Home »
Posts made in May, 2010
Posted
by Jonathan Russo
on May 18, 2010
in Book Reviews
The Authenticity Hoax is the most infuriating of all reads. The reader suspects that author Andrew Potter is either fundamentally cranky and unhappy, a boorish contrarian or clever at coming up with a manuscript that will be published by Rupert Murdock (Harper) and reviewed by him as well (Wall Street Journal).
This book is the latest diatribe from the conservative right, attacking anyone who doesn’t want to shop in the sterilized world of malls, vacation at Disneyland or, as specifically obsessed about in this book, eat tasteless, industrial junk food manufactured by chemical companies. Like the small band of readers in Fahrenheit 451, Potter thinks these “status seekers and phonies” need to be herded back on to the corporate industrial reservation.
Here’s where Potter is correct: we do romanticize and fantasize the past. We spend too much time in front of the idiot box instead of reading Spengler and Gibbon, we do not understand the hardships and miseries of our ancestors. As someone who loves history, I know that today is as good as it gets in terms of prosperity, health and social fluidity. Although Mr. Potter seems nostalgic for a time of “faith and authority,” few of us would trade the modern world for “faith” in the 14 century Borgia church or the “authority” of Hernando Cortez. According to Mr. Potter we have left behind the proscribed path and have ventured onto our own personal highway of authenticity.
Along the reading way, there are swipes at repressive countries and the authenticity seekers who support them as long as they are pre-modern. I guess he is taking on Cuba and Nicaragua. I would agree, but how many of us are trying to get to the latter for some homemade kimche?
The Authenticity Hoax takes off its gloves when it comes to Al Gore, Prince Charles, and James Howard Kunstler. Here, lock step with the Murdock goon squad on Fox News, Mr. Potter accuses them of “a dopey nostalgia for a non-existent past, a one-sided suspicion of the modern world…” I don’t think so.
In an Orwellian turn, Mr. Potter takes these people who want us to live better, fuller lives in nicer surroundings and makes that anti-progressive. He implies the great leap forward in material progress was probably the 50’s. Levittown and CBS, Robert Moses and the bomb. Yet I can’t think of a more culturally sterile time. Racial, sexual and intellectual repression was at an all time high. As Maslow posited and the author points out, humans want safety and security while living in a technologically progressive world. But, once these needs are met, people also seek a parallel transformation of their spirit.
Mr. Potter thinks the search for organic, local, and artisnal food is equivalent to participation in a high school clique, comprised of an elite group who continually sends out messages designed to exclude others who can’t afford to catch on. He characterizes the historical search for flavor, taste and quality as “conspicuous authenticity.” What would he have thought of Europe’s centuries-long quest for spices? Would that desire for better flavor and taste be an elitist hoax? You get the idea. Mr. Potter hates raw-milk cheeses, grass-fed beef and heirloom squash. These are all signs of the cult of Jean-Jacques Rousseau fanatics who, by denying modernity, are deviant.
Mr. Potter, this is progress. This is building on the blessings of science and taking it one step more into the world of the senses, of quality, of essence. The real phony in this drama is the fake food flavors of the commodity food world. What you seem to think is progress is actually the opposite. Your standardized, genetically distorted, pesticide ridden, hormone infused, flavorless, factory-processed food manufactured by agri-business monopolists may be “NEW!” but it’s not progress. These ‘evildoers’ are but a distraction on the path to authenticity.
Stalinists too believed in progress and their architecture reflected that. Lionizing a farmer or butcher or cheese monger is not being party to “a debased political culture dominated by negative advertising” but part of an ennobling process our Jeffersonian ancestors would have understood.
Yes, there may be food snobs who don’t want to see Wal-Mart go organic, but they remain a tiny minority. The rest of us would like to build on science to create a food supply that rewards those who bring us flavorful, ethically made, healthy food and drink.
Sounds to me like the opposite of a hoax.
THE AUTHENTICITY HOAX: How We Get Lost Finding Ourselves
By Andrew Potter
(Harper, 296 pages, $25.99)
read more
Lake County, CA: The Boies and Hawkins families cordially invite you to visit their Demeter Biodynamic 900 acre ranch and vineyard Estate where they will meet you in person. Hawk and Horse Vineyards is situated in Lower Lake, California, on the historic 900 acre Diamond B Ranch, owned by famed New York attorney, David Boies and family. Mitch and Tracey Hawkins (Tracey is Mr. Boies step-daughter) are the managing partners of Hawk and Horse Vineyards. They have transformed 18 acres of the rough, California North Coast hillside land from an untamed and overgrown 150-year old walnut grove to the beautifully manicured, yet naturally wild vineyard. Owl boxes, hawk perches and bluebird boxes dot the landscape. French Prune trees are planted on the perimeter of the vineyard to encourage beneficial insects – and the vine-rows, themselves, are carpeted in a carefully selected mix of beneficial ground cover – crimson clover, yarrow, bell-beans, and other low-growing flowering plants and herbs which encourage beneficial insects.
