Salamandre Wine Cellars Spring 2000 Newsletter

The following are excerpts from the Salamandre Newsletter:

JUST DESERTS and PRIMITIVO

Ever since reading my first Edward Abbey book, I've wanted to spend enough "solitaire" time in the desert to discover what all those prophets and poets and rascals were seeking. I celebrated January with a two week walkabout in the Amargosa Range East of Death Valley.

These mountains endure relentless chafing between the naked earth, water, wind, and, deep below the faulted rocks, fire. This is a survivors' wilderness of rasp edges, vertiginous space, and crystalline light. Below the snow, it's also bone dry. Three gallons of water in a backpack weigh 24 pounds, limiting any frivolous extras one might be tempted to carry up the canyon. Wine better be red and ravishing. I chose a barrel sample of the '98 Primitivo.

Kate Wolf sang: "It ain't in the wine." Maybe so. The conventional desolation epiphany proved elusive. I encountered no burning bushes, no mystical shimmering visions, no outlaw raptures beneath panels of petroglyphs. I never met the old desert rat who would reveal the secret of life in exchange for a can of beans. I never once flew at night and missed the bighorn sheep drinking from the crusted seep before dawn. However, spent and scuffed, after quaffing the Primitivo with fresh piņon nuts as the sun dropped behind Grapevine Peak, I howled in exultant harmony with the coyotes until my mustache froze. They're probably glad I left.

Salamander petroglyph in Death Valley

Soon afterwards, wild horses galloped across the high sage plain, yellow primroses blossomed in the scoured winter wash, shadow women danced in the wizened mesquite branches, and kit foxes flirted with the purple creeping dusk. Kate, naturally, was right--magic doesn't come from the wine--but Salamandre certainly does taste good outdoors.

You, too, can taste the freshly bottled Primitivo....Come!

Spring Open House: Saturday and Sunday, March 18 & 19 1-5 PM at the Winery

Salamanders are easy to find in the woods in Aptos, but our wines are scarce on inland shelves. We know the winery lies well off the beaten path, and everybody is working late these days. Maybe the wine should come to you.