Aliens in the Vineyards

Flat enough to land a spaceship, and well, get your beverage on too!

I'm sure you're wondering what in the world I'm talking about. Well, I will tell you that at the Intentional Table, we often talk about bounty: the bounty of the Earth, the Bounty of the air, and the Bounty of water. Here in California, despite all of our issues, we still have an impossible and beautiful amount of the very same.

There are ways to consider what is happening to the tender Green Earth here. Those of us who live upon it, live in it, fly over it, and perhaps crawl across it. Many years ago, a winemaking maestro with whom I am acquainted by the name of Randall Graham came up with a funny name for his Rhone style blend made in the Santa Cruz area. The name of which is Le Cigare Volant.

“Le Cigare Volant" translates to "The Flying Cigar" in French, and refers to a wine produced by Randall at Bonny Doon Vineyard, named after a real-life ordinance passed by a French village council in 1954 that prohibited "flying saucers" (particularly those resembling cigars) from landing in their vineyards, essentially protecting their prized grapevines from potential alien invasion; the story is used playfully to market the wine, which is a blend of Grenache, Cinsault, and Syrah, drawing inspiration from the Rhône Valley wine region in France where the village of Châteauneuf-du-Pape is located. WOW, do I love a good, deep joke? I am not certain that the French saw any flying saucers in their Vineyards, whether they were saucers, cigars, or any other kind; however, I must admit that after a few absinthes, 😎 I may have spotted one myself. Yes, I am certain- ish.

So many things could be considered alien in the average Vineyard today. The Vineyard itself could be considered alien to the very Earth that it is planted into because of our absolute destructive monocropping obsession. This is where it begins, but also potentially where it ends because in the last several seasons, I myself have friends that have not had customers for their fruit. The fruit is left on the vine or dropped to the ground and considered a complete loss and has been for a couple of years. This is routine and not unusual in many agricultural businesses because everyone runs to produce the next great crop and make all the money.

Whether it's marijuana or grapes or whatever it is, and when there's a glut in the market with red wine and red wine grapes as it is now, the economy reacts, and fruit gets wasted as well as the water that created it. Then, of course, there is the market shift because at my now young age of 62, I grew up in an era where wine was romanticized. It was elegant and took finesse and understanding. I myself have sold wine by the bottle back in my Las Vegas days that was literally thousands of dollars per bottle. Talk about pressure getting a cork out? The younger people now, ha! This means they are 30ish and would rather go to the dispensary for their kicks and not have to tip the sommelier. Hey, I get it. But you are missing out on a whole world.

What world am I speaking about that these lovely young people may miss? Since ancient times, wine has been made by hand. Grown, fermented, crafted, nurtured, bottled, labeled with care, and oftentimes was considered the highest expression of Art. Thus, as I mentioned before, bottles of wine can go for nearly any amount of money, both in restaurants and at auctions. The nuance, complexity, pallet, flavor, aroma, and color all dance together to create something far superior to the sum of its parts.

It certainly could be said that there are other aliens on Earth and in our Vineyards. The amount of industrialized chemicals used to sustain this unsustainable crop has reached a point where the Earth itself is being rendered incapable of producing anything, let alone beautiful wine made from grapes.

Lastly and delicately, I will mention the hands that work in a handmade environment work in this agricultural section of business. Many are illegal, many are migrants, most are temporary, and the conditions under which they work almost no other group of people would tolerate. Despite what you think about these humans and their right to work here, not to work, or to be here, or not to be here, if you think the price of a bottle of wine is high now, and the current administration has its say you haven't seen anything yet.

These are farmers around 1913 in the Palos Verdes area, south of Los Angeles. They are the same faces but different times. These noble families have been putting food and wine on our tables for decades. Remember Stienbeck’s Grapes of Wrath. Well, here they are. #honoring

Of course, you're probably asking yourself, but Chef!, what can we do about it? Well, it's the same as your lettuce or your oranges, avocados, or that bag of walnuts in the freezer. Know your Source! Buy local. Know the person that's producing your food if at all possible. And if you can't know them personally, ask good questions of your grocer or even the people in the produce department or the butcher counter or the fish case. At least they will know where it comes from, which can lead to further research. Go to farmers' markets, become aware of your surroundings, and understand what goes into the water, the sky, and the Earth. Your body is 73% water. How will you interact and choose that which composes nearly all of you?

When in doubt, make sure you have a law in place to ensure those pesky flying saucers stay off the produce. Rascals.

Until we eat again!

~ Chef Jonathan