going, going, gone

to most, an august vineyard looks essentially like another, and another. but take a ridiculously privileged stroll (glass of veuve delicately in hand) through one (or 9 as i did these past few days) with an owner or winemaker of extravagantly priced napa wines and different perspectives emerge quickly. i really grok on the *farming* aspect of wine and dipped into more than one very dorky discussion on rootstock clones (the debacle of xr-1!!), trellising (ancient roman gobelet? brilliant!!), terracing, spacing, etc. (the sauvignon blanc vines at one place were so tight, i swear they must employ balletic elves for those rows.) the cellar alchemy is too murky and merlinish for me, so let's just talk about the 140 different types of soil in napa, ok?

the fields were mostly deserted, but we were there at what we cork dorks consider an exciting time -- veraison. the grapes begin to change color, at last reflecting their progression towards *perfection*. intense observation and management is ongoing. these precious berries are constantly checked by eyes, mouths, bees, dragonflies, the occasional deer and the highest of tech.

unlike the profligate spreaders of the central valley, these enchanted twiners are observed and tended to the nth degree. whereas the former may burst forth with 8, 10 even 15 whorish tons per acre, these darling little divas are cropped to about 3 or 4 bunches per vine -- less than 2 tons p/a.

yet the simple fact is, even if ONE acre costs $250,000 and planting ONE vine costs $35,000, this stuff is still a crop. a slave to mother nature and all her forces.this is early on during veraison. each grape treated with the care of a premature newborn, yet still each one going at its own pace. 2006 brought a drenching late winter, a cool wet spring, a record-breaking torrid 2-week heatwave about 10 days before my visit -- 115 degrees at 1500 feet... are you fucking kidding me? (yes, yes, pshaw to global warming #43!) all these "it's not nice to fool mother nature moments" made both the valley floor and hillside about 4-6 weeks behind. those at high elevations feared having to pick as late as november, risking frost damage and even smaller yields.

but with tender hands and watchful eyes, something like this fully realized cluster will abound throughout napa in 4-6 weeks. the badly performing lagging berries will have been dropped, the magic of napa nature will likely prevail (this year still, anyway) and those 4-digit bottles will get allocated with the same angels-on-a-pinhead-precision as ever.

lol, so what's this got to do with me? right? i just buy and shill. well, i'm struck by the synergy of it all. the necessity of interplay between bees, birds, dozens of brown guys, uc/davis grads and hippy wives, gold mine owners with private jets for whom this is a dalliance. all cooperate to produce the juice. yeah, it takes a village. but if left to its own devices, the vine's future is uncertain and perilous indeed.