http://www.beendoonsolong.com A Randall Grahm Vinthology Sun, 20 Nov 2011 14:55:11 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I’m planting a vineyard in San Juan Bautista; this much we know. It won’t look very much like a vineyard—rather more like an untamed, feral garden of one’s dreams that happens to grow some grapes. ((This is sometimes piquantly referred to as “promiscuous culture.”)) While it would be nice if ... http://www.beendoonsolong.com/2011/11/terrior-my-spiritual-journey-part-2/ I’m a little bit nervous about characterizing my quest to produce a vin de terroir—a wine expressive of a specific place—as a “spiritual journey.” ((A Twitter follower (don’t ask) recently asked about the “helical” vineyard I’d once proposed planting in Pleasanton, CA., as a sort of recursive, Borgesian encyclopedic exercise ... http://www.beendoonsolong.com/2011/07/terroir-my-spiritual-journey-part-1/ I spent a recent morning at the Cornflower Nursery in Elk Grove, California, with Professor Andy Walker of UC Davis, who has been very graciously advising me on the rather ambitious (no kidding) program of growing grape vines from seeds. ((It is perhaps over-reaching a bit, but I feel the ... http://www.beendoonsolong.com/2011/05/everybody-into-the-pool-the-romance-of-the-vine/ I have spent an unseemly amount of time in the last several years obsessing about terroir. ((This  speech was originally delivered at the Wineries Unlimited Conference in Richmond, Virginia, on March 30, 2011.)) The notion that a wine can also in some sense be an embodiment of a place strikes ... http://www.beendoonsolong.com/2011/03/why-terroir-matters-can-its-pursuit-also-help-us-save-the-planet/ I was given some rather vague marching orders when asked to talk to you. ((These remarks were delivered at the annual meeting of Ohio wine and beer distributors, held February 18, 2011, in Napa Valley.))  Something something something about what was interesting to me about the Napa Valley. (Pregnant silence….) You ... http://www.beendoonsolong.com/2011/02/red-wine-white-wine-blue-ocean/ Winter Solstice 2010 [caption id="attachment_2049" align="alignright" width="200" caption="Pacific Rim on the half-shell"][/caption] To HS: ¡Mira!: A Rimshot ((This is a terribly inside joke (and a palindrome as well), and its intent was to surprise and delight Harmon Skurnik, brother of the eponymous Michael Skurnik, our distributor in New York. If memory serves, ... http://www.beendoonsolong.com/2011/01/the-bees-knees/ Dear DEWNstah, ((This letter was originally sent to club members of Bonny Doon's Distinctive Esoteric Wine Network along with their November shipment of Cigare variants. The wines, as well as the normale blend, are currently only available to wine club members, and can be purchased online at bonnydoonvineyard.com. They will ... http://www.beendoonsolong.com/2010/12/theme-and-variants-elevage-raising-up-and-getting-doon/ I believe that I may have found something truly original and worthwhile that might be done in the New World. ((The New World Paradox, if I may call it that, is something like this: With enough effort and an unholy deployment of financial resource, a winegrower in the New World ... http://www.beendoonsolong.com/2010/11/on-a-mission-the-germ-of-an-idea/ We gathered yesterday ((These remarks were delivered at the conclusion of the first international Grenache Symposium, held June 5 and 6, 2010, in Crestet, Rhône Valley, France.)) to talk about the “Art of Good Grenache,” and I realized early on that there were some problems in pursuing anything approaching a ... http://www.beendoonsolong.com/2010/09/grenache_symposium_remarks_on_grenache/           Lately, in thinking long and hard about what grape varieties (and anything else) we might plant at the new estate in San Juan Bautista, I am facing yet another variant of the New World Conundrum. (( Not to be confused with the off-dry blended white wine produced in Napa ... http://www.beendoonsolong.com/2010/08/love-among-the-vines/