multi- [email protected]. He is also “Since the assembled company tions, which possess a far more in this century.” millionaire, the maid of honor co-host of California were all enthusiastic Port lovers, pungent and assertive perfume Particularly apt consider- from the Rhône Valley is not with Steve Jaxon on KSRO Radio, M it was hard to convince them that when first picked than any rose; ing what so many have lived above sitting with you on a 1350 AM. 1