Scoring a wine century

 

So many bottles, so little time ?Michelle Locke

I’ve always been in the Groucho Marx school of club membership _ I don’t care to belong to any club that will have me as a member. But a club where you drink your way in? That sounds like a pretty good idea.

The group in question is The Wine Century Club, where admittance requires trying 100 different grape varieties. For a change-a-phobe like myself who, left to my own devices, probably would drink chardonnay, chardonnay, Riesling, followed by more chardonnay, this is quite the challenge.

What’s it like?I asked my friend A. who is more than halfway toward his goal of getting to 100 within a year. He’s gotten in the habit of snapping each bottle with his iPhone, which helps keep track, and having knowledgeable and friendly wine shop allies has been a help.

The first 50 weren’t all that hard to come by and most of the wines have been pretty good, he says. “I had a lip-smackin’ Godello, a white from Spain. And have become a bona fide fan of Nero D’Avalo from Sicily — which is kind of the point — to find wines you’d never normally pick up. Fortunately I have a lot of friends (and am married to someone) who don’t particularly care what they drink as long as it doesn’t [vivid two-word combination conveying general lack of quality]. So I bring these oddities to parties and before you know it, they’re gone.”

One way to look at the exercise is as a way to save the varietals that haven’t made it into the “big six” _ Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling.

Ultimately, what A. likes is the club “turns my drinking into a project. It has parameters. It has goals. And along the way you discover new wines, you learn (from back labels) something about the region, about the year, about the topography. It’s like the booze-world’s version of stamp collecting, in this way. It’s educational and world-broadening. And I think Americans need this kind of thing. We still live with Puritan guilt. We’re wayward Puritans many of us and if you can somehow turn pleasure into a project that resembles engineering or scientific inquiry, so much the better.”

I’ll drink to that. Maybe with a Rkatsiteli or a Xynomavro.

No, I did not make those up.

Cheers.

 

A stroll down memory lane

What’s the word?

If you know the answer is “Thunderbird,” you are very well-versed in wine lore. Or fairly antique, but let’s don’t go there.

I was doing an interview today and the old ads for Thunderbird wine came up in conversation. The jingle went something along the lines of: What’s the word? Thunderbird. How’s it sold? Good and cold. What’s the price? Thirty twice. (60 cents a bottle, at least at one point.)

The topic under discussion was how far wine has progressed in the United States. Back in the ’60s, Thunderbird, a fortified, low-end wine, was a best-seller. So you can imagine how the 1976 Paris tasting in which a California red and white took home top honors in their respective categories came as such a shock to Old World wine authorities.

You can still buy Thunderbird today, although I wouldn’t really recommend it. And I’m guessing you wouldn’t be able to get a movie star to endorse it, either. Back in the day, though, James Mason shilled for Thunderbird. Here’s an ad I found on the Internet that I thought was kind of fun.

Although maybe not so much for Mason. I get the vibe he’s not 100 percent thrilled with this particular gig. 

Harvest is Happening

Harvest is getting its groove on in the Napa Valley. The sparkling wine houses _ who want grapes with a little less sugar than those used for still wines _ have been picking for a few weeks. And I recently had the chance to experience one of the harbingers of harvest, the annual Blessing of the Grapes at Grgich Hills Estate in Rutherford.

The blessing of the grape harvest is a centuries-old tradition and has been observed at Grgich Hills since 1977. This year Father Mark Christy from the Carmelite Monastery in Oakville did the honors over a few containers of grapes glistening green in the sunshine. Winery cofounder Mike Grgich was there, wearing his trademark black beret and beaming at the small crowd of friends and well-wishers.

“This is a great day for all of us who work here,” said Grgich. “We promise out of these grapes we are going to make wine artistically, scientifically and use all our experience to make the best wines in the world.”

Here are a few snippets from the ceremony.

Grgich Hills _ it’s ger-gich, by the way _ makes a good stop on your wine country itinerary. It’s easy to get to, right off Highway 29, and centrally located, near Beaulieu Vineyards, Rubicon Estate and Rutherford Grill, where you can get reasonably priced and reliably good grub.

It’s also one of the few places where you can indulge your “I Love Lucy” fantasy. They’ve got a tub of grapes waiting, you just take off your socks and have at it. I’ve done it. A lot squishier than you expect but quite soothing.

Grgich has plenty of experience making great wines. He was winemaker at Chateau Montelena for the ’73 chardonnay that beat French white wines in the 1976 Paris Tasting, a revolutionary event that changed the way people thought about California wines. And at 87 years old he’s been in the business for more than half a century. That’s right, 87. I had to go back and check my math because you’d never know it just from talking to him.

