EL TABERNO: a veritable tower of vegetables! a great vegetarian pairing for Monastrell!
What wine is known as “the dog strangler”? What was the fourth most widely planted red wine grape variety with 106,380 acres in Spain five years ago? Why, Monastrell aka Mourvèdre in France and Mataro in Australia! Sadly these plantings are DOWN 150k acres from 10 years ago as vineyards get replanted with popular international varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay.
However, in eastern Spain, particularly around Murcia and Valencia, Monastrell continues to be one of the primary red wine grape varieties in the DOPs of Jumilla, Yecla, Valencia, Almansa, and Alicante.
As we gaze at the moon, whether it is waxing or waning, full or new, descending over the ocean, ascending over a hillside, or passing through the trees, the moon makes memories with us. But one of the most spectacular events in the sky occurs during the daytime when the moon passes in front of the sun, blocking it, and the sun’s atmosphere can be seen should you be so lucky to find yourself in the right place at the right time. Once considered fearsome, now these events are understood, celebrated, and commemorated.
Brooks Winery is located just south of McMinnville and north of Salem
“Meet Magdalena. Quite a remarkable, resilient character, according to those who knew her best. Born in the early 1930s, Magdalena lived a long and fruitful life in Lodi, California, luxuriating in the loamy sandy soil, not far from the Mokelumne River until her early death from tractor blight.” So begins my entry to the 2021 Wine Writing Competition about the Lucas Winery’s Lodi ZinStar Vineyard.
And today I’m SO EXCITED to announce my essay on old vines is up NOW on JancisRobinson.com! How did this happen? In late July, Sue Hill and I visited Lucas in Lodi with hopes that they’d qualify for the next Slow Wine Guide. We had a lot of help from the Lodi Wine Commission setting up appointments in the region, and we were told possibly David Lucas might be able to meet with us briefly. Imagine my surprise and joy to have both David Lucas and Heather Pyle Lucas sit with us under the redwoods for an interview. Continue reading →
A festive live white wine tasting crew: Beth-Ellen, Pinny, Melanie, Theresa, Gwendolyn, Jennifer, wearing cork crowns made by Lisa Stoll; photo by George Rose #WMC21
Two weeks ago, the 2021 Wine Media Conference came to the end. Now in its 13th edition, I’ve attended nine in person and one virtual– missing out on gatherings in Virginia, New York, and Australia. One highlight for me has been the all day excursions, but with 2021, a lack of sponsorships meant these were lackluster. No surprise. Many wineries are not in the position to throw out all the stops for a wine event for a large or small group of journalists. The pre-and post conference excursions have also been highlights, and this was true in 2021 as well; more on these soon.
Some sponsors really stepped up to the plate, and Troon is one of them: they stepped up to the literal plate during the Southern Oregon pre-conference excursion by providing a winery dinner prepared by Fire and Wine authors Sean Martin and Mary Cressler! Continue reading →
photo by George Rose #WMC21; cork tiaras by USA Wine Tasting team member Lisa Stoll
What do the Wine Media Conference “speed tasting” sessions and the World Blind Wine Tasting Championship have in common? In both, participants have eight minutes to figure out a wine! The big difference? Actually they really are opposite: At the Wine Media Conference 2021 event, someone told us about the wine and we had eight minutes to come up with our assessment, and hopefully tweet, post, publish about it while at the World Wine Tasting Championships, in those same eight minutes we must figure out the grape, country, region, year, and producer on our own — with our team.
Team USA in 2019 (left to right: Tyler Robertson, Sue Hill, Gwendolyn Alley, Jacob Fergus) at Chateau Chambord with the coach
Are you ready to explore the wine and cuisine of The Jura? An area near the French Alps east of Burgundy, adjacent to Italy and Germany, and where The Jura Mountains line the border between Switzerland and France, the word “Jura” derives from juria, a Latinized form of the Celtic jor meaning”forest”, and refers to the French department of Jura, the Swiss Canton of Jura, AND the geologic time period, the Jurassic— because this limestone strata was first identified in the Jura Mountains. With its waterfalls and walking trails, the mountainous scenic area is popular with hikers and skiers too. The distinctive wine and food of The Jura may be popular also but it may not be for everyone. Is it for you?
MusiKaravan in the Malbec September 2020: now on video! photo by Gwendolyn Alley
“Hello Gwendolyn! This is Etienne. We are two violinists traveling and performing for employees of organic farm and wineries,” read the text. Friends of mine told Etienne I helped harvest grapes at Clos des Amis Winery on South Mountain above Santa Paula in Ventura County’s Heritage Valley. “Maybe we could join too, play, capture some images? We make videos of our encounters and about the craft and life of the artisans we meet.”
What would you do as a violinist if a pandemic cancels your concerts? Buy and renovate a 1971 VW bus, take your show on the road, of course, and make videos!
At least that’s what Los Angeles based violinists Etienne Gara and YuEun Gemma Kim decided to do. And now their 14 episode series Delirium Musicum’s MusiKaravan is nominated in the category “Best Streaming Series 2020-2021” in this year’s Audience Choice Awards of the San Francisco Classical Voice! And I’d like to encourage you to CAST YOUR VOTE HERE so Delirium Musicum’s MusiKaravan will win!
“Delirium Musicum won this award in 2019-2020 for “Best Early Music/Baroque Performance”, and to be nominated again, this time with such an important project as MusiKaravan is a beautiful sign of recognition for something that took our hearts and lives for 1 year, more so, a very special and unique year that changed our lives,” said Etienne Gara in a recent email. “To be nominated with MusiKaravan is particularly beautiful because it was such a bet for Delirium Musicum to start this project against all odds, but its humanness and artistic meaningfulness was specially important during these times of hardship, where music can make a difference in accompanying, bringing comfort to people, and bring them together in unprecedented times.”
The MusiKaravan project, continued Etienne, “turned a challenging moment into beautiful human connections and discoveries beyond all possible boundaries like social, cultural, religious, ethnic, and beyond. Music was the element to made this experience possible, and that brought so much preciousness to each interaction that was made possible through this journey.”
Here’s an early teaser (much of it produced in my driveway!) featuring video from that fateful day when we met in September 2020:
It’s important to violinists Etienne Gara and YuEun Gemma Kim that they share their journey with as many people as possible, because they want to inspire people beyond the limits of geography.
“This is how we got into filming our adventures,” reported Etienne. It took them five months to edit the fourteen videos that make up the first season and which have been presented by The Soraya, where Etienne has been named Artist in Residence. “We hope our story can inspire others to reach out to the people that populate the world with us. There are so many beautiful things to share, and it’s amazing to learn about other customs and traditions.”
MusiKaravan’s story has been picked up by many NPR stations and media outlets, and this is hopefully just the beginning of a long and inspiring journey.
wine predator.............. gwendolyn alley 