The Imbiber site is in the midst of a sweeping redesign. Stay tuned. We'll be back soon with a whole new look and a dynamic new approach to adult beverage coverage. Thanks for your patience and support.
-- The Management
Sonoma Grape Camp is as educational or lazy as you make it
By Michael AustinI went to Sonoma County Grape Camp to prove something to myself.
I wanted to prove that I really did love picking grapes. Harvest time? Hell yes, that was all me. How could it not be? I was not some ascot-wearing dandy wiping spots from my Reidels. I was a guy who wanted dirt under my nails. I wanted to be a part of the process.
I had decided that grape-picking was not for me in Barolo, the fabled town in the Piedmont region of Italy, where the fabled “king of Italian wines,” Barolo, is produced. The winemaker Gian Luca Viberti had invited me to his place during harvest and I practically begged him for a set of shears. Out I went on my first morning in Barolo, armed with a pair of gloves, a set of sheers and miles of rolling hills ripe with bunches of nebbiolo grapes hanging heavy on their vines. Earlier at least a couple of hours before I made it outside, a small tractor fired its engine beneath my window. It was idling its way up and down the rows, towing a tub that was filling up with grapes, when I arrived in the vineyard.
The workers—the real workers—gave me a nod. They did not know me, and probably did not know that I was coming. They went on working with little regard for me, as it to say, If you want to help us do our job it’s fine with us, knock yourself out. I bent and snipped for 10 minutes in the autumn sun of northern Italy. I took a break. I bent and snipped for 10 more minutes and took another break. Was this it? Bending and snipping on steep hillsides in silence as the sun continued to rise and bake? After an hour it occurred to me that yes, this was it—that harvest was not for me. Lunch and dinner were for me.
The rest of the trip was brilliant, by the way, filled with lunches and dinners and gallons of Barolo. One hundred percent nebbiolo. In the place where it was grown, harvested and made into wine. With food from that very place to match it. This was a part of harvest I could get used to. I decided I did not need to see those fields up close for the rest of the trip. Driving through the rolling region and watching the picturesque rows click by on the way to lunch or dinner would be enough for me. I gained a new respect for people who prune and pick.
Then I met Larry Levine, the man in charge of Sonoma County Grape Camp. There are many reasons to go to Sonoma County Grape Camp, and Larry is one of them. He is always happy, he never says no, he drinks as much as you do, as late as you do, and he never appears hungover the next day. He is the guy who tells you it is time to get on the bus and the guy who tips you off to a special wine that is being poured—right over there, so go get a taste before it’s drained. When I told Larry about my grape-picking reservations he promised me Sonoma would be different. It’s supervised, he said. You’ll learn something, and you won’t be picking all day, and it will all tie together—the picking, the planting, the grafting, the irrigating, the drinking, the eating, the stomping, the blending, the drinking, the eating, the drinking, the eating….
He was right. I actually enjoyed harvesting grapes in Sonoma because it was like a big party. There were a couple dozen of us out there for an hour or two at a time and I never felt like I had to produce. Questions were lobbed regularly at Larry and the winemakers—questions I could listen for the answers to, or ignore completely and watch a hawk ride the currents above my head. I learned that some pickers make as much as $72 an hour, depending on how much they pick. I could see them in the distance, working their way through the rows, dropping several bunches at a time into bins. If that was a $72-an-hour pace, or even a $50-an-hour pace, I might clear a buck today. But that’s okay, I’m on vacation.
That is exactly what Sonoma County Grape Camp is—a vacation. There’s learning, but you learn only as much as you want to learn. You could ignore every bit of information sent your way and just drink and eat your way through the three-day affair. No one would judge you for that—least of all, Larry.
One might wonder why someone would sign up for Grape Camp and plop down the $1,750 if that someone did not want to learn at least a few things about the grape growing and/or winemaking process. But in truth the amount and variety of wines that are available to Grape Campers, the accommodations, transportation (ie, designated drivers) and food, are probably worth the tuition alone. The facts and figures, and the free-form Q&A sessions with winemakers are pretty much thrown in for free.
One night Gina Gallo served us dinner and poured wines for us at her family’s estate. She literally placed plates of food in front of us, and filled our glasses. I felt like saying, “Really, you don’t need to do that—I can pour my own wine.” But I know how people in the wine world are; they aim to please, especially in their own homes. That is how GianLuca Viberti was in Barolo. He took us to a special dinner up in the hills and carried with him three bottles of wine, which he poured for us at our table. Another day in Sonoma, at a time in the morning when I wouldn't normally drink wine, we found ourselves in a vineyard with Ulises Valdez. You have perhaps heard of the winemaker’s patience. Valdez lacks that, to a degree, which is why when we visited the crush facility he uses, in an industrial park in Santa Rosa, he uncorked some of his finest bottles for us.
