GrapeRadio Interview of Alice Feiring

H_Wallace_Jr · August 5, 2010, 1:12am

Rick_Gregory · August 5, 2010, 1:53am

OK, this is both spooky and amusing… I recently got a new smartphone and signed into the Amazon app in it just now. In the Recomended for You section there are “Women of the Vine” and… The Battle for Wine and Love by Alice Feiring.

Hmm…

Peter_Cargasacchi · August 5, 2010, 4:24am

Lyle Fass:

All good Paul.

I would not say that but I do think some vines are grown in California that perhaps should not be. I am no CA expert so not sure which ones but Chardonnay would be my first bet. I’m sure it does well in cooler areas but most of the ones I’ve had, less in the past 5 years, have been not to my liking and not only that just don’t seem to work. While I could list 200 White burgs which are killer because Chardonnay makes sense in the soil there. CA just needs more time to figure it out, which I’ve always said. Carignan seems to work, and yes I know CA is long and wide with tons of different climates but I’ve had more profound Carignane and even Mourvedre than Chards there.

Pinot is too sensitive to talk about, but I have not had many I liked. Rhys, Calera . . .

May I inquire what it is that makes a site suitable for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir?

Bill_Tex_Landreth · August 5, 2010, 1:27pm

Peter Cargasacchi:

Lyle Fass:

All good Paul.

I would not say that but I do think some vines are grown in California that perhaps should not be. I am no CA expert so not sure which ones but Chardonnay would be my first bet. I’m sure it does well in cooler areas but most of the ones I’ve had, less in the past 5 years, have been not to my liking and not only that just don’t seem to work. While I could list 200 White burgs which are killer because Chardonnay makes sense in the soil there. CA just needs more time to figure it out, which I’ve always said. Carignan seems to work, and yes I know CA is long and wide with tons of different climates but I’ve had more profound Carignane and even Mourvedre than Chards there.

Pinot is too sensitive to talk about, but I have not had many I liked. Rhys, Calera . . .

May I inquire what it is that makes a site suitable for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir?

That site has to be in Burgundy. Duh.

Ray_Walker · August 5, 2010, 1:32pm

Peter Cargasacchi:

Lyle Fass:

All good Paul.

I would not say that but I do think some vines are grown in California that perhaps should not be. I am no CA expert so not sure which ones but Chardonnay would be my first bet. I’m sure it does well in cooler areas but most of the ones I’ve had, less in the past 5 years, have been not to my liking and not only that just don’t seem to work. While I could list 200 White burgs which are killer because Chardonnay makes sense in the soil there. CA just needs more time to figure it out, which I’ve always said. Carignan seems to work, and yes I know CA is long and wide with tons of different climates but I’ve had more profound Carignane and even Mourvedre than Chards there.

Pinot is too sensitive to talk about, but I have not had many I liked. Rhys, Calera . . .

May I inquire what it is that makes a site suitable for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir?

I’m interested in what yourthoughts on this later as well.

M_Dildine · August 5, 2010, 1:48pm

Lyle Fass:

All good Paul.

I would not say that but I do think some vines are grown in California that perhaps should not be. I am no CA expert so not sure which ones but Chardonnay would be my first bet. I’m sure it does well in cooler areas but most of the ones I’ve had, less in the past 5 years, have been not to my liking and not only that just don’t seem to work. While I could list 200 White burgs which are killer because Chardonnay makes sense in the soil there. CA just needs more time to figure it out, which I’ve always said. Carignan seems to work, and yes I know CA is long and wide with tons of different climates but I’ve had more profound Carignane and even Mourvedre than Chards there.

Pinot is too sensitive to talk about, but I have not had many I liked. Rhys, Calera . . .

So Lyle. You’re “no CA expert”, not a wine maker or viniculturist, don’t like CA wine and have strong opinions as to where CA vineyard siting has gone wrong.

Let me guess - you’re a “Feiring Fan”?

Bill_Tex_Landreth · August 5, 2010, 1:50pm

M. Dildine:

Lyle Fass:

All good Paul.

I would not say that but I do think some vines are grown in California that perhaps should not be. I am no CA expert so not sure which ones but Chardonnay would be my first bet. I’m sure it does well in cooler areas but most of the ones I’ve had, less in the past 5 years, have been not to my liking and not only that just don’t seem to work. While I could list 200 White burgs which are killer because Chardonnay makes sense in the soil there. CA just needs more time to figure it out, which I’ve always said. Carignan seems to work, and yes I know CA is long and wide with tons of different climates but I’ve had more profound Carignane and even Mourvedre than Chards there.

Pinot is too sensitive to talk about, but I have not had many I liked. Rhys, Calera . . .

So Lyle. You’re “no CA expert”, not a wine maker or viniculturist, don’t like CA wine and have strong opinions as to where CA vineyard siting has gone wrong.

Let me guess - you’re a “Feiring Fan”?

Or boyfriend…

Richard_T_r_i_m_p_i · August 5, 2010, 2:21pm

Now, now Marquess of Queensberry rules. Let’s not go all feeding frenzy. There are plenty of sticks around with which to beat the lovely lady.

RT

Keith_Levenberg · August 5, 2010, 2:35pm

Glad to see this thread has matured.

Bill_Tex_Landreth · August 5, 2010, 2:36pm

Dick and Fart jokes soon to follow…

Guillaume_Deschamps · August 5, 2010, 2:38pm

That can be the problem with vins naturels, maturing quicker than planned and not always in the direction you had wished they would

G_D_y_e_r · August 5, 2010, 2:49pm

Says the maker of the Monkey Butt Cuvee!