“We have been flying under the radar, producing very small quantities of ultra-premium Cabernet Sauvignon wine made from grapes from our own vineyard and selling it direct. Now we have opened our ranch and vineyard for tours and on-site tastings. We have been blessed with all of the natural elements needed to make a wine of world-class distinction – high-elevation volcanic soil, natural spring water, and climate perfectly suited to growing Cabernet Sauvignon. We have taken these elements carefully in hand and created what we feel are wines that offer something very unique – a wine that truly expresses the finest elements of our teroir. Our commitment has been to producing a wine of the highest excellence.“ , says Tracey Hawkins.
“We believe that the wine is made in the vineyard and adhere to old-world farming and wine making practices. We harvest our grapes when the balance of sugar, acid and ph are at just the right balance. Ripeness is an expression of all of those things along with the time-tested method of taste. Bringing in fruit at its optimal maturity means that we have very little to do in the winery and that our wines are made in the most natural way to complement each vintage. We incorporate Biodynamic and Organic farming practices, not because it is trendy, but, simply, because it is the best way to make a wine which is true to place – a wine distinct and expressive of our unique terroir.”
Farming is done by hand. No chemical preparations are used. Instead, Hawk and Horse Vineyards applies Biodynamic preparations – made from elements on site – to enliven the soil. Valuable compost along with Biodynamic preparations such as 500 – Horn Dung; 501 – Horn Cilicia, and herbal teas are made and used. A small herd of Scottish Highlander cattle make their home on Diamond B Ranch – their sole purpose being to provide the basic ingredients of the Biodynamic Preparations used in the vineyard. The Highlanders are an ancient breed known for hardiness, ease in calving, high quality beef and superb hides. They also add a sense of loveliness and grace to the landscape. In addition to the Highlanders, Horses play a role in the daily work on HHV. Mitch and Tracey use their American Saddlebred horses to ride the fence line, while daughters, Francesca and Nina Hawkins compete in traditional Rodeo and Gymkhana events.
Another old-world aspect of Hawk and Horse Vineyards – when you phone to purchase wines, you’ll speak directly with owner, Tracey Hawkins. She will be happy to talk wine, farming or horses with you. If you get Mitch, speak loudly as he will most likely be on a tractor!
HawkandHorseVineyards.com.
read more
Posted
by Barbara Shinn
on May 7, 2010
in Features
Shinn Estate is in their first year of obtaining their organic certification. Barbara Shinn shares her progress with us.
4/10/10 Just when I think I have figured out something about Mother Nature, she outsmarts me again and humbles me in grand fashion. It happened today on April 10 at exactly 10 am. After a week of record heat in the 80’s and even 90’s I decided to walk the rows of vines and see if there was any sign of bud swell. Not only were there enlarged buds but our four year old Cabernet Franc vines had full-on leaves. This was bud break about 20 days early! My emotions ran from delight to complete fear at the same time. I was delighted that a huge head start on the season had begun, but incredibly fearful in the fact that we could most certainly get a morning frost any day now which would kill the young shoots. No shoots means no grape clusters – which means no wine. And, I am certainly not ready for the season to begin. I was counting on these last three weeks of dormancy to leisurely get the farm equipment in working order.
4/17/10 Accosted. As I walk through the restaurant to the ladies room a winemaker is standing at the bar. His girlfriend and I start talking about bees. The winemaker and I chat about this coming growing season. I mention that we are in our first year of the certification process. He glowers and says “If you are not certified you have no business talking about organics on your farm! Get certified and then you can spew your holier than thou attitude!” Wow. These comments all came from someone who is a conventional winemaker and grower. This is a classic example of the predicament in agriculture today. Once a region continues to farm conventionally for decades, the crisis of chemically intensive farming is no longer remarkable, it is looked upon as simply a condition of the region. Consequently, it is the threat of change that is looked upon with suspicion.
