Salamandre Wine Cellars Fall 2005 Newsletter

The Physics of Primitivo...Trapping the Elusive Hedon Particle

 

In our zeal to rote memorize high school physics and chemistry, some of us failed to ask some impertinent questions. For example, why should protons and neutrons huddle in the nucleus instead of wandering off aimlessly and bumping into things? And, why do electrons whiz around in microspace instead of collapsing into the arms of those voluptuous protons, reducing the planet to a very dense basketball?

Some of those answers emerged in Scientific American and NPR. Subatomic particles (or energetic photons, depending upon your relative inclination) like mesons, muons, positrons, leptons, neutrinos, and quarks somehow glue our atoms together. These little guys are hard to find, of course, and some just zip through the Earth without stopping to prove their existence. Some live mostly in the fertile imaginations of Nobel Laureates with unruly hair. But a piece of the puzzle was still missing…until this September.

 

 

The fully waxed Harvest moon cast blue shadows while four graying guys pranced among lava boulders strewn on a bald dome of Navajo Sandstone in Southern Utah. A corkscrew twist into a pirated barrel sample of 2003 Late Harvest Primitivo turned the key to Enlightenment. We now know what holds our magnificent Universe together.

 

The answer was smiling in front of us all the time: Hedons. Invisible but versatile, Hedons defy conventional science by inexplicably pulling things together when logic, age, and politics should otherwise push them apart. Hedons create light and music, flirt with gravity, and replenish lost energy when it really matters…or when it’s really matter.

 

Hedons can be hard to find these days unless you know where to look. (Forget about Washington DC and Texas.) Open your eyes in the red rock canyons, the high gritty granite, the booming rocky shore, the swaying dappled kelp, and

the windswept dunes. When good friends hug, frisky Hedons surge to the surface, multiply, and glow. When people sing, Hedons fill the air and carom giddily off cliffs, clouds, and clover. When I get a kiss from Sandie, they swirl like yellow finches around a desert flower.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

People who search for wild Hedons in airy places are sometimes dubbed “Hedonists” by dour non-believers and jealous Puritans. These lugubrious mongers of gloom create black holes—dank tarns of drudgery—which quench warmth and submerge laughter. Fortunately, Nature supplies enough bright Hedons to overcome that negativity.

 

 

 

 

Garlic and Gruyere, capers and coffee, chanterelles and chocolate, jalapenos and bacon abound with Hedons. Yellow labs find them in your socks. Salamandre wine positively overflows with them, especially that Primitivo. You can have some, too! Come visit….

 

Wells Shoemaker MD, Winemaker

Warm Wines for Cold Nights

Primitivo 2003, Late Harvest This is really the One, Neo. I started making wine as an amateur 27 years ago, and Salamandre is now celebrating its 20 th Anniversary. Out of roughly 250 wines over that time, this is the best of them all. The 2003 Primitivo was harvested late and very sweet. The natural fermentation tried valiantly but surrendered with 7% sugar remaining in the wine. We treated it like Port over 2 years in the barrel, and it’s finally time to greet the world. It fills the room with jubilant fruitiness when someone pulls the cork. Serve only to someone you love. Hedon enriched. $40.

Merlot 2003, Arroyo Seco Gold Medal in the 2005 Santa Cruz Mountains competition. Defying any stereotype of Merlot as the handmaiden to Cabernet’s pretension, this armwrestler will slam the Cab to the table with a thump, gulp his beer, eat his steak, and then steal his date with a swagger and a wink. $24.

Pinot Noir 2003, Arroyo Seco This wine may carry even more fruit than our Best Of Show 2002 Pinot, with a lithe dancer’s body to please Pinot perfectionists. Layers of flavors emerge over time and linger like your first kiss. $32.

Chardonnay 2003, Arroyo Seco I loved this Chardonnay in the barrel for its tropical and citrusy fruit. Bottled it unfiltered to preserve delicacy, it has a touch of oak and plenty of acidity and body to live a long time. Silver ’05 as a mere baby. $24.

Syrah 2003, Los Lobos Like its predecessors—jammy, concentrated fruit with earthy notes and black pepper spice with an aroma that exults Raspberry! This brash fellow parks on the red curb, voids where prohibited, and refuses to wear a necktie in court. Serve with something brazenly spiced. $24.

Sauvignon Blanc 2003, Ventana Vineyard. The rare Musqu é clone from Ventana Vineyard in Arroyo Seco features complex melon and ripe fig aromas. Hint of oak, no apologies, no fooling. Pura vida. Elegant with seafood. Silver Medal ‘05. $15.

Going Strong…

Pinot Noir 2002 , Dijon Clones, Arroyo Seco .

Best Wine of Show, 2004 Santa Cruz Mountains Wine Competition.

Pinot is the Santa Cruz Mountains’ Holy Grail varietal. This was the best Pinot of an elite field in 2004, and …now it’s better. Dark and exceptionally muscular for Pinot (without steroids!), yet with plenty of natural acidity to capture a cascade of black cherry, pomegranate, and complex spice aromas.   Still $30, going fast.

Primitivo 2001 These stalwart Calabrian adventurers need 2 years in barrel and another few in bottle to behave in public. Intense berry flavors and “forever” aftertaste. Primitivo is my favorite moon rising wine, ridgeline dancing wine, Escalante kayaking wine, waterfall splashing wine, thunder crashing wine, still-in-love-with-you wine. $30.

Ménage à Trois 2001 Smirking threesome of Primitivo, Merlot, and Syrah keeping carnal secrets after 2 years in a dark corner of the cellar. Too charming to be credibly moral, yet discreet at least through dinner. Everybody should try it once. $30.

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