Gifts of Inspiration: Cassoulets, Birthdays, and Celebrations with Rucksack GSM, Markus Sol

blowing out the candles

You say it’s your birthdayIt’s my birthday too, yeahThey say it’s your birthdayWe’re gonna have a good timeI’m glad it’s your birthdayHappy birthday to you
So sing the Beatles, today and yesterday, and even though two of the Beatles have passed on, their art, their music remains, their gifts of song live on to inspire us. Anne Lamont points out that 
“Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life: they feed the soul. When writers make us shake our heads with the exactness of their prose and their truths, and even make us laugh about ourselves or life, our buoyancy is restored. We are given a shot at dancing with, or at least clapping along with, the absurdity of life, instead of being squashed by it over and over again.”
 
This week I’m reflecting on gifts, the gifts of wine, the gifts of  birthdays and cassoulets, the gifts of  inspiration, how we keep from being squashed to keep on dancing. 
 
 

Rucksack GSM with cassoulet

 
If you know me and my writing at all, you know that we wouldn’t be here without Matt Mullenweg’s WordPress blogging platform where I have been publishing about wine since 2008. Burning Man has had a huge impact on my life as well, and Larry Harvey encouraged me to share my poetry and art in the center cafe, making me the first artist to share their work there.
 
At a transitional time in my life, Patrick Duffy had a big impact: he was someone who helped me find the permission to be truer to who I am and discover my path. Patrick and I shared many passions and connections, including being born within 24 hours of each other but in different decades leading us to call each other our evil twin; we called each other our doppelgänger. 
 

the always magical Patrick G Duffy by Linda Kale Hamm

 
Did we meet first at a Burning Man event or at a Geography conference?
 
I do know we met soon after he began his formal study of geography at UC Berkeley and I had taken a leave from a PhD program in Geography at University of Oregon. As geographers, we both loved natural and wild landscapes, the mountains, the desert, and we were fascinated by ways to make sense of the land and how to express it on paper in words or art. For many years we had amazing synchronicity– we would run into each other at random places in the Bay Area like the Berkeley Farmers Market or artworks in the Black Rock Desert at Burning Man. As I settled into domesticity in southern California, he found love with someone with family in nearby Ojai, and he stopped by when he could. He took this photo of my son and I during one of those visits when Reed was only a few months old.

photo of Gwendolyn Alley and infant son by Patrick G Duffy circa our birthdays January 2004

 
Photography was one of his many talents, and his images of the American river often were featured on the nightly news weather segment on the local television station. He lived an aesthetic life, and like me, pursued what engages the whole soul.
 
 
 
For awhile, Patrick worked in the kitchens of Berkeley where he grew up, including working with Alice Waters, and he always took time to make even the simplest of meals exquisite, teaching me one late night to toast cumin, and to steam tortillas. I think this was after seeing him by chance at a warehouse party in Oakland. I’ll never forget running into him on another late night at Burning Man and learning about poke while he shared some with me. 

Patrick G Duffy in his art studio with one of his paintings which is available on t-shirts

 
His loss from cancer was sudden, unexpected, and very painful, but his leaving was full of love and support from his family, his friends, and his partner Linda Kalb Hamm who I had the pleasure of meeting a few years ago when I last saw Patrick in person and we had a stroll along the beach. 

A memorial is being planned that will include an art show. A GoFundMe is also in the works to help with the expenses incurred during the final weeks of his life, and to cover costs for a memorial, to maintain visibility of his artwork, and to make it possible to continue to purchase it. 
 

Patrick G Duffy by Linda Kale Hamm wearing one of his Dead Bear Wear t-shirts (order here)

 
Patrick G Duffy… sending you love and light on this next journey you are taking. May these next few steps be as peaceful as possible. It was such a joy to have so much synchronicity with such a fascinating person. 
 
 As you can imagine, this was not the birthday post I had planned. I’d intended to discuss the gift of wine and inspiration, to talk about the two winemakers that made the wines I chose to discuss in this birthday posts, two winemakers who I have enjoyed conversations with. But I was finding it hard to focus as I kept thinking about Patrick.
 
However, just as Patrick and I find inspiration in the land, so too do winemakers. While winemakers in Europe tend to follow certain traditions about what they grow and where, with what they are allowed to grow and make dictated by local regulations, in California winemakers have most often been inspired by regions in France– and been able to pursue their inspiration to grow different grapes and blend them as they are inspired to do. 
 
This leads me to today’s wines grown in or near the Sierra Foothills not far from where Patrick lived in Sacramento and from where I write tonight from Lake Tahoe where I spent my birthday skiing and reveling in the beauty of our planet.  
 

CA wines from the Sierra foothills

 

Wines

Menu

  • baked brie and warm bread  
  • EZ Cassoulet Instant Pot Style
    1# lamb chops, 1# pork chops, 1/2 # applewood bacon, 1 # duck legs confit, 1# great northern beans,   1/2# pork sausage, 1/2 #chicken basil garlic sausage, 2 hamhocks, herbs and spices; finished in a Dutch oven with bread crumbs; more detailed directions for instant pot cassoulet here. 
  • pear, pecan, pomegranate salad with Yuzu goat cheese 

2020 Rucksack Cellars GSM, El Dorado

2020 Rucksack Cellars GSM, Sierra Foothills, El Dorado 

ABV: 
SRP: $24
Grapes: 72% Syrah, 17% Grenache, 12% Mourvèdre
sample for my review 

Inspired by Rhone wines yet unique due it the high elevation vineyards. Winemaker Paul Bush told Sue and I that he is very inspired by the wines of the Loire, Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc, and he’s excited about their potential in his part of the world. 

