https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/04/magazine/maggie-harrison-wine-antica-terra.html
Fascinating. Not a new name to me, but more info and background.
Pay wall. But impressive PR machine based on what I’ve read recently on WB and now seeing this link. I mean that sincerely and not sarcastically.
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The article seems like the outline for a bad remake of “Dinner with Andre,” with Andre re-cast as a female winemaker.
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Clickbait headline for sure.
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I’m tasting there on Thursday. Keeping an open mind. Will report back …
Though this bit from NYT about tasting one wine was too much:
“Then I pictured something lurching out of a cave on a moonless night during a thunderstorm, which made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.”
I hope I don’t wet my pants. 
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The kind of article that seems to present wine as out of touch for the average person. Both writer and subject of that article come off as people that need to be reminded wine should be enjoyed rather than worn as a point of view.
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The article certainly comes off as pretentious and made me significantly less likely to seek out these wines. That may all be down to the author rather than Maggie Harrison herself but still, yikes.
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Why wasn’t article written by the NYT wine critic, or was it?
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Matthew, two very good guiding principles for life in general. Enjoy!. 
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I tasted there last year. It was the best tasting experience that I’ve ever had at a winery! Definitely keep an open mind.
The caveat is that, given how expensive Antica Terra’s wines have gotten, most of my mailing list purchases from Maggie are her Lillian Syrah, which I adore.
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These NY Times puff pieces are, as a rule, hyperbolic, pretentious, and cringe-inducing. It’s unbelievable that the Times publish these PR hits and passes them off as journalism.
Usually, these pieces are reserved for Hollywood A-listers (or at least wannabe A-Listers) with high-powered publicists, so a little surprising Harrison decided to invest in one to place this. Must have cost a pretty penny. (And probably why Asimov did not write it).
I hold judgment on Maggie Harrison’s winemaking (but comparing her to Nabokov is a little much).
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This was my favorite part - “most tasting notes are pretentious and unhelpful, so let me tell you about what color this tastes like and a fever dream”
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The very few times I’ve tried her wines, they were cloying, overly ripe, cocktail wines. It’s no wonder she eschews terroir.
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I’ve never tasted, or even seen or heard about her wines, so take this with that in mind: the article and its author seem desperate to marry all that is pretentious and effete about wine with everything that is pretentious and effete about art.
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Bad attempt at Lovecraft, who would have made it a gibbous moon. “Great holes are dug in the earth where pores ought to suffice; and things have learnt to walk that ought to crawl.”
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I tasted at Antica Terra a couple weeks ago, and had an awesome experience. Started with a 2014 Delamotte and ended with a 1961 Lopez De Heredia Tondonia Gran Riserva. Tasting things that inspire Maggie alongside her wines is pretty cool - it added to the experience for me. The food was also exceptional. Expensive, for sure, but they genuinely care about making a great experience and it shows.
As for the wines, I enjoyed them tremendously. There’s quite a range in the lineup. I loved “the glories” Chardonnay and the Lillian Syrah (tasted a 2013 that aged beautifully). The Antica Terra Pinot and Chardonnay were also very good, although some vintages resonated more with me than others (cooler years were more restrained and appealing, to me anyway). These wines are more about the art of blending as opposed to revealing pure terroir, so that may bother some, but I can appreciate it, and believe that blending truly is an art. I do have a hard time justifying the prices, relative to what I can get from the region from some of this board’s favorite producers, but there’s no question there’s great fruit and talented winemaking happening here.
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Are there similarities between her wines and the ‘61? Made in similar style or built to age for as long?
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Not a ton of similarity there, no. The one thing I will say is that the ‘61 LDH had softened so much, and had such boisterous floral notes that you could actually confuse it for pinot. My takeaway is that the wines Maggie serves on the board are more about showing wines that she loves and inspires her to create high quality product.
Here’s the board when I tasted. You can see there’s a pretty diverse selection of some very fun (and tough to procure) wines.
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compelling read; pretentious, sure - but the author was clearly enthralled, and frankly i’m happy to read that someone has a near out-of-body experience with ANYTHING these days. The languid passivity of modern life is a bit much (or not much at all).
All that said, much of what’s stated beyond the fawning praise makes me think of Christophe Baron’s wines. Unique (to a fault?), intellectual wines that are totally different from anything else out there. From what I’ve read on the WBer boards, Kobayashi may be in the same orbit.
The blending side makes me think of Ridge Monte Bello. Even if it is one “site” they blend various sub parcels and make a point of detailing the laborious process each year in their notes for the final bottling. Penfolds does it even grander, and I love some of their wines. Just means there are some great wines that are terroir-driven, and others that aren’t. All good.
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I’ve tasted at Antica Terra and second other folks’ reports: A treat, unique and well worth it.
I used to like the Antica wines but eventually moved on as my palate moved away from bigger styles and more towards Burgundy and dare I say it, balance. Also, Oregon does not lack for other great winemakers and styles.
I thought the article was fun and captured Maggie Harrison’s iconoclastic approach. To a non-wine person, its still an engaging read. Also contradictory: Antikythera from a unique vineyard is special and terroir matters. But Harrison also blends wines from multiple vineyards, even apparently, Sta. Barbara juice with Oregon juice so terroir doesn’t matter? 
If the wine tastes good, I guess why not? Then again, theres the quote (perhaps apocryphal): “Winemakers that say terroir doesn’t matter are afraid they don’t have any”.
She seems like one of those polarizing “cult of personality” winemakers who garners as many articles as their wines. A disproportionate number of folks ITB (read: men ITB) seem to have a big crush on her. Just an impression.
I’m glad to see such a diversity of approaches to wine and to know that not everyone tows the line of orthodoxy.
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