“Why do you want to keep the good wine for tomorrow,” Valdez said, filling my glass. “It’s like old guys say, ‘Don’t buy green bananas—you never know.’”
I’ll drink to that, Ulises. I drank a lot to that, and before long I was calf-high in cold zinfandel grapes, Lucy-style, with another glass of zinfandel in my hand. Come to think of it, I was ready for some lunch. So you see how Grape Camp goes?
On another day we had lunch in a city park with cheese entrepreneur Cindy Callahan of Bellwether Farms. Her first customer, more than 20 years ago, was the legendary Alice Waters restaurant Chez Panisse in Berkeley.
“We never had a business plan,” Callahan said. “We just sort of did what we thought was right.”
Whatever your politics or tolerance for risk are, when you are having lunch in a beautiful park with a little breeze passing through, and dozens of wine selections at arms-reach, when someone makes that kind of proclamation, you tend to believe that many things are possible, starting with the very next day.
After lunch we had coffee that was roasted, brewed and poured by Ecco Caffe owner Andrew Barnett, a Chicago native who relocated to Sonoma and now operates a certified organic coffee roasting operation. Campers sipped coffee and relaxed on picnic benches. One Camper sprawled out on the grass and hardly got a second look from anyone. There was a nice breeze, and it was warm. The setting helped me realize that I now know for sure that I do not want to work a wine grape harvest for real. Anywhere.
But I would go back to Grape Camp this year. And I would pick grapes for an hour or two every morning just to work off the sting of the night before’s overindulging. Somehow, bending and snipping does work off the sting of the night before. Of course you could go through Grape Camp without ever feeling any sting. Like I said, you can go in whole hog or you can stare at hawks riding the thermals above the vineyards. You can guzzle gallons, or you can sip, sip, sip with an ever-present bottle of water in your hand, thanks to Larry. You can ask geeky questions about soil or grafting or just zone out and snap close-up pictures of pinot noir leaves as everyone else gets educated.
Whatever you want to do, if you want to do it in the fall of 2010, now is the time to book your spot because they fill up quickly and Larry can only keep track of so many campers no matter how loudly he blows his whistle. Yes, he blows a whistle now and then. It’s camp, remember? But as far as I can remember he never blew that thing before the middle of the afternoon, which is one more reason to love Grape Camp.
DETAILS: Sonoma County Grape Camp, Sept. 27-29, 2010. $1,750 per person includes hotel accommodations for two nights at the Vitners Inn, all meals, tastings and transportation during camp.To enroll, call 707-522-5860 or visit www.sonomagrapecamp.com.
| Spain |
v | Netherlands |
| Sunday, July 11, 2:30 PM EDT, ABC |
||
|
SANGRIA |
v | PARADISE COCKTAIL |
|
2 bottles red Spanish table wine 1 cup brandy 1/2 cup triple sec 1 cup orange juice 1 cup pomegranate juice 1/2 cup simple syrup, or more to taste Orange slices Apple slices Blackberries Pomegranate seeds Mix all ingredients together and let stand in a tightly sealed container or pitcher for at least 24 hours in the refrigerator before serving. |
1 oz. Bols apricot brandy 3/4 oz. Martin Miller's 80 proof gin juice of 1/2 orange Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. |
|
| Matchup |
||
The two best teams in the tournament face off in what ought to be a classic of disciplined and tenacious soccer. Spain's defense has been relentlessly stingy, allowing just two scores in the group stage and none in the knockout rounds. If Spain's offense were more effective, la Furia Roja would be unbeatable. But the Spaniards have just seven goals in six games, and five of them belong to David Villa. The Dutch have their own five-goal man, Wesley Sneijder, but five others have found the back of the net as well. It's a balanced attack that can score at any time, and from distance (witness Giovanni van Bronckhorst's screamer from 40 yards out against Uruguay). Spain's possession game is thought to be the best in the world, and the Netherlands will need to capitalize when they have the ball. That's true, but in the Spain-Germany match, time of possession was a nearly 50-50 split. The fact is, both of these teams tend to win by a single goal -- Spain
is more of a 1-0 team while the Dutch style is 2-1. Both teams got here not by blowing their opponents out but by managing close contests and finding that little bit extra needed to win. They've both lived by the one-goal victory; today, one of them will likely die by it. Spain is the favorite, but we find this match too close to call -- all we know is we'll savor every minute of the final of what has been a thrilling World Cup. We have a pitcher of sangria in the fridge, but the Bols and Miller's within reach as well. Hep, Holland, Hep! Ole! Ole! Ole! Anyone for another round? |