It makes me wonder what I’ll be up to three years shy of 90.

Maybe I should buy a beret.

Cheers.

 

Auction Napa Valley

 

A lot at the Napa Valley wine auction /Michelle Locke

Napa Valley vintners partied like it was 1989 for their annual auction this weekend, and what a swell party it was.  Black tie, evening gowns and a fancy emcee: Out. Flowered dresses, big hats and “Walk Like an Egyptian” rock group the Bangles: In.

The result was $8.5 million raised for local charities, a good showing for any year and downright impressive for the Great Recession. As honorary co-chair Beth Novak Milliken put it, “a spectacular weekend.”This was the 30th anniversary of the auction, which started out with $140,000 raised in 1981. Back then, the valley was so laid-back organizers used bedsheets instead of tablecloths because there wasn’t a local linens supplier with the resources to put on that big a party. Over time, the Napa Valley shifted upscale and in recent years the auction followed suit, switching from relaxed garden party to posh dinner complete with big names like Jay Leno performing host duties.

But this year it was back to basics, with a relaxed dress code and less formal vibe. You knew you were in for a change when you walked into the big tent for the live auction Saturday and saw water pistols on the tables. It was a warm afternoon and the pistols got plenty of use. To the point that Mme. Vinecdote was used as a human shield by one sharpshooting vintner who shall remain nameless.

There was still plenty of glitz during the four-day event, formally known as Auction Napa Valley. Elegant parties were held at wineries on Thursday and Friday night featuring fabulous wines and four-star food. But the star turn of the weekend was the live auction held, as usual, at the exclusive Meadowood Resort in St. Helena.The most suspenseful action of the day came with a lot from Colgin Cellars. A winning bid of $250,000 quickly grew to $1 million after Colgin Cellars kept offering to duplicate the lot for others willing to pony up that much. What did winning bidders get? Eight magnums of Bordeaux blends, dinner for six and a comparative tasting for six.

(It is without a doubt a splendid thing to watch other people spending thousands of dollars for a good cause, never more so than when your own bank account is a shade shy of six figures.)

And, in keeping with today’s frugal aesthetic, there were bargains to be had.Take the $200,000 bid that secured a 6-liter bottle of the highly sought-after Screaming Eagle. (The 6-liter bottle is known as a methusaleh and is the equivalent of eight regular bottles.) In 2000, a 6-liter bottle of Screaming Eagle went for $500,000.A $300,000 discount? I’ll drink to that.

Cheers.

 

Goodbye, Fess

Fess Parker, 85, died today.

Parker, of course, is famous to Baby Boomers as TV’s Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone. But he was also a force in wine country, founding The Fess Parker Winery & Vineyard in Santa Barbara wine country  some 30 years ago.

I visited the winery in late 2002 while writing a story about celebrity vintners. I really didn’t know what to expect, but what I got was a gracious, silver-haired giant of a man who radiated equal parts charisma, country charm and a sly sense of humor. He was 78 then and full of energy, driving myself and a photographer around the property in a Hummer, occasionally stopping to stride through vineyards, his long legs eating up the yardage. One of our stops was at a local diner where the waitress knew without asking to bring him his usual breakfast,  a substantial plate heavy on the pancakes.

Fess was my favorite kind of interview, the subject who has interesting things to say and isn’t shy about saying them. The deep,  gravelly drawl didn’t hurt, either.  We drove around hills that were just beginning to turn green with winter rains and he talked about everything from his serious pursuit of wine excellence to his days in Hollywood. And he told stories on himself, like the time his wife went to the wine store to fill the cellar in their new Bel Air home and came back with such famous wines as Chateau Lafite from France. His reaction, he said with a twinkle, was a shocked, “How could you spend $6 a bottle for wine?”

Interestingly, the family at first called the winery simply Parker, wanting the wine to speak for itself. But it wasn’t long before Fess convinced them they needed something extra to stand out from the thousands of brands crowding store shelves. “I learned one thing from Walt Disney,” he said, “and that was the value of a trademark. Some people take it the wrong way and say you’re just promoting yourself. But my vision is to have a presence that represents quality.”

After the interview was over, I thanked him, went home and wrote the piece. I didn’t expect to hear from him again but a few days after Thanksgiving a fax came across my office machine _ a handwritten thank you note from Fess. That’s unusual in this business, and very unusual from a celebrity.

So, today lots of people will be remembering Fess Parker in his roles as frontier heroes Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone _ great characters both. But I’ll be thinking of Fess Parker, wine pioneer and gentleman.

Farewell, Fess.