BLOGSCHU

Andrew Bird and Beretta SF

Thanks to my long time buddy and current Brooklyn based tour manager Dave, every once in a blue moon I get to be a pretend scenester and go hang with musicians backstage at their shows or at the bars or restaurants they visit afterward.  Really what I get to do is catch up with Dave  on his wife Rachel, their 1 year old Ronan and what he has been up to, and in turn give him the DL on what is going on in Sonoma with the fam and with work.  I just get to do it while hanging with some interesting people.  Lucky for me making and sharing good wine goes a ways in the music world, so usually any musician I meet has at a least a mild interest in what I do to offset the glazed look of fandom in my eye.   A very super by-product of Dave's work is that I am constantly getting introduced to new music.  Through Dave I got know and like/love bands like Bright Eyes, Yeah Yeah Yeah's, Shins, Fruit Bats, Califone, Mercury Rev, and more.  This weekend Dave was in town for the Outside Lands Festival , where his current job, Andrew Bird, was playing.  I met Dave and the rest at a smoking Italian restaurant after the show last night.  The place was called  Beretta and served delish simple fresh Italian food and wine.  Had a 2007 Barbera d'Alba that was bright and fresh and so young!  Anyway, Andrew was there, too, and thanks to Dave, he has a another fan.

Bundschu Ridge

I have been a student of my family tree since 5th grade.  Of all the names in boxes with connected lines, one has stood out from the get go- Geary Bundschu. His box had one line to his sister and another to his parents. No other siblings, no wife, no kids or grandkids, or anything. Despite the fact that he was a contemporary of my grandparents and a first cousin to my grandfather Towle, there was nothing tying him in any way to my own generation. His was an empty name. It turns out that Geary was my only relative to die in WWII. It happened in the Pacific theater, and he was 24 years old.

As soon I heard that, which was almost as soon as I noticed his lonely box, I began to wonder about him. My only real window into that generation was my Grandmother Mary Bundschu.  As Towle had died when I was young, I never got to ask him first hand about his cousin.  Every few years I'd come across Geary's name and pepper grandma with questions. It turns out she had never met him, had no pictures, and had rarely spoke of him with Towle. But she would faithfully repeat what she knew nonetheless; That Geary was Towle's best friend, and growing up together they had been inseparable. They both spent their summers in the Sierras and it was there with Geary that Towle had developed his life-long love of being outside in the mountains. This trait was passed to my dad, and then to me, and for that matter to many of my cousins as well.  I used my imagination to conjure up images of the two of them as adolescents running roughshod through creeks and valleys of the Sierras of my own experience.

As I grew up and through draft age, WWII began to take on more and more meaning to me, crystallizing through the movie Saving Private Ryan and the HBO series Band of Brothers. Both impacted my view of WWII, and war in general, profoundly, and provided me additional means to imagine Geary as a young man. I also imagined being Towle and losing my own best life-long friend, one of whom I happen to have.

A few years on, we were blessed to receive a box from Geary's sister Barbara that contained, among other invaluable things, pictures of Towle and Geary as teenagers. Sure enough, they showed two strong and strapping boys in creeks, on mountainsides, even astride bicycles, which it turns out they rode often and to great distances. Those grainy black and white photos may well have been Technicolor to me. Geary was just as vibrant as I'd imagined, and Towle, who had grown up an only child, clearly had a best friend in him. I also learned that Geary and Towle both went to UC Berkeley, and that when Geary died he had been engaged to be married, almost concurrently with Towle and Mary. Barbara Bundschu and I never got to speak of her brother. I didn't see her often, know her well, and was at first too young to care enough, and then too nervous to approach her on such a sensitive subject. Finally, about the time that I would have, her health had deteriorated to the point that made it an impossibility. Thanks to Barbara, Geary's box on the family tree is anything but an empty name.

From Geary's personal photo album, taken circa 1935

The other day, my cousin Elizabeth was doing some research at UC Berkeley, and by stroke of luck met a man who was studying none other than Geary Bundschu. Thanks to Elizabeth for sharing this. I know now that my original imaginings, as glorious as they were, came up very short of the actual man.

