All for one and one for All

The wine industry is like no other. Is it farming? Is it Fine Art? Is it simply a luxury product? Before you answer, I must admit these are all rhetorical questions. It's all of the above and then some. It's uniqueness lies in the human taste buds. As I often told wine tourists: "If we all had the same taste buds, we'd make just one wine!"

Another truism in the wine industry is that you'll meet all kinds of personalities. Some are in it for the bottom line alone. Some feel a calling to create beautiful juice. And others are somewhere inbetween. But if a wine region is to move forward these folks have to work together.

I don't know of any wine enthusiast that drinks only one winery's wines. It is our mission to try them all and compare the final results of all the hard work that goes into producing wine. If wineries choose to be isolationists they will suffer the consequences. For this reason I never hesitated to recommend other wineries to the wine tourists I meet while pouring wine in California. Being anything but open and excited about ALL the choices in the Umpqua Valley is the only way to grow our little AVA into a Wine Destination.

Playing with the Big Boys

Why do you travel to other AVA's , counties, states, countries, and worlds far away from home? I'd hope it is to take back with you a better appreciation for the local wines you enjoy on a regular basis. In a word, you relize that good grapes are, you know, good grapes and you don't make good wine from anything else.

The lesson came home the other night as our neighbors, Diane and I shared a side-by-side of a Super Tuscan that had survived our flight from Tuscany and a local wine from Misty Oaks, the 2005 Gobbler's Knob, a Bordeaux blend.

My opinion is that both wines made a great impression on everyone and we happily removed the contents of both bottles. For all the glamor of Tuscany and its rich history, the wine it produced was no better or no less than the machinations of our local talent. So it's hats off to our local hard working family wineries that might not have the flash of a Tuscan villa but sure can make the juice! (Above: Jazz keeps things lively at Misty Oaks tasting room).