Wine

By Leigh Pomeroy

Of 'cougar juice'…

and other things I learned on my summer trip to California

California can be a great educator. No one who's ever taken even the shortest trip there can come back and say, "I learned nothing."

As I write this, the California harvest is beginning, first with chardonnay, pinot blanc, pinot noir and pinot meunier, all picked at low sugar levels but high acidity for the best sparkling wines.

Yet by the time this article is published, the California harvest will be nearly over, including the remainder of the above-named grapes for the still wines they go into. Hopefully, there will have been no fires. Unlike in the highly inaccurate and nearly godawful film "A Walk in the Clouds" (starring Keanu Reeves), vineyards don't readily burn. But the smoke that wildfires create can affect the grapes.

Indeed, a crisis for California, Oregon and Washington winemakers over the last several seasons has been: How soon will I get the lab results about whether my grapes have suffered from smoke taint?

When harvest season arrives, vintners have only a small window in which to pick their grapes. Are the sugars there? Is the pH correct? Finding work crews to pick the grapes is one thing, but testing for smoke taint is another. If getting results requires two weeks, that's too late.

Naturally, independent grape growers who have contracts with wineries want those wineries to take the grapes, smoke taint or not. If the wineries reject the crop, who pays? That issue becomes entire new paragraphs and subparagraphs in already long crop insurance contracts.

Speaking of fires, I've just finished a book titled, "Tangled Vines: Greed, Murder, Obsession, and an Arsonist in the Vineyards of California" by long-time Californian Frances Dinkelspiel. While the main focus of the book is about a purposely lit fire in a large wine warehouse in Vallejo, just south of Napa, in 2005, it also covers a bit of California wine history, including the saga of 175 bottles of 1875 Cucamonga Vineyard Angelica and Port, both sweet, fortified wines, that were destroyed in that fire.

Coincidentally, before going to the wine warehouse that later burned, that wine was stored at an estate home next to where I grew up. Of course, I only learned that when I read the book.

Even if you're not a wine lover — and I've learned that many readers of my wine ramblings are of this ilk — "Tangled Vines" weaves a fascinating story.

As I've written before, Napa Valley becomes more and more full of itself: Disneyland plus Beverly Hills with vines. Cabernet Sauvignon prices are through the roof, some asking more than $4,000 per bottle for the most recent vintage. What?

Compare this to some of Bordeaux's top-ranked chateaux, whose provenance and quality were established more than 150 years ago: Chateau Petrus, long the price leader (and actually 100% merlot), $3,715; Chateau Lafite Rothschild, a mere $1,006; Chateau Margaux, $769; and Chateau Cheval Blanc (the 1947 vintage of which was prominent in the film "Sideways"): The 2019 vintage is selling for a measly $499.

Returning to my home state is always a mixture of enjoyment and sadness. Enjoyment of the lovely parts of the state where I can visit and spend time with family and friends. Sadness because of its lost innocence: the overpopulation, the crowded freeways, the environmental degradation, the huge gap between rich and poor.

Oh, and "cougar juice"?

Well, that's the name given to Rombauer Chardonnay by California restaurant and wine shop personnel — a wine that is probably the most requested among upscale, middle-aged, female wine drinkers in wine bars and restaurants. Barrel-fermented, from Carneros (near San Francisco Bay) fruit, its heavy vanilla and slightly sweet, caramelized flavors are very appealing.

And yes, I confess I like it, though if I tasted it blind I might associate it more with a light amontillado sherry than Carneros Chardonnay. To my taste, it's not a classic Chardonnay food wine that asks for seafood and poultry. Instead, it begs to be paired with crème brûlée, a lovely French custard dessert.

If you like this style of wine, it can be found in several Mankato wine shops, though at around $40, it's way above my price threshold.

To your health! wded n, the bauer and at is cale, wine ed, y)

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