A few words on wine

Writing about wine is an artwork kind virtually as fascinating as making it — and it’s loads much less messy.

Poets love wine, however alas, what we frequently get is mundanity. A phrase that involves thoughts: “A dinner with out wine is sort of a day with out sunshine.” Or, “Life’s too brief to drink unhealthy wine.” Nothing pithy right here.

Writings about wine date again hundreds of years. Some are technical, some romantic; others converse of the revelry of harvest or wine’s medicinal qualities. Nonetheless, others focus on wine areas and the character every area imparts.

Jancis Robinson’s “The Oxford Companion to Wine” devotes virtually 4 pages to wine literature. The Wayward Tendrils is a wine book-collecting membership based in 1990.

The Sonoma County Wine Library in Healdsburg, California, has arguably the very best U.S. assortment of literary viniana — which, by the way, is the title of a limited-edition e book by Charles Walter Berry revealed in 1930. 

Among the many masters of wine humor have been Thomas Kruse of the Gilroy, California, vineyard of that title, and Randall Grahm at Bonny Doon within the Santa Cruz Mountains.

I’ve collected a couple of traces that I cherish. Listed below are a couple of of my favorites.

Northern Californian and retired public relations specialist Mike Lynch, now an inveterate golfer, as soon as co-wrote (with drawings by the good artist Bob Johnson) a e book titled: “A Day With out Wine Is Like a Bicycle And not using a Seat.”

Wine sage/writer Hugh Johnson might have written extra about wine than some other individual. One line of his that I really like, from his 1990 e book, “Classic,” reads: “How can a uncommon bottle of wine fetch the worth of an amazing murals? Can it, nonetheless excellent, odor extra lovely than a rose? ‘No’ should certainly be the reply. However what if, deep within the flushing velvet of its petals, the rose contained the ability to banish care?”

Then there’s the punch line to an previous joke. The profitable Italian winemaker for years refused to inform anybody the key to his success. Eventually, the previous man is on his deathbed. He summons his eldest son and whispers the key: “Si fa anche con uva” — “It’s made additionally with grapes.”

The Italian custom provides us one other marvelous line, from the late Samuele Sebastiani, who had it engraved on the top of considered one of his famed hard-carved casks: “Un buon bicchiere pira l’altro” — “One good glass merely makes you need one other.”

Some smart sayings flip up in various types. The late Leon Adams is reported to have mentioned, “All wine can be crimson if it may,” which is a variation of “If it’s not crimson, it’s not wine,” or “White wine is what you drink till they open the crimson.”

Within the e book “Considering About Wine,” authors John Frederick Walker and Elin McCoy quote Piero Antinori of Italy as saying, “Crimson wine is wine; white wine is simply white wine.”

Hugh Johnson as soon as requested former Acacia Vineyard winemaker Larry Brooks, “What made you assume you could possibly make wine?” Brooks’ reply: “I at all times figured if the Three Stooges may make motion pictures, I could make wine.”

“The best way to make good wine is to get good grapes and don’t journey on the mat.” –Robin Day, former president of Orlando Wines in Australia.

“They gave me a lot wine for lunch I needed to keep for dinner.” — Dr. Maynard Amerine, the late College of California, Davis professor.

“Wine with out alcohol is just like the Italian language with out vowels.” — Howard Goldberg, the late New York Instances wine author.

“We’re lethal severe in relation to planting the grapes. We’re lethal severe in relation to rising them. We’re lethal severe in relation to making the wine. We’re lethal severe in relation to growing older the wine. So once you pull the cork it’s time to whop it on down, mate.” — the late Australian winemaker Len Evans.

“Time’s enjoyable once you’re having flies.” — motto of Frog’s Leap Vineyard.

Wine of the Week: 2018 J. Lohr “Arroyo Vista” Chardonnay, Arroyo Seco, Monterey ($25) — Hints of tropical fruit and citrus grace the advanced aroma of Asian pear, oak and traces of spice from growing older in oak barrels and lees contact.

It has a very good acid steadiness, so it’s going to pair properly with many meals. Usually seen at lower than $20, it’s a nice worth.

To search out out extra about Dan Berger and skim options by different Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, go to the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

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