On W-Day, July 21, 1944, the lead elements of the 3d U.S. Marine Division crossed a reef from 200 to 500 yards offshore and landed on Asan Beach, which was defended by the Japanese 320th Independent Infantry Battalion and naval troops manning the coastal defense guns. The 1.3-mile-long landing area was flanked by two rocky points, "the devil's horns," extending into the lagoon. On the east (left) was Adelup Point. West and to the rear of Adelup was steep Chorrito Cliff which extended almost to the water's edge. Farther west, the cliff gave way to low level land covered with rice paddies. Asan River joined the sea in this area and the small village of Asan lay scattered among palm trees on the beach. At the western end, rocky Asan Point bordered the beach. From east to west, two battalions of the 3d U.S. Marines Regiment landed on Beach Red 1; one battalion of the 3d U.S. Marines landed on Beach Red 2; three battalions of the 21st U.S. Marines came ashore on Beach Green, in the middle; and three battalions of the 9th U.S. Marines landed on Beach Blue adjacent to Asan Point. The Japanese held their fire until the landing vehicles were close to shore, the 3d U.S. Marines particularly receiving heavy fire from Adelup Point and Chorrito Cliff on their left flank.

By noon the 3d U.S. Marines had reached the top of steep Chorrito Cliff and in the afternoon overcame the enemy on Adelup Point. Inland from Chorrito Cliff, the terrain becomes a ruggedly hilly area cut by deep ravines and covered with man-high sword grass and other jungle vegetation. The marines named one 400-foot-high rocky outcropping Bundschu Ridge for Capt. Geary R. Bundschu, who was assigned to take this ridge. Here, the Japanese held off the marines throughout the day and inflicted heavy casualties, including the life of Captain Bundschu.

And then this first hand account. Chorrito Ridge (here called 'Chonito') became Bundschu Hill.  The company commander described herein, we believe, is Geary Bundschu:

The following is a dispatch written by Marine Combat Correspondent Private First Class Cyril J. O'Brien in the field after the combat action he describes in his story. It was released for publication in the United States sometime after the event (always after families were notified of the wounding or death of the Marines mentioned.) This story is reprinted from the carbon copy of the file which he retained of the stories he filed from the Pacific.

Guam July 24 (Delayed)óThe first frontal attack on steep Chonito Ridge was made one hour after the Marine landing.

An infantry squad, led by Second Lieutenant James A. Gallo, 24, 172 Broadway, Haverstraw, NY., approached to within ten yards of the tip. The crest bloomed with machine gun fire. In the face of it the Marine company tried its first assault. The company was thrown back before it had advanced forty yards.

For fifty hours the company remained on the naked slope, trying again and again to storm the Jap entrenchments hardly one hundred yards away. Battered almost to annihilation, the tenacious Marines finally saw another company take the ridge from the rear.

Failing in the first rush the company had formed a flimsy defense line not fifty yards from the enemy. Cover was scant. Some Marines had only tufts of grass to shield them. The Japs were rolling grenades down the crest, and blasting the Marines with knee mortars from over the summit.

Under the cover of dusk the company commander led a second attack. As the Marines rose machine gun fire swept into them. The commander, and three Marines reached the crest. The last fifty feet were almost vertical. The attackers grasped roots and dug their feet into the soft earth to keep from falling down the incline.

The commander went over the ridge. He never came back.

Stevie Wonder - Superstition live on Sesame Street

Cool Pics

Came across (if that is what you call having Google alert send me an email) the so clearly talented KA Goldberg's photo blog on Flickr and it happens to have one shot of GB among many great ones of wine country. Go here and then view the Vineland slide show.  The picture featuring us will be obvious.  It looks something like this, but much better.  No offense to dog lovers:

Wines to Gawk At

Had a coupla of very good wines the other day, with very cool labels. Both blew my group and me away, for different reasons.  And luckily,  one of the wines was even ours.  That was the Gundlach Bundschu 2001 Vintage Reserve.  I don't like to spend too much time here waxing poetic about our own wines, but this was too good to ignore.  Beautiful black fruit, lean structure and intriguing complexity, and beautiful with some age.   Like Grace Jones.

Next was a 2006 Carnival of Love by Molly Dooker.  This wine was a gift from the Australian winery's St. Helena office.  The label, like the GBVR, was very cool, and the McClaren Shiraz turned R. Parker's head around, so I was anxious to try it.  Wasn't surpised at all that the thing was so high in alcohol (both on the label and in the glass) that we kept it away from the candles just in case.  Huge juicy sweet fruit, massive tannins and all round humongoloidness.  A bit short in the way of balance or finesse, but great for mouth soaking wowness.   Not surprising that RP loved it so.  To keep with the wine/woman comparison thing going, this would be more of a Pamela Anderson kinda thing.

Election O8

thanks to scott beale for the hookup

Why? Because it's There.