4/20/10 Now is the time to begin feeding the vines. The soil is warm and the microbes are awake, ready to feast on the fish, seaweed, carbon, potassium, and sulfur I give them and transform it into plant available nutrients. When I began farming, it was explained to me that since the vine roots did not become active until late May, fertilizer applications should not begin until around then. Chemical fertilizer, if applied too soon will leach out of the soil and therefore not be available to the plant. Feeding a vine naturally as opposed to chemically is a whole other process. Natural feeding of the vines begins much earlier. I am first feeding the microbes that then provide food for the vines, so as the microbes begin to awaken in the warm spring soil, the time for soil work has begun. Next week I will drip my first dose of compost tea, fish hydrolysate and seaweed.
Getting to this point has not been easy as all of these materials have to be organically approved. Using materials that have the OMRI (Organic Materials Review Institute) label makes sourcing these materials easy, but not all of the products I have been using over the years are OMRI approved so I have to have detailed information as to how they are made. I have collected dozens of pages of spec sheets on each material and have submitted them to my Stellar and Demeter certifiers. I have even had to go so far as to contact the mine from which my spray lime comes to ensure I am using 100% limestone to buffer some spray solutions. Actually, navigating the process has been very interesting; my relationships with the people who supply my materials have taken on a new dimension of cooperation.
4/21/10 Now, 10 days after budbreak, the nightly lows show no signs of a killer frost but the demands of the vineyard are upon me like no other year. April is the month I test all of the vineyard equipment and make sure it is in working order. The first failure was the flail chopper which proved to have a frozen collar on the PTO. Carlos my vineyard assistant, decided to take it apart with the help of Anthony our winemaker and with a few bangs from a hammer had it ready to hook up to the tractor. Next was the sprayer which was simply dead. The pump was running but no electrical power. I took that off the tractor and will deal with that later. Next was the mower; an Italian design with Italian instructions for troubleshooting. I don’t speak Italian. The mower we use is pretty unique; we mow the row middles and also mow under the vines in the same pass. Two satellite mowers flank the middle mower and swing in and out between the vines, maintaining the meadow that grows throughout the vineyard. The problem is that we broke three sensor arms within 24 hours. This is bad. No replacements. The sensor arm is what kicks back the satellite mower heads and gracefully maneuvers them around the trunk of the vine so that we don’t mow over the vine, killing it.
My equipment dealer assured me I would have the replacement in “6 weeks as the boat from Europe was leaving in a few days.” Great service this guy gives me. So I email Italy (in English) and they apologize for the problem and will send 2 sensors this week. In the meantime, we rigged the mower with shorter spare sensors and took off some springs and Carlos is smiling and mowing all day.
4/22/10 Finished mowing and hooked back up the sprayer to figure out what is wrong, and the sprayer is miraculously working. I moved on to the irrigation to test it out and all was in working order except for a few drip lines with leaks, two sub-mains whose valves won’t open completely and the injection system which will not inject. The injection is a simple hose attachment that allows me to get a suction going so I can add the fish, seaweed and compost tea to the well water as it goes on its way to the vineyard. No suction, no food for the vines. Then, through some nudging by my irrigation guys I realized I simply reattached it backwards this spring so the inflow was switched with outflow…which resulted in no flow…sometimes I feel so dumb.
4/23/10 That all too familiar moment of bewildered distress washed over me today as a person who was interviewing me for an article on Biodynamics in Edible East End started off the interview with the question “So do you talk to leprechauns in the vineyard?” How could I possibly continue taking this interview seriously? How can I not explode? How can I not walk out of the room? I am in fear of what this person is going to write.
4/26/10 Finally I am at peace with the vines and the advent of the spring greening. Today was the perfect day for applying the horn manure, fish and seaweed to the vineyard floor. It was cloudy, rainy, almost a full moon, and a soil day on the calendar. I began assembling everything by 7:00 this morning, pumping out 20 gallons of the fish hydrolysate while beginning to stir the compost preparation in my bucket of water.. Around 8:00 a new grower from upstate New York surprised me with a visit asking detailed questions about organic feeding and vine maintenance for his first year. These visits are so inspiring because it means the community of natural growers is increasing and a local network is beginning to become established. I was stirring the compost in two buckets and pumping gallon after gallon of fish into other buckets all the while giving him formulas for organic mildew control. It all seemed so matter of fact but at the same time so momentous. Later as I rode my bike through the vineyard switching the drip system from zone to zone, and adding the seaweed, fish and compost to the well water the vineyard seemed to wake up all at once. The smells of spring intensified, the baby green leaves became washed in a moment of afternoon sun, and flocks of blackbirds sprang from row to row eating newly hatched bugs. Just as I was finishing, another rain shower passed through drenching me and I welcomed the cold water feeling as though I was as much a part of the vineyard as was the soil and the vines. This will be a good year. If a gentle Spring creeps through as she is doing right now, a quiet joyous season will ensue.
