Napa 1978

B

Brad Widelock

Brad Widelock
Wednesday is not Prince Spaghetti day at my middle school; it’s meeting day. Suffice it to say that these meetings can be a little dry. At just the moment that I was ready to drop off, one of my colleagues passed me a copy of National Geographic, volume 155, No 5 May 1979, which has an article titled “Napa, California’s Valley of the Vine” by Moira Johnston. Most of the older magazines have long been cut up for student projects, but this one was intact. If you can find a copy, get it. The pictures alone are worth the effort.

Some quotes:

“ I raced the sunrise to Jerry Drapers’s fine vineyard at the crest of Spring Mountain and found crews picking clusters of Chenin Blanc”

“From his command post in his pickup truck, in contact with six other pickup trucks by shortwave radio contract vineyard manager Laurie Wood”

“By the end of October the valley was looking back on the largest crush in history. Despite some mildew and mold 1978 would be a good year. Possibly even a great year.”

Brad
 
Slightly off topic . . .
I once read a Nat. Geo. article about hurricaines that had an aerial photo of what it called the worst place on earth a cat. 4 storm could hit.
I could pick out my house.
Whoa!
Best, Jim
 
originally posted by Brad Widelock: Napa 1978
“By the end of October the valley was looking back on the largest crush in history. Despite some mildew and mold 1978 would be a good year. Possibly even a great year.”
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Brad, Interesting as last night at dinner, some of us were discussing wines of that era and I mentioned an old Calera Doe Mill Zin '78 that I have in my cellar. We were speculating on what might be expected of it.

. . . . . Pete
 
If I'm not mistaken, the Doe Mill Vineyard is in Chico, some 250 miles from Calera's estate vineyards. Back in 1978 Josh Jensen was harvesting the first grapes from his San Benito County vines. He made Zinfandel so that he could have some cash flow while waiting for the Pinot Noir to be released.

I haven't tasted any of his early Zinfandels for quite a long time, but on release I recall them as being pretty rustic. This was in the early days of my wine appreciation so I liked rustic, plus the wines were relatively cheap (maybe $6?) so I drank them when Ridge or Carneros Creek Zins weren't around. Unless you've got a mag, I wouldn't expect a whole lot out of your 78, but who knows, maybe you've got a magic bottle or something and it'll be glorious. Stranger things have happened.

When Josh finally released his Pinots, they were sold only in 375ml bottles and priced like they were Grand Cru Burgundy. They were pretty damn good, but who had that kind of dough to toss around back then? Shit, you could buy full bottles of Napa Cab at those prices!

-Eden (I recall tasting the 78 Calera Pinots and liking them a lot. They got terrific writeups in the Underground Wine Journal, the ne plus ultra of wine newsletters back in the day when Robert Parker was in his salad days and Marvin Shanken was still in knee pants)
 
originally posted by Eden Mylunsch: Underground Wine Journal, the ne plus ultra of wine newsletters back in the day when Robert Parker was in his salad days and Marvin Shanken was still in knee pants)
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Eden, Yes, I really enjoyed my subscription to the Underground Wine Journal before it was transformed into a glossy.

. . . . . . Pete
 
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