Can't help but be moved and touched by the ordeal on K2 right now.  A huge ice ledge broke off near the summit, at a place called the Bottle Neck, stranding and/or killing 9 or more climbers.  Among the dead is Gerard McDonnell, a 37 year- old Irishman who was the first from his country to summit K2, the climb from which he was descending when the tragedy happened.  He was part of a dutch expedition that started in May.  Below is an excerpt from the home page of the expedition's site, followed by recent real time posts from it's webmaster, Maarten Van Eck:

On May 16, Wilco van Rooijen and his team will depart to Pakistan to make an attempt, in the coming months, to reach the top of the 8,611 meters high K2. Because of its level of difficulty and the great risk involved, the K2 is considered to be the modern-day Holy Grail of mountain climbing. The giant is also known as the “killer mountain” because of the fact that for every five people who reach the top there is one who does not survive. It is a very steep mountain with many technical passages, and the danger of falling rocks and avalanches. Moreover, it is very remote, with a seven day walk to the nearest village. Because of this, K2 is reserved only for professionals. For the sake of comparison; almost 3,000 people have stood on the top of world’s highest mountain, Mt. Everest, compared with only 200 making it to the top of K2.

They are on the Summit!!
01/08/08  2000 K2 time

The candles really worked. Wilco, Cas, Gerard and Pemba are at the summit of K2! All the way back to the source! It is a very late at K2. We said it before and repeat it again. Now the most difficult part will start. The summit is only half way! Light a fresh candle. We at K2BC Netherlands will start celebrations only if they are back safe in C4. This was Wilco’s third attempt to reach the summit of K2. It’s Cas second time. Gerard just became the FIRST Irishman to become a K2-summiteer. This is Pemba’s first summit. I will take a short moment to take my breath and wipe some tears from my face. Keep your fingers crossed. Maarten K2BC Netherlands

Rescue report 3rd August 9pm.
03/08/08
Update 3rd August 9 PM Irish time

10 climbers now feared dead on K2 including our beloved Ger McDonnell. We pray for the spirit and soul of Ger. May he rest in peace. Ger's family issues heart rendering statement. see below

Update below on climbers that are missing. 3 climbers die from serac (ice avalanche) fall on 1 August while descending from a successful summit earlier in the day in The Bottle Neck just below the summit ridge and exit to the lower section of K2. This is a technical steep section of the mountain above 8000 meters (a place known to us climbers as death Zone) The ice avalanche sweeping away the fixed ropes which is used by tired climbers as a handrail to the safety of the lower sections of the mountain and the safety of camp 4.

(The Bottle Neck from on high)

We are extremely proud of the many heroic and brave achievements of our son and brother Gerard. He brought honour not only to us his family, but the whole country when he became the first Irish man to summit K2 on Friday last.
The last few days have been a roller coaster of emotions as we celebrated with joy his historic achievement, and now must try to come to terms with the untimely loss of a great son, brother and friend. Gerard's love of mountain climbing was surpassed only by his love for his family and friends. Our thoughts are with his long time girlfriend Annie in his adopted home of Alaska, where he lived for the last 11 years. We are sure like us, Annie will miss most of all Gerard's warm and caring smile that brought light and joy to all he met.
Gerard was a kind and loving son. He had a great love of traditional Irish music, and despite living away from Limerick for the past number of years he was a true and proud Irish man. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our many friends and neighbours for their support at this sad time.
We would like to acknowledge the bravery and selfless acts of his Norit team mates and the members of all the other teams, who risked everything in an attempt to rescue Gerard. We will forever be grateful to them, and the support and information we received from Maarteen - the web master for Norit expedition. Thanks also to Pat Falvey for his hard work and perseverance in keeping the line of communications between base camp and the family open.
We would like to sympathise with the many other families who lost loved ones to the unforgiving elements of K2 this weekend. Our thoughts and prayers are with them. We now ask for privacy from the media as we come to terms with the news that our beloved Gerard will not be returning home.
We will not be making any more statements at this sad time and thank you for your co-operation.

Pass the Sun Block: Climate Change

From the Press Democrat in Santa Rosa comes this front page story talking up the cool climate of the Ukiah Valley versus Napa and Sonoma. You'll read that none other than climate/vit expert Gregory Jones commented on the matter, which adds a certain amount of legitimacy to the claim. 

I came across Jones and his data at a Unified Symposium two years ago.   His data blew me away.  What I remember of it (which is always a dangerous way for me to start a sentence), was that if you looked at global temperature change as it has occurred in the past and projected it forward (using conservative estimates), within 50 years the latitude of optimal premium wine growing climates would move as much as 150 miles to the north (away from the equator, hence cooler) in the northern hemisphere and to the south in the southern hemisphere.    That is the gist of the foggy portion of my memory. 