||
| Uruguay |
v | Germany |
| Saturday, July 10, 2:30 PM EDT, ABC |
||
|
MEDIA Y MEDIA |
v | BEER |
|
Half white wine Half sparkling wine Combine and serve in wine glass or Champagne flute. |
1 bottle of Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier Pour beer into a tall, thin glass held at an angle. Tip: Weissbier will have yeast sediment at the bottom. Some drinkers like it, others don't. To avoid the yeast sediment, pour the entire bottle out in one go. If you would like the yeast, empty just 4/5 of the bottle into the glass. Then roll the bottle back and forth on a table to unseat the sediment. Add the resulting cloudy beer to the glass. |
|
| Matchup |
||
Germany will have Thomas Muller back today, and Uruguay will have Luis Suarez -- hooray. Both players are lethal scorers, and both had to sit out their teams' semifinal losses. Both teams may be feeling they were just one star player away from making the final, and both may be right. But will the players and coaches be motivated toplay for the third-place trophy? That remains to be seen -- in the consolation match, managers tend to use a lot of bench players and neither side tends to play great defense. But this game may be entertaining even if neither side cares that much about winning it. The Golden Boot -- awarded to the tournament's high scorer -- is still in play, and Muller, Miroslav Klose and Diego Forlan are all tied with four goals apiece. David Villa and Wesley Sneijder, playing in tomorrow's final, have five apiece. Muller, Klose and Forlan are all capable of scoring a couple of goals today, and if the defenses aren't playing at 100% we could see any of these three vault to the trophy. There's a bit of history on the line as well: Klose is currently one goal short of Ronaldo's record for most career goals in World Cup play. This could turn into a shooting match, with both teams trying to lift their stars to glory, if only for the sake of posterity. Who'll win? Germany, most likely, but that's not necessarily important. Watch this game for fun, for the possibility of brilliant individual performances and pretty goals; tomorrow's match for all the marbles promises to be a much more conservative affair. |
||
| Spain |
v | Germany |
| Wednesday, July 7, 2:30 PM EDT, ESPN |
||
|
SANGRIA |
v | BEER |
|
2 bottles red Spanish table wine 1 cup brandy 1/2 cup triple sec 1 cup orange juice 1 cup pomegranate juice 1/2 cup simple syrup, or more to taste Orange slices Apple slices Blackberries Pomegranate seeds Mix all ingredients together and let stand in a tightly sealed container or pitcher for at least 24 hours in the refrigerator before serving. |
1 bottle of Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier Pour beer into a tall, thin glass held at an angle. Tip: Weissbier will have yeast sediment at the bottom. Some drinkers like it, others don't. To avoid the yeast sediment, pour the entire bottle out in one go. If you would like the yeast, empty just 4/5 of the bottle into the glass. Then roll the bottle back and forth on a table to unseat the sediment. Add the resulting cloudy beer to the glass. |
|
| Matchup |
||
The tournament that looked to be a South American fiesta has instead caught Euromania -- Spain, the European favorite, now takes on Germany, the European surprise, with the winner meeting perennial European bridesmaid the Netherlands in the final. Why were Spain the favorites? They play great possession soccer that starts with the expert accurate passing of Xavi, Xabi Alonso and Andres Iniesta. They will hold the ball and wear you down until someone breaks free for a (usually) stylish move on goal -- most frequently David Villa, who has found the back of the net five times and leads this tournament in scoring. Spain's possession game has been as advertised; the problem is that -- Villa aside -- goals have been hard to come by. And why are Germany a surprise? The team lost a bit of its identity when it lost its MVP midfielder and team captain Michael Ballack to injury before the tournament. Without Ballack, what could anyone expect from Germany? Ballack hasn't been great in World Cup play, and is on the downside of his career, but was unquestionably the leader and field general of Die Mannschaft. But a funny thing happened -- Germany without Ballack looks better than Germany with him. Experts speak of a quickness and nimbleness in midfield that are not hallmarks of Ballack's game. Germany's 4-0 defeat of Australia was an eyebrow-raiser, but not shocking; Germany's 4-1 defeat of England was fairly shocking, and Germany's 4-0 depantsing of Argentina was more than shocking. This