Sue and I visited sister winery Madrona in 2021 and we wrote about Madrona for two editions of Slow Wine Guide.  This wine from Rucksack was a sample from several Paul sent for our consideration but we selected other wines as we couldn’t do an entry for Rucksack and for Madrona. We’ve written about both Madrona and Rucksack Wines several other times here on Wine Predator, specifically Nebbiolo (read more here), Barbera (here), Cabernet Franc,  Zinfandel,.and most recently, about their Cabernet Sauvignon. They also do Grenache, Syrah, Zinfandel, Riesling, Chenin Blanc, Gewurztraminer, and more. 

Surrounded by forests at 3000’ elevation in the Sierra foothills above Placerville along highway 50 between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe, Rucksack is in the heart of Gold Country in the Sierra Foothills. The 2021 vintage was disrupted by the Caldor fire, and the 2022 vintage by frost. 

In 1973, Paul Bush’s father led the family to plant own-rooted vines on 32 acres surrounded by a diverse ecosystem including madrones, and they built the Madrona winery in 1979. Paul Bush took over from his dad, and with his wife Maggie, they expanded from the original Madrona Vineyards to add the Rucksack project.

The inspiration for the Rucksack name came up from what people called his backpack when he was traveling in Africa. A rucksack, says Paul, is a passport to adventure– as are his affordable Rucksack wines. 

On the properties they own and manage, they grow fish friendly, organic grapes, make wine, and maintain the family values of environment, community, and education. It’s a beautiful place to visit and taste; if you’re in the area, you should go! Take your rucksack! 

Appearance:  Medium density, ruby, raspberry rim, 

Aroma: Cherry, raspberry, sweet blueberry, carnation, cinnamon, mint

Palate: Tart blue fruit, balanced tannins, smooth, very dry, tart raspberry and cranberry, interesting woodsy sweetness, juniper, tastes like Christmas, a bit of pine resin, very textural across the palate, very rich on the finish, like a cherry pie finish crust and all. 

Pairing: Even with food this wine has a very tart characteristic, it was lovely with the brie, needing the rich creaminess of the pairing, The bright tart acidity of the wine worked so well with the salad, insanely fantastic with the cassoulet, the wine has the acidity to cut through this rich food, and it has the richness to pair nicely with the dish. There are so many complex spices and herbs that the wine enhances, It tastes like the color crimson, it has a beautiful crimson flavor if crimson were in fact a flavor. 

2019 Markus Sol, Lodi with cassoulet

2019 Markus Sol, Lodi

ABV: 14.6%
SRP: $41
Grapes: Berghold Vineyards Block 71 42% Petite Sirah, Borra Vineyards Gill Creek Ranch 37% Syrah, Bechtohold Vineyard planted 1886 21% Cinsault
95 Cases produced
sample for my review 

As much as I love Lodi zin, Lodi is much more than zinfandel, as this wine proves with its unusual blend of Petite Sirah, Syrah, and Cinsault.

As indicated on the bottle, inspired by Riquewihr in the Alsace.Winemaker Markus Niggli says he drove two or more hours through this region regularly for many years, and that drive led him to understand how “people, like wine, are shaped by unique places” and that “unique soils make unique wines that are both intense and elegant.” The name “sol” means soil, and the image by Alicia Muinos depicts the diversity of the soils created via tectonics and erosion. The current vintage includes zinfandel and petite Verdot along with the petite sirah.

Swiss-born Markus Niggli believes in natural winemaking and uses natural yeast and ML, and his wines express his European influence with higher acidity more than the typical California style. Read more about Markus on their website.

Appearance:  Medium density, Ruby, garnet rim

Aroma: Blueberry, blueberry pie, boysenberry, moist earth, violet, ginger flower, exotic florals, quite expressive, cardamon, garam masala, 

Palate: Juicy, blue fruit, blueberry, plum hooka tobacco, mellow blue fruit with a bit of tart fruit kick, tannins are mellow and the acidity is there, all of the spices and the fruit linger on the finish, very nice wine, 

Pairing: So very nice with the baked brie; there is an earthy cola richness when the two are paired. The salad and the wine are also perfect companions as it loves the spice in the nuts, the tartness of the pommegranate, the freshness of the orange, and the sweetness of the pear brings it all back around to a harmonious pairing. The rich fruit in this wine loves the rich and creamy beans in the cassoulet. All of the interesting flavors in the meal bring out a tart fruit in the wine that was not present without the meal. 

Markus Sol

in closing: “Thursday’s child has far to go.” Someone asked me what I wish for on my birthday and so here’s my intention: to travel in 2024 along with plenty of quiet time to balance that with writing and reflection to tell the stories of the people I meet and those I already know… and those I imagine!

Stay tuned for one more post about gifts of wine! 

Gwendolyn Alley skiing at Diamond Peak above Lake Tahoe on her birthday 1/11/2024; photo by her son Reed Sheridan

 

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