I think you’d have one problem getting on the natural wine bus–your vines are in California. There’s very little interest from natural wine tastemakers in California wine from what I can tell, though from my perspective the arid climate should be more favorable to chemical free farming than humid climates. Where’s Peter C. to bring up geosmin?

Of course the higher Brix typical of CA also is opposed by Francophiles. I’m also wary of the whole pick by taste idea since taste ranges from sour red fruits to baked pruney fruit. Overall, though, coastal CA is an arid climate with a large diurnal flux. As an amateur speculator, I suspect these two terroir factors are tied directly to higher sugar production.

At any rate, I like the idea of non-industrial wine. I suppose that’s defining by a negative, but it’s also far less constricting than trying to define natural in an ad hoc manner to list one’s favorite producers. I find a fair amount of CA wines very ripe and very oaky, but as it turns out there is great diversity of non-industrial wine when you actually seek it out.

Lyle_Fass · August 5, 2010, 2:52pm

Peter Cargasacchi:

Lyle Fass:

All good Paul.

I would not say that but I do think some vines are grown in California that perhaps should not be. I am no CA expert so not sure which ones but Chardonnay would be my first bet. I’m sure it does well in cooler areas but most of the ones I’ve had, less in the past 5 years, have been not to my liking and not only that just don’t seem to work. While I could list 200 White burgs which are killer because Chardonnay makes sense in the soil there. CA just needs more time to figure it out, which I’ve always said. Carignan seems to work, and yes I know CA is long and wide with tons of different climates but I’ve had more profound Carignane and even Mourvedre than Chards there.

Pinot is too sensitive to talk about, but I have not had many I liked. Rhys, Calera . . .

May I inquire what it is that makes a site suitable for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir?

As I said . . .I am no CA expert so not sure which ones, thought I was pretty clear, as the paragraph is to my tasting experience.

From my experience I enjoy CA Chard and Pinot from cooler climates. Peay Chard is one I’ve enjoyed. Porter Creek too.

And IN MY EXPERIENCE i truly enjoy Chardonnay from limestone and Kimmeridgian soils.

Lyle_Fass · August 5, 2010, 2:54pm

M. Dildine:

Lyle Fass:

All good Paul.

I would not say that but I do think some vines are grown in California that perhaps should not be. I am no CA expert so not sure which ones but Chardonnay would be my first bet. I’m sure it does well in cooler areas but most of the ones I’ve had, less in the past 5 years, have been not to my liking and not only that just don’t seem to work. While I could list 200 White burgs which are killer because Chardonnay makes sense in the soil there. CA just needs more time to figure it out, which I’ve always said. Carignan seems to work, and yes I know CA is long and wide with tons of different climates but I’ve had more profound Carignane and even Mourvedre than Chards there.

Pinot is too sensitive to talk about, but I have not had many I liked. Rhys, Calera . . .

So Lyle. You’re “no CA expert”, not a wine maker or viniculturist, don’t like CA wine and have strong opinions as to where CA vineyard siting has gone wrong.

Let me guess - you’re a “Feiring Fan”?

Dude, you need to relax. I said I’m not an expert and then relayed my tasting experience. You want a 30 page essay with a complete bibliography?

So in order to critcize CA wine you have to be a viticulturist? Is that what your’re getting at? So people’s opinons who don’t farm or own vineyards are irrelevant? Just to get it straight and 13 years tasting experience of wines from everywhere is null?

And if you think those are “strong” opinions I’d like to see your reaction when an actual strong opinion ACTUALLY takes place, which was not in the paragraph I typed.

Keith_Levenberg · August 5, 2010, 3:21pm

A familiar refrain from a few of the California folk here.

Lyle_Fass · August 5, 2010, 3:30pm

So Laube, Parker, Josh Raynolds, Gilman, etc are not qualified? And if I want to express criticism of the Virginia Woolf book I am reading it is not ok with Carg or Dildine because I don’t have a doctorate in Brit Lit? Or can I not comment on anything where I don’t have a damn plaque on my wall for? Such hooey . . .

Bill_Tex_Landreth · August 5, 2010, 3:34pm

The point is not about the wines themselves, but rather the presumption that CA is not suited to the varieties stated. How can someone that is not a viticulturalist make a statement about where a grapevine is to be planted? Please enlighten us Lyle…we are all ears.

Lyle_Fass · August 5, 2010, 3:36pm

When I go to Germany and visit my 35 estates in a few weeks the winemakers and I engage in an honest and fruitful discussion of likes, dislikes, terroir, etc, and in my 6 visits to the country, I have been asked ZERO times if I am qualified to speak on such topics, because they understand what discourse is. Every time I sit on the pario at JJ Prum and speak about winemaking, terroir, soil, vintages with Katharina Prum, who is a lawyer by degree and does she lop accusatory grenades that I am somehow unqualified to speak?

Bill_Tex_Landreth · August 5, 2010, 3:37pm

What?

Lyle_Fass · August 5, 2010, 3:39pm

Bill,

I said I AM NO EXPERT (4th time I am saying this??), BUT I have tasted CA chard and Pinot up and down the state and in my opinion with such a low success rate to my liking I questioned if the right vines are grown in the right places. Maybe its just terrible winemaking then and they are planted in the right places. I don’t know which, I have said with humility, and professed my ignorance on the subject BUT humility is something many don’t know here, so it may be quite jarring to some.