The days of wine and roses

While we were in Northern California last week for our son’s wedding, we spent a day on a wine-tasting event in Napa, the center of America’s wine country.

I am not a wine aficionado. I don’t know a Zinfandel from an Oldsmobile. But I joined Mary’s family in the spirit of in-law unity.

We visited three wineries, and at each place sampled three to four varieties of varying grades. Wines ranged in price from $10 to $265 a bottle. Most of my experience in wines came from college and “Two Buck Chuck." The only difference my unsophisticated palate could distinguish was that the more expensive wines were smoother.

A hired van and driver kept a steady hand on the wheel while the tasters giggled safely in back.

I was more interested in the process of making the wine rather than the experience of drinking it. My idea of good alcohol is one stiff gin and tonic about four times a year. I have atrial fibrillation so the cardiologists have told me to take it easy on booze and caffeine.

Napa Valley’s famous wine country packs 600 wineries into an area just 4.5 miles wide and 30 miles long 45 miles north of San Francisco. Wine got its foothold there when the Franciscan missionaries led by Fr. Junipero Serra needed wine to celebrate Mass as they converted natives to Christianity in the late 18th century.

The California wine industry didn’t really gather steam until the 1960s, when people like Robert Mondavi produced wines that rivaled traditional European brands. The business has exploded since then. An acre of ground that cost $12,000 then now goes for nearly a million dollars and Big Wine has bought out many of the independents and made it hard for a new generation to get a foothold. A modest two-bedroom home on a small lot in Napa, a city of 80,000 population, that might go for $80,000 in Storm Lake can sell for a million dollars or more.

Early winemakers saw themselves more as farmers who grew grapes. The Napa region was perfect for it, with rain in the spring followed by a long warm summer that allowed the grapes to mature. While the climate in coastal San Francisco is exceedingly moderate, daytime temps in Napa frequently reach the mid 90s, but with low humidity. Some growers irrigate their vines, but others prefer “dry farming,” as they call it, figuring that forcing the roots deep into the ground makes for a healthier plant.

Our visit coincided with the peak of the harvest season. While many grapes are still picked by hand, modern mechanical harvesters are now used as well. Immigrants who used to do the work have been scared off. When humans do the picking they work at night, out of the intense heat.

Cabernet has taken over the wine market because revenues are twice what growers can get from other varieties. There is little financial incentive now to produce Zinfandel, Merlot, Chardonnay and varieties other than “Cabs,” as the growers refer to Cabernet.

Grape vines cover the countryside like corn and soybeans in Iowa. Although some vines produce fruit for 100 years, most are replaced after about 35 years when their production starts to fall. One winery allowed us to eat their grapes. They are much smaller than table grapes — a third to a half as big — and dark blue. Their flavor is much sweeter and more intense than table grapes, and they contain seeds.

Originally wine tastings were free at wineries, in the hopes of drawing tourists and building California wine sales. But vineyards realized there was money to be made and now tastings cost $50 to $100 per person for three or four small samples. But that may change with the fall-off in tourists.

Vintners say tastings are down as much as 60% this year, since foreign tourists are reluctant to come to the United States because of immigration concerns. Wineries are considering eliminating fees again during certain periods in order to lure tourists back.

Cheers!