What I remember clearly though, is that his model couldn't account for the impact of coastal fog.  So I could sleep that night knowing that a) as a Carneros region producer of Bordeaux varieties, we could actually benefit before we suffer from climate change and that b) because we are in a fog zone the change would be much less predictable.  That plays very well into my Algerian-learned response to all such uncontrollable things (and some controllable ones) in which I hope for a positive outcome: Insha'Allah. 

I also remember driving with my dad right after the conference and picking his brain thoroughly regarding his impressions on the matter, with his 40 plus years experience farming the same property.   When I told him how much the average temperature had changed in Napa since 1950 ( a number I think is something like 4 degrees), he thought about it and intuitively recognized that it must be because of warmer lows than higher highs, something Mr. Jones had infact pointed out.  He (Dad) also mentioned how much less our vines are threatened by frost now than they were in the 60's and 70's.   Always pragmatic, and very leery of anything championed by suspect spokespeople (say, like wealthy left leaning political scions from Tennessee), Dad nonetheless recognizes that things are changing.

Because my memory is so faulty, and I care too much about how smart you come across at your cocktail parties, I dug up the real deal on the matter - Mr. Jones' full presentation all 70 plus pages of it, so you can get the real story.  Truly very interesting stuff.  Much more so than the article, actually, but a bit more of a time and mental investment. 

Is Mendocino the new Napa?

Changing weather patterns may make Ukiah Valley better for grapes

By MIKE GENIELLA
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Published: Monday, August 4, 2008 at 4:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, August 4, 2008 at 11:26 a.m.

KENT PORTER / The Press Democrat

St. Helena winemaker George Vierra, at Jeriko Estate Winery in Hopland on Friday, said he unexpectedly found acidic levels of the Hopland grapes comparable to similar fruit grown in the famously cool Carneros region.

Or worse yet, the touted Napa Valley.

"Yet such a shift is supported by available data and expert analysis," said Vierra.

For Vierra it's a surprising development after 35 years of overseeing wine production for Napa Valley icons such as Charles Krug and Robert Mondavi wineries, and his own Vichon and Merlion labels.

"I was among the many who believed Mendocino vineyards were probably 'too hot' to produce quality grapes for high-end premium wines," Vierra said.

Yet, an expert analysis of 50 years of summer highs shows that the Ukiah Valley is now a cooler grape-growing region than Napa Valley.

The findings are attracting the scrutiny of winemakers such as Vierra and climate experts who specialize in weather-related effects on grape-growing regions.

Vierra's own quest to understand changes in Mendocino vineyards took root last year after he assisted in making a wine from organically grown pinot noir grapes in Hopland.

"I was amazed," said Vierra.

Vierra said he unexpectedly found acidic levels of the Hopland grapes comparable to those grown in the famously cool Carneros region at the southern tip of Napa and Sonoma counties. That's important because grape acidity falls significantly slower in cool regions, a process that can be sensed in the taste of a finished wine.

To better understand why, Vierra sought the opinion of nationally known climatologist Gregory Jones of Southern Oregon University. Jones the year before had compiled, analyzed and published findings from a study of 50 years of Wine Country temperature data.

Jones' findings substantiated a warming trend in Sonoma and Napa counties, which he said is already altering grape-growing conditions. Jones said a pattern of warmer overnight temperatures appears to be stewing some cool-loving varietals.

Jones, and now Vierra, are convinced the climate shifts occurring in inland Mendocino County to the north deviate sharply from Sonoma and Napa.

Jones' study, for example, found that the number of hot summer days over 95 degrees in the Ukiah Valley has steadily declined over five decades while temperatures in Napa have risen.

In the 1950s, Ukiah posted an average of 51 days where the high temperature reached 95 degrees or more, according to Jones' study. The average for the last 10 years is just 29 days.

The shift is so dramatic that for three summers in a row Ukiah has on average posted cooler temperatures than Napa.

"If we didn't have the supporting data, no one would believe it," said Vierra.

Charlie Barra isn't surprised. A Redwood Valley grape grower for 60 years, Barra knows from experience that conditions have changed.

"I know it's cooler at night because my own vineyards are cooler," said Barra, who has more than 100 acres of grapes.

Last summer, a seminar at Gloria Ferrer Winery in the Carneros district focused on global warming and the wine industry. It touched not only on how winemakers can reduce their carbon footprints but also on how climate change can affect premier grape-growing regions. Some winemakers said they had witnessed local changes, such as more heat spikes and fewer spring frosts, and those changes were influencing the way they manage vineyards.

