http://www.beendoonsolong.com A Randall Grahm Vinthology Tue, 13 Jul 2010 23:37:08 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en A Conversation with Professor Andy Walker (in Long Form) ((Andy is a Professor of Plant Science (Viticulture) at UC Davis, specializing in grape vine breeding, the logical person on this side of the planet with whom to have this discussion.))           Andy, as you recall, the last time we spoke, I ... http://www.beendoonsolong.com/2010/07/prof_andy_walker/           I recently sold my vineyard in Soledad in the Salinas Valley. I didn’t really want to do it - it was arguably producing the most interesting grapes with which we were privileged to work. The Albariño and Loureiro seemed to consistently produce wines that were elegant, true expressions of ... http://www.beendoonsolong.com/2010/06/soledad/ I’ve been asked by my colleagues to write about the recent James Beard award for Been Doon So Long, presumably to not so discreetly draw attention to this highly creditable third party endorsement. (( I don’t know offhand how many copies of the book we still have in our inventory, ... http://www.beendoonsolong.com/2010/05/bearded-in-ones-lair/ Life is a recursive circle. We are given our genetic or karmic marching orders, it would seem, as some sort of holographic imprint, a model we follow, and we follow it over and over again, like the swallows returning to San Juan Capistrano, until the end of our days. Maybe, ... http://www.beendoonsolong.com/2010/04/beaune-again-pinot-noir-in-san-juan-bautista/ [caption id="attachment_1301" align="alignright" width="220" caption="Vintner Hall of Fame at Greystone"][/caption] It was just about a month ago (March 13th to be precise) that I was inducted into the Vintner’s Hall of Fame at the Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena, CA. (( In the very soft underbelly of the Napa ... http://www.beendoonsolong.com/2010/04/the-hall-of-fame-my-cia-connection/ We are just about to bottle the 2008 vintage of Le Cigare Volant and celebrate, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of its continuous production. I’ve written elsewhere ((An Apologia for Le Cigare Volant,” c.f. supra)) ((“The Etiquette of the Etiquette,” in “Been Doon So Long: A Randall Grahm ... http://www.beendoonsolong.com/2010/03/further-ruminations-on-cigare-the-doon-and-dirty/ ...in The Golden State Where All is Sweetness and Light Anyway? Speech delivered by Randall Grahm at University of California at Davis on 2/5/2010 What I’m really thinking about these days - above and beyond how to survive in this extremely challenging economic climate - is how one might find real meaning in ... http://www.beendoonsolong.com/2010/02/why-should-terroir-matter/ “What do women want?” ~ S. Freud “Sometime a Cigare is just a Cigare.” ~ R. Grahm (with apologies to S. Freud) “I mean, to put it crudely,” he was saying, “the thing you could say (Flaubert) lacks is testicularity. Know what I mean?” “…Lacks what?” Franny said…. …He hesitated. “Masculinity,” he said. “I heard you the ... http://www.beendoonsolong.com/2010/01/chick-vit-or-what-do-women-want-in-their-wine/ Years ago, when I had decided that Pinot Noir and that other Burgundian variety were just not going to work so well at our Estate Vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains, I began to focus instead on Rhône varieties. We produced then an extraordinary haunting wine from our Estate called ... http://www.beendoonsolong.com/2009/11/apologia-for-le-cigare-blanc/ The reader may know or be able to infer that I live a somewhat convoluted, self-referential life; that is to say, many of my personal points of reference seem to exist in the realm of vinous and the arcane (generally both). Eliot footnoted The Wasteland; why not to footnote a ... http://www.beendoonsolong.com/2009/11/footnotes-to-sub-terroir-rhonesick-blues/