The landscape of writing about wine certainly has changed during
the years. Today, like the proliferation of wineries around the
world and the accessibility to this delightful beverage that most
of us enjoy, you do not have to search far to find many written
opinions, stories and research into the subject of wine.
The landscape of writing about wine certainly has changed during the years. Today, like the proliferation of wineries around the world and the accessibility to this delightful beverage that most of us enjoy, you do not have to search far to find many written opinions, stories and research into the subject of wine.
What caught my attention, described in last week’s column, was this was not always the case. In a wonderful book titled “History in a Glass: Sixty Years of Wine Writing,” author Ruth Reichel takes us on a journey through the eyes, noses and taste buds of wine writers that composed articles from the 1940s until today.
I have an affinity for cheering for our local wineries and wine region, much like we all take ownership of our local high school sports programs. I was hoping this book was going to say some nice things about San Benito and Santa Clara counties. Truth be told, before I read a word, I was a bit pessimistic. “We” probably would be chastised or largely ignored in the landscape – but what they said was actually very flattering.
Some excerpts from writer Frank Schoonmaker, whose work was published in The New Yorker and Gourmet magazines:
“There are vines, too, off east of the Bay on the low hills round Mission San Jose … on the lower slopes of Mount Hamilton, and along the western rim of Santa Clara Valley, from Saratoga and Los Gatos all the way to Gilroy … for this is ‘dry wine country’ … if we are ever to have wines in America that can honestly be called ‘great,’ this is assuredly one of the districts from which they will come.” Yeah, baby!
Another passage says “Santa Clara has been from the beginning a district of small vineyards and small family wineries. Today, with 8,000 acres under vines and 46 bonded wineries, it has the smallest average acreage per winery of any major wine-producing county in California.
This, of course, means that there are comparatively few well-known “brands” of Santa Clara wine, and yet it is precisely under these conditions that the best wines are made, not only in California, but the world over.” Yeah, baby – again!
Another great passage talks about the “fertile, irrigated bottomland of the Santa Clara Valley … clusters of vineyards that stretch from San Francisco Bay to clusters farther south, between the village of Gilroy and picturesque Hecker Pass … there are other good ones, on the lower slopes of Mount Hamilton, east of San Jose, and others near Saratoga, near Los Gatos, near Morgan Hill and San Martin.”
The romanticism of the writing makes me wish I could travel back in time to see how all of this looked 60 years ago.
The romanticism continues whenever familiar names are mentioned – Almaden, the Novitiate of Los Gatos, P.L. Mirassou and Sons and the San Martin Vineyards.
These writings of Schoonmaker took place in 1948 and 1949. Fifteen years had passed since the repeal of Prohibition, but the prosperous futures of areas like Napa and Sonoma seemed implausible.
“The mischief worked by the 18th Amendment has destroyed decades of laborious work in the once industrious and peaceful world of Napa Valley.
The shady and sleepy little town of Napa has never been much of a center of the wine trade, though it seems probable that the name of Napa will fully regain its old luster if it is safeguarded, restricted and advertised by a strong association of local growers.”
Even worse for Sonoma was the prognostication that “there are still a few good vineyards, but there is not a single bottler of superior wine in the Sonoma Valley.”
Other chapters that fascinated me were when authors spoke about wine in America – our constant struggle to either find our own identity when it came to wine making and consumption, or the efforts made to emulate the French well enough to gain some respect – that is to say imitation is the greatest form of flattery. In some ways, with many wineries, this complex still exists.
Finally, writer Frederick S. Wildeman Jr. brought a smile to my face when he stated in 1966 that “the Paul Masson Company owns a few small vineyards in Saratoga, but some years back bought the San Ysidro ranch in San Benito County.
Here it is planting fine grape varietals to make its own wine. The head of the firm, Otto Meyer, is a music lover of note, and every Sunday afternoon in summer has public concerts of excellent classical music in an outdoor bowl near his Saratoga vineyards.” Sweet! Pop the cork and drink in the love!
Cheers!
