#38: The History of Wine Part 8 of ? (Not Cliffs Notes, but Squire’s Notes)
Wine Quality Improves
There were, thank goodness, still a few folks here in California who were passionate about grape growing and winemaking during Prohibition. One of those wineries that were able to make “sacramental wine” was Beaulieu Vineyards. In 1938 (post-Prohibition) Georges deLatour, the owner of Beaulieu, traveled back to France and met André Tchelistcheff, a Russian-born innovative enologist with European winemaking experience. Somehow deLatour convinced him to come to Napa and make his wine at Beaulieu. Tchelistcheff brought cutting edge technology in both the vineyard and winemaking became legendary. He became America’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker and he willingly became mentor to many men and women who followed in his footsteps. The list of American’s Wine Hall of Fame (if there were such a thing) all, directly or indirectly, owe their skills to the man. (Ask any winemaker you may know how he and Andre Tchelistcheff are somehow connected!)
Enter Robert Mondavi!
The singular most important individual in the world-wide perception of California wine was Robert Mondavi, an untiring visionary for California wine. Robert Mondavi’s beautiful Napa Valley winery, built in 1966, was the first premium winery of any significance to be built in California since pre-Prohibition. He was a visionary, and without his influence, California wine would not have the stature it does today and I would not be writing these articles! (Many of us have “Robert” stories, but I met him for the first time about 25 years ago. He was sitting alone during breakfast at the Bohemian Grove in the redwoods and I took the liberty to approach him to thank him for “being the icon that he was”, telling him that if it weren’t for him, little wineries like GlenLyon wouldn’t exist. After I said my spiel and stood up to leave, he took hold of my arm and said “You grow grapes?” I said “Yes, sir, I do”. Then he said “You make wine?” to which I also replied in the affirmative. He squeezed my arm, looked me in the eye, and said “Then do it with a passion!”) From Mondavi’s unwavering insistence that CA wines could compete with any wines in the world and his growing influence, wines from California were gaining more and more recognition. Great French wines may have still been the benchmark, but….
The Judgement of Paris
Ten years after Mondavi opened his winery doors in 1966, one singular event happened that forever dramatically changed world opinion of CA wines. The event, which became known as the “Judgement of Paris”, was organized purely as an advertising stunt by a British wine shop owner, Steven Spurrier, to increase his sales. To the amazement of Mr. Spurrier and the wine world (particularly the French) the unexpected results made wine history. With the wine labels hidden from view, in the double-blind tastings by all French judges, a Napa wine was the winner in each category. Mon dieu! (Incidentally, the grapes that went into the winning Napa Chardonnay from Chateau Montelena were from not from Napa, but from Sonoma.) The Judgement of Paris truly ended an era in which it was thought, worldwide, that California wines were “the poor stepchild of French wines”. The pecking order of the wine world was set on its ear and California wines were suddenly not only on the map, but successfully competing with, and overshadowing, the best of the French wines! To doubly cement that event, thirty years later, the same wines, same vintages, that were originally submitted were once again put into a double-blind lineup, using international judges. And, once again, the top five wines selected by the panelists were the same wines! California’s wines were now as heralded as the best wines from France and the rest of Europe.
How Long Did it Take America to Bounce Back After the Repeal of Prohibition?
Ninety years after Repeal, American is still recovering. Inter-state shipping, to this day, is a nightmare and there are some areas where shipping or buying wine is still against the law! The USA’s ranking of per-capita wine consumption ranks very low at a mere 12 liters, whereas tiny Portugal’s consumption exceeds 51 liters per adult!
Where Are We Headed?
Hopefully to a better place! We truly owe our “recovery” to Prohibition to a couple of huge events that happened. First, 33 years after the date of Repeal, a transitional figurehead appeared in the world of wine. Seems I’m out of space for this article, so I’ll leave our “post-Pasteur” development and history of wine until next time. Hope you’re enjoying my wine time-travel through the last thousands of years! “The best is yet to come!”
Why Will California Wines Continue to Excel?
Most wine producing countries have enology (wine-making) and viticulture (vineyards) programs in their colleges and universities. What they teach are the newest, cutting-edge practices that have to do with the growing of grapes and the production of wine. Unfortunately, a lot of the “old-world” system of classification, rules, laws prevent much innovation on the practical side. In France and Italy, for instance, you cannot commercially grow whatever grape variety that you know would do well in that area. Currently, if your vineyard happens to be in Burgundy, you are only permitted to grow commercially Pinot Noir, Gamay, Chardonnay or Aligoté. Bordeaux, in France, traditionally, growers were only allowed to grow six red grape varieties that went into their Bordeaux wine, but (seeing the handwriting on the wall) have now allowed an additional six to be planted.
What Does the Future Portend?
With temperatures changing these days (our earth’s temperatures have never been constant) what, for centuries, might have been a nice, cool area (think Burgundy) may not, in the future, remain a perfect area for a cool-climate grape variety. So either the grapes must adapt through mankind creating new sub-varieties or a different variety will have to be planted to accommodate the warming climate. The problem (as I see it) is continuing to dictate which varieties a governing body will allow is sort sighted. As we do in America, it should probably be best left to the growers themselves. Cream always seems to rise to the top. For instance, when we first moved to our land in 1986, it was recommended that we plant Cabernet Sauvignon in our lower block. We liked Cab and it seemed like a good idea. What we discovered after about six years was that it was simply too cool at that lower elevation to produce excellent fruit to make exceptional wine. Our solution? We simply grafted those vines over to another variety: Syrah. Voila! Syrah loves it there!
What Does the Future Hold in Store for Grape Growing and Wines?
No one can foresee the future, but there seem to be trends in wine. What the future dictates (I think) is that folks are looking for easy-drinking wines instead of hugely tannic, alcoholic and over-oaked versions. Young people today (according to our daughter and husband) are excited about trying ancient grape varieties. Viognier was virtually unheard of a few decades ago (there were only 30 acres of it in the entire world in as late as 1965) and Picpoul blanc is an ancient white grape variety unknown until just recently. You can even find Picpoul blanc in a few of our local restaurants (try it!). With more awareness of the earth’s different wine growing regions, the younger generation seems willing and excited to discover wines grown and made in Israel or Hungary, or to try different varieties of wines from Portugal that they’ve never heard of. (Portugal, usually known only for their outstanding Port, grows 250 different varieties of grapes that they make into wine!). Young folks are also much more eco-conscious than we older folks, so they are looking for wines that adhere to sound environmental practices. Every generation tends to take the helm of style and there is almost a rebellion from their parent’s preferences. Young folks are reaching out and looking to break the traditions of the past. A passionate new generation of wine industry folks are taking the helm, bringing fresh and innovative ideas that, while respecting traditions, embrace the technology available to them. The yearly trade show, the Sacramento Wine Symposium, is filled with the latest grape growing and wine making (sic) inventions. Every year it is a wonder to attend! I personally believe that anyone who touts the fact that he or she “makes wine (sic) the old school way” will go the way of the dinosaur. No one rides a horse and buggy for simple transportation anymore and no one uses an abacus or a dial telephone. Advances in grape growing and wine technology are being developed as I write this. They are there for us and it’s there in abundance.