read more
Posted
by Paul Howard
on May 3, 2010
in Reviews
Laura di Collabiano welcomed me into the azienda kitchen of Tenuta di Valgiano, a sixteenth century estate some 250 metres above the river Sérchio, 10 km north of the lustrous town of Lucca. On a cold February night, a fire burned brightly within the huge open hearth, illuminating the room with a cheery glow. On the ancient farmhouse table stood a range of uncorked bottles reflecting the flickering light, guarded by Oscar, a large German Shepherd dog. Outside, nothing stirred in an inky darkness punctuated only by the distant lights of Lucca and an onshore breeze from the nearby coast. I had arrived to taste the wines from one of the most exciting properties in Tuscany, far from the dominion of Chianti or the Bolgheri.
The tiny Colline Lucchesi is an almost unknown Tuscan appellation, yet it has a long history stretching back to Roman times. The DOC has no tradition of pure sangiovese, Tuscany’s great indigenous grape. Instead that is just one example in a broad vinous palette that has Franco-Italian origins. This is attributed to the conquering of the independent city-state of Lucca by Napoleon in 1805. His younger sister Élisa Bonaparte governed the region until her fall from grace in 1814. During this time chardonnay, merlot and syrah were introduced and can all be considered native here, with syrah particularly well suited to the local terroir.
Tenuta di Valgiano is run by Laura, Moreno Petrini and winemaker Saverio Petrilli. They took over this once run-down estate in 1993. Their 16 ha of vineyards are predominantly south-facing, occupying a glacial terrace with steep forested slopes above. As well as old-vine sangiovese grown on calcareous soil, sandstone pebbles are ideal for syrah, while merlot thrives as usual on pockets of clay. After restoration they converted to organic methods in 1997 and progressed to biodynamics in 2002. Their objective is to produce wines (and olive oil) with a clear sense of place, handcrafted using only natural methods and a minimum of intervention. Laura told me that she has seen the vineyards return to life and that the resulting wines are far more vivid and pure than previously. In the winery, the handpicked grapes are foot-trodden; fermentation of the reds is in small wooden vats, the whites mainly in stainless steel. Maturation is in small French barriques but without much new wood used.
White grapes are grown to make Giallo dei Muri and Palistorti Bianco. There is a single-vineyard Sangiovese called Scasso dei Cesari, while sangiovese is blended with merlot and syrah to produce two red blends. The estate’s flagship red, Tenuta di Valgiano Rosso, is a very serious work designed for long ageing. Meanwhile, Palistorti Rosso is made in a lighter style for earlier drinking.
I was fortunate to taste all of these wines, including barrel samples and bottles from several vintages. All were stunning, yet it was the 2006 Palistorti Rosso that snagged in the memory, named after the crooked poles found in the old vineyards. In 2006 it was a blend of 70% sangiovese with 15% syrah and 15% merlot – slightly more syrah and less merlot reflecting the vintage conditions.
Back at BD Mansions over a year later, it was time for a road test. 2006 was a terrific vintage in Tuscany but its best wines are still on their long journey to maturity. Palistorti Rosso is no exception, yet it is drinking well now if decanted for an hour or so before serving, to remove a little sediment and to expose it to air. I suggest that it will reach peak in another three or four years and remain there for a similar period.
In the glass it’s a deep ruby-crimson colour with a lighter blue-ish rim, confirming youthful brio. Slightly leggy, this is the last time you will notice the alcoholic potency acquired from this vintage (1% more than in 2005). The nose is more open after spending a further year in bottle; the tea-caddy scent of sangiovese is mixed in with red berry and cherry, while a savoury note fleetingly appears. So far, so exciting.
On the palate, the tannins have softened though they retain a little attractive grip – a useful quality with food. The wine is sensual, without any excess weight or flab thanks to carefully balanced bright acidity and a silken texture. The first impression given is of violets woven into cherry fruit, with perhaps a hint of mint or verbena appearing on a slowly fading finish. There is no overt wood influence or over-extraction to mar the flavour profile. Over a relaxing evening more complexity is revealed; an earthy minerality, darker fruit tones, boxwood and scents of Earl Grey.
While delicious now, everything points to an even more complex and rewarding future, so my advice is to buy a few bottles, some to enjoy now and some to keep for later.
Palistorti shows the potential of the Colline Lucchesi and is a genuine taste of Lucca. Food pairing? It’s difficult not to suggest a simple pasta dish; a mound of fresh Spaghetti dressed only with olive oil, tomatoes and basil will do nicely. Laura suggested salsiccia, Italian pork sausage seasoned with fennel. Grander banquets will also be admirably served.
read more
