Comments on: Soledad: Home Alone Again (Naturally)

By: Randall Grahm

Randall Grahm — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 02:03:53 +0000

Indeed, it was financial considerations that compelled the sale, but you are quite right. Growing grapes in the Salinas Valley in a very low rainfall area, having to irrigate w/ (slightly) saline water and experiencing the daily unremitting wind, is not a truly sustainable proposition.

By: Julie Brosterman

Julie Brosterman — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 16:51:41 +0000

Your post also brought Steinbeck to mind but I was thinking Grapes of Wrath – more dust then wind. And while I know that the financial decision motivated this sale, I think you would ultimately never be happy in a place where you would be reliant on irrigation to produce these varietals. I’m just wondering if you ever contemplated Malbec there? Sounds like the conditions are similar to Mendoza.

By: Randall Grahm

Randall Grahm — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:37:24 +0000

Yup, had to sell the vyd, as it was just a major drain of financial resources, something I could ill afford. I will certainly miss these wines, but am so very hopeful that they will be replaced by others that are equally or more compelling.

By: Randall Grahm

Randall Grahm — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:36:14 +0000

No doubt that the wind adds an amplifying effect to the pernicious effects of incarceration. I have met people who have worked inside the prison, however, who have reported on the (albeit rare) instances of the triumph of the human spirit over these most dispiriting conditions.

By: Randall Grahm

Randall Grahm — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:34:38 +0000

So glad that you enjoyed the wine. I myself have been consuming a fair bit of Vinho Grinho lately, and rather enjoying it. I do also like the Nebbiolo; I am having all sorts of fantasies of planting some at San Juan; this might, however, be the fatal siren song and I will end up on the rocks.

By: Randall Grahm

Randall Grahm — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:33:11 +0000

The feng shui masters have always been wary of wind – it does create a tremendous restlessness of the spirit, or at least resonates with an inner restlessness. I’m not totally convinced that great wine can come from very windy areas. But great people can come from extremely challenging backgrounds – maybe it could work for wine as well.

By: Randall Grahm

Randall Grahm — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:31:38 +0000

I suppose someone has to grow Cabernet in California, but suggest that to do it, there be some sort of vision of originality.

By: Randall Grahm

Randall Grahm — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:30:43 +0000

I generally agree with your assessment, but life is filled with many surprises, and it is not inconceivable that an original wine from Piemontese grapes might be made in the New World. Just look at Nebbiolo from Lessona – a very different terroir from Piemonte; the results are startlingly different (and generally worthwhile). Something amazing here just might happen.

By: Randall Grahm

Randall Grahm — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:26:06 +0000

Thanks so much for yr comment. First, I think that we should not grow grapes (and everything else) everywhere. Grapes can be grown in relatively dry climates if climate is not crazy-hot. Expectations for yields have to be re-set, and of course the economics have to be recalibrated. I am hopeful that I will be able to dry-farm in San Juan Bautista; at least making a very sincere effort to see that happen.

By: Roger Rhodes

Roger Rhodes — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 20:51:20 +0000

Wow, what a bad place to build a prison. Just what you want, restless folks in a cage. Maybe they should take over the vineyard for some spirit calming.