German team is lethal on offense -- though without the sevices of the suspended Thomas Muller they'll depend more heavily on Miroslav Klose, Lucas Podolski, and offensive-minded midfielders. Figure the defenses are a wash -- Germany's back line and Spain's have both been among the best in the tournament. The contest will be (not to state the obvious) between the offenses. Spain have been good enough to score once or twice per game and to hold on to 1-0 or 2-1 victories. Germany has scored in bunches, and against comparatively better opponents. Spain may win the possession battle, but that won't trouble counterattacking Germany. Spain were slow starters against Portugal and Paraguay -- going 60 or 80 minutes without a goal is highly inadvisable against Germany. If the Germans score first, Spain will be in deep trouble. If they go up 2-0 la Furia Roja will be done for. Spain will have to be a different team than they have been to this point in order to win. |
||
| Netherlands |
v | Uruguay |
| Tuesday, July 6, 2:30 PM EDT, ESPN | ||
|
PARADISE COCKTAIL |
v | MEDIA Y MEDIA |
|
1 oz. Bols apricot brandy 3/4 oz. Martin Miller's 80 proof gin juice of 1/2 orange Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. |
Half white wine Half sparkling wine Combine and serve in wine glass or Champagne flute. | |
| Matchup | ||
|
Agh! Who knew Uruguay would make it to the semifinals? We certainly didn't -- if we'd any inkling we might have been more creative with the choice of drink. Uruguayans do, as far as we know, drink the media y media, but it's boring, unfit for the team that has defied the odds and is in this game because of a fantastic, pretty much unbelievable turn of events at the end of the Ghana game. These players have grit and fortitude -- too bad they don't make Gammel Dansk in Uruguay. Still, they've arrived here from the weakest quarter of the bracket, with no real world power blocking their way. The Dutch, meanwhile, are coming off an energizing victory over Brazil. The Dutch won all their group stage matches, and of their five wins in the tournament four were by a single point. This Oranje team play possession soccer, they manage the game, and they find a way to win even without the gaudy stats some teams have put up before exiting. It is hard to see them losing this game. Sneijder, van Persie, Kuyt, and Robben have emeged as one of the two best front lines in the tournament. (The other is Germany -- which would be the unquestioned best had they not had such an off day against Serbia.) Uruguay has its own potent front line, or so we keep saying and reading -- other than a 3-0 beatdown of South Africa, Forlan and Suarez haven't been the goal machines they're supposed to be. And here's a twist -- Suarez is out following his red card for the game-saving handball against Ghana. Can Diego Forlan pick up this Uruguay team and carry it on his shoulders? Against a very confident and impressive Dutch squad? That is asking a lot -- we're inclined to say too much. Break out the brandy and gin, Dutch boys, you're going to the final game. | ||
| Spain | v | Paraguay |
| Saturday, July 3, 2:30 PM EDT, ABC | ||
|
SANGRIA |
v | ASCENSION COCKTAIL |
|
2 bottles red Spanish table wine 1 cup brandy 1/2 cup triple sec 1 cup orange juice 1 cup pomegranate juice 1/2 cup simple syrup, or more to taste Orange slices Apple slices Blackberries Pomegranate seeds Mix all ingredients together and let stand in a tightly sealed container or pitcher for at least 24 hours in the refrigerator before serving. |
1 oz. Scotch 1 oz. Drambuie Juice of two blood oranges Wedge of lemon Fill collins glass with ice and add Scotch, Drambuie and orange juice. Add squeeze of lemon and top up with club soda. Roll drink into cocktail shaker and then back into collins glass, and garnish with blood orange wheel. | |
| Matchup | ||
|
The Netherlands edged Brazil and Germany thrashed Argentina -- will any of the pre-tournament favorites make the semifinals? It's up to Spain, perhaps the favorite, to come through. Paraguay looks to be in over their heads here -- Spain have rebounded well from their group stage loss to Switzerland, while Paraguay haven't scored a goal in open play in their last two games. Fernando Torres and goal machine David Villa are sharp up front, and Xavi is proving his worth as the midfield maestro. So far in the quarterfinals we've seen organized, disciplined teams stymie flashy offenses; the bad news for Paraguay is that Spain is both flashy and disciplined. Paraguay has had trouble scoring, but they've made up for it to some extent with tough defense. Tough enough to stop David Villa from getting his fifth goal in the tournament? Probably not. Paraguay is lucky to be in the quarterfinals; they will need a lot of luck to beat Spain. |
More Articles...
Page 1 of 21