In a recent e-mail exchange between Vierra and Jones, the Oregon weather expert theorized that a warmer Central Valley is now pulling more cool air across inland Mendocino County from the Pacific Ocean. Frequent daytime breezes are helping keep maximum temperatures down.

Jones said because Mendocino vineyards are being exposed to cooler air for longer period of times, the ripening process has slowed, which helps raise grape quality.

In contrast, Jones said Napa Valley and inland Sonoma County vineyards seem to be experiencing warmer overnight temperatures because of their proximity to the warmer Central Valley.

For Vierra, the findings help explain the surprising quality of pinot noir grapes that were being harvested on vintner Dan Fetzer's Jeriko Estate north of Hopland. Fetzer's decision a decade ago to plant the pinot vineyard was considered risky, given Hopland's reputation for warm weather.

But Vierra learned the Jeriko vineyards are brushed by constant winds from the northwest. "It's even cooler there than Ukiah," said Vierra.

Vierra became so convinced about the new role cooling temperatures are playing in Hopland grape production that he organized a blind tasting earlier this summer. Jeriko's pinot noir was put up against 10 highly rated pinots produced from vineyards in the more recognized Carneros district and the Russian River Valley.

Jeriko pinot came out third in the rankings.

The same pinot grapes are used to produce a sparkling Jeriko Brut Rose, which this summer won a gold medal during the prestigious Orange County Fair judging.

"It's clear to me inland Mendocino County has become cool enough to produce some very high-quality wine grapes," said Vierra.

Climatologist Jones believes the cooling-off in Mendocino and warming of summer nights in Napa and Sonoma are part of complex and evolving regional climate shifts that are likely to intensify over time.

The best grape-growing regions of the past may not be best in the future, said Jones.

At industry and academic conferences across the West, Jones tells listeners that some of today's inland grape-growing regions eventually will become too hot, forcing producers to shift operations northward.

For the coastal regions of Wine Country, however, the outlook is not so bleak.

All of Jones' data modeling suggests that coastal regions will be less affected by warming because of the moderating effects of the Pacific Ocean.You can reach Staff Writer Mike Geniella at 462-6470 or mgeniella@gmail.com.

Wine as art

There appears to be an increasingly scarce ingredient missing from practically any modern discussion about wine.  Just a nudge here from this unabashed huckster of one’s values and you loyalists will not be guilty of this pervasive omission.

Why is it that we seldom see or hear the word art, as in “wine is an art?”  It used to be, before wine became a mainstream beverage in the U.S. market, that wine was nearly always introduced to new customers by convincing them that by enjoying a glass of wine, they were tasting art.  Probably because wine as art became too much of a marketing cliché; picture the man riding a white horse through the Italian Swiss Colony vineyard.  Most Americans now ingest mostly sound bytes.  The concept of wine as art takes some telling. 

Also, early on in America’s wine resurgence, we were all concentrating on simply spreading the gospel...drink wine and be happy.  Our wine industry is maturing, we now need to emphasize the importance of our own brand; we need to protect and grow our own nest egg.  There is little time for the discussion of wine as art.

Why is wine still art? 

Look up the definition of art.  The old tome in my hallway has the following: “The production, or expression, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful or appealing.” 

Aesthetic – “Having a sense of the beautiful involving pure emotion and sensation as opposed to pure intellectuality.”

You can substitute the word wine for art in my book.

So much of winegrowing and winemaking has and will continue to rely on “gut feelings” of how to produce a most beautiful wine.  Relying solely on the almost unlimited supplies of wine making and grape growing technology is not enough.

Art in the Vineyard: What varietal and which rootstock to plant in the vineyard?  Organic or not organic? Which trellis system to use?  How to pull leaves to obtain the most efficient use of sunlight for flavor and sugar?  How much and how often to irrigate or not?  When to harvest?

Art in the Winery: Which yeast selections? Fermentation strategy relating to each vintage? Oak -- European, American, old, new, light or medium toasted barrels?  How much time in the barrel? Filtration methods and strategies for blending?

None of these winemaking decisions can be guided solely by relying on technology, and yet it is the technology that receives most of the attention today.  Not just with winemaking, but with pretty much every facet of our lives. 

The creation and appreciation of any art form is a personal one, and wine is no exception.  The next time you lift your glass of Gundlach Bundschu at the table to salute family and friends, and your own good fortune, remember you are relying on art to convey your sentiment.