“Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.”  Carl Sagan 

During my early evolution here on this planet we call Earth, I thought I might become lots of things—veterinarian, epidemiologist, world-problem-solver—but it never occurred to me that I would become a winemaker.  When I was younger, all I wanted to do was “get the hell out of Dodge”, or, in my case, Sacramento which was a relatively boring and very suburban small town when I was growing up.  I wanted to travel and make a difference in the world and do something BIG.  Wine at this point figured only into my plans as an occasional libation, nothing more, and it never occurred to me that being a winemaker was an occupation at all. 

Well, I did travel around the world at 20 years old, never having before left the golden bounds of California, only to find myself in exotic cities like Shanghai, Taipei or Madras—exotic, yes, and exciting, and also filled at the time with filth, smog, pestilence of milleniums of human and animal existence—completely different from the environs of my childhood, and which had all the makings for future job opportunities, as I saw it then.  During this trip, my plans were shaping up to study zoonosis (diseases transmitted to humans from animals) and epidemiology.  Wine was far from my plans—I wanted to do BIG things, afterall.

So, what happened?  A lot can happen in college and did when I returned from traveling to finish my degree at UC Davis only to discover that rather than narrowing my focus traveling had instead broadened my interests and my confidence as well.  I started hanging out with the enology and viticulture students, going to their parties, attending a few enology classes, even attending tastings and lectures that I wouldn’t get credit for just to get the experience and knowledge.  For the first time in my life I realized that wine was interesting and it held the potential to include all of my interests:  science, the natural cycles of life, plants, creativity, business, world travel, and the je ne sais quois—the mystery— that can make a certain wine unique and serve to inspire one at the same time.  That and the concept that I could make a living out of it.  This was an epiphany.

OK.  Epiphanies—I will admit— are often encouraged not by romanticism but by necessity, and in my case the reality of no longer cavorting in the warm glow of academia and moving into a cold future of responsibility (aka “Graduation”) helped further things along.  With my science background and a little help from my friends, I was able to secure a harvest-time job at a winery in Sonoma County which went so well it lasted longer than harvest, and, well, the rest is history. I am still here today after 14 harvests and going strong.

Why do I make wine?  I have asked myself this question quite a bit and the answers I’ve come up with seem to change in importance over time and bottle aging, but the one that seems most important to me at this juncture in my life and career is what I like to call “transferrance of intention”.  What that means is that I guess I’ve traded “BIG” things for the more achievable idea that if I’m doing what I enjoy then maybe it will inspire others to seek what they enjoy and maybe that will make the world a better place.  To take it a little further still, that if I and those around me put our best intentions into making our wine, maybe the folks who drink it will be influenced positively in the process.  Crazy?  I just might give you that.  Idealistic?  Certainly.  Cosmically important or simply nonsense?  I don’t know; Carl Sagan is dead.

“Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep thoughts can be winnowed from deep nonsense.”  Carl Sagan

 

What is so interesting about going through wine country here in Monterey is that there is so much else going on besides grapegrowing.  I’ve learned a great deal about row crop agriculture from driving by every field and seeing what they are doing.  How many times do folks get the opportunity to witness a sea of asparagus in glorious feather-like leaf in the fall, or broccoli growing in gray-green brilliance?  How about romaine lettuce emerging just next to a pinot noir vineyard?  Seeing these things makes me appreciate the diversity of this area and reminds me that although the majority people in the world think of California as a hip, palm tree-covered, fast-moving, metropolitan-centered state, this is really what California is all about…..agriculture and all of the hard work that goes along with it.

Tondre Grapefield

I visited Tondre Grapefield in the Santa Lucia Highlands, and here are some photos.  We will pick this pinot noir on Monday, and it is tasting very good.

 

The vineyard is owned by the Alarid family who has farmed this land for quite a long time.  They grow broccoli, lettuce, beans, and lemons, to name just a few crops.  As the story goes, they never really knew what to do with the land that the vineyard is now planted on as it wasn’t a whole lot good for anything else.  Then one day, Tondre, the father of Joe Alarid, the vineyard manager, had a heart attack.  While recovering at home—and after hearing about the health benefits of red wine—he decided to plant a vineyard, and took advice from neighbors on how to do it.  Today, Tondre is healthy and doing well, and Joe does a great job of managing not only the winegrapes, but all the other crops they grow as well.  They named the vineyard “Tondre Grapefield” to honor both Tondre and their farming heritage.

Watch Out for Grape-eating Wild Dogs!

OK, maybe not so wild in the conventional sense.  This is Sweetie, and she is a Rat Terrier and premier grape sampler on-the-job.  She also does well keeping the floors in the winery free from grapes, as well.