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Wine Prose That Animates Lifeless Liquids Napa County wine 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 wines 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 pinot noir 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 Sauvignon Blanc 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.
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