Adam Gopnik: On Randall Grahm

As linked in WineTerroirist, a fascinated read by AdamGopnik on RandallGrahm:
Gopnik:Randall ,
sort of retelling Randall's life in wine. It's a pretty long article, so you'll want to print it out & read it at your leisure...or buy the magazine.
I have, of course, followed Randall from the very start and count him as a good friend. Is mom&dad, Ruth & Allan, were two of the finest people I've met and have shared several meals together. I always ask about Ruth when I see him & occasionally exchange notes with her. A real live-wire.

When I listen to a presentation by Randall, I always time him to his first usage of "counter-intuitive", one of his favorite words. His record is 3 min/17 sec here in SantaFe.

For those of you who have followed Randall, you'll find this a very entertaining read. For those of you who haven't, you'll just dismiss him as a nut-case...or a very clever marketeer. That would be a mistake.

Tom

I have, of course, followed Randall from the very start and count him as a good friend. Is mom&dad, Ruth & Allan, were two of the finest people I've met and have shared several meals together. I always ask about Ruth when I see him & occasionally exchange notes with her. A real live-wire. Tom

I am a major fan of Bonny Doon, and I was just in Davenport on Sunday. We are having a seriously marine-influenced late spring/early summer (the fog is coming all the way into Solano County this week), so I did not go cycling (my OTHER excuse for being a BD club member), but I enjoyed the wines and the drive along the twisty roads.

Randall I have met a couple of times, and he is as you describe, a live wire. I really like his ethos as well as the wines!

I have, of course, followed Randall from the very start and count him as a good friend. Is mom&dad, Ruth & Allan, were two of the finest people I've met and have shared several meals together. I always ask about Ruth when I see him & occasionally exchange notes with her. A real live-wire. Tom

I am a major fan of Bonny Doon, and I was just in Davenport on Sunday. We are having a seriously marine-influenced late spring/early summer (the fog is coming all the way into Solano County this week), so I did not go cycling (my OTHER excuse for being a BD club member), but I enjoyed the wines and the drive along the twisty roads.

Randall I have met a couple of times, and he is as you describe, a live wire. I really like his ethos as well as the wines!

Randall (and Bob Lindquist) still takes Syrah grapes from the old X-Block of BienNacido and it's still one of
the best Syrahs made in Calif.
Tom

I thought Tom meant that Ruth was the live wire!

Reading about Heidegger and Grahm in the same article is a little too worlds-colliding for me. But my question is: if Parker is the Clem of wine, who’s the Harold?

[David M. Bueker]

That was a fun way to waste twenty minutes.

Interesting article. Especially the part about creating a new grape variety from lots of others.

Kooky or visionary or both? Unfortunately we probably won't live to see, but nice that he is trying.

you're a fast reader, David!

Thanks for the pointer to this article. I continue to be a big fan of Randall Grahm's wines, and I find his quirky labels entertaining. I remember when Bonny Doon's first Ca' del Solo Itanlianesque wines were released. The labels were such an accurate parody of the Vietti label style that I walked by them a couple of times in the wine store before I realized they weren't Vietti wines!

My favorite line in the whole article is "It's like evaluating music based on how loud it's played." That precisely summarizes my opinion of over-oaked fruit bomb wines.

-Paul W.

Thanks for the pointer to this article. I continue to be a big fan of Randall Grahm's wines, and I find his quirky labels entertaining. I remember when Bonny Doon's first Ca' del Solo Itanlianesque wines were released. The labels were such an accurate parody of the Vietti label style that I walked by them a couple of times in the wine store before I realized they weren't Vietti wines!

My favorite line in the whole article is "It's like evaluating music based on how loud it's played." That precisely summarizes my opinion of over-oaked fruit bomb wines.

-Paul W.

And you probably remember his first Roussannes (which actually turned out to be Viognier) with the little
plastic top hat in loo of a capsule. Do you remember what he called that wine?? It's not popping
up in my mind (be assured...nothing to do with old age).
And the Bannana Slug Roussanne as well??
Tom

[David M. Bueker]

My favorite line in the whole article is "It's like evaluating music based on how loud it's played."

Mine as well.

Le Sophiste

[Jenise]

I thought Tom meant that Ruth was the live wire!

I think she did. And I've met Ruth too--it's very clear where Randall got his personality.

I remember Le Sophiste and the top hat. Viognier appears to be one grape that defeated Randall Grahm's viticultural skills. Viognier has a reputation in the Rhone for being a cussedly difficult variety to grow, and Grahm found out why big-time. According to an interview with him that I read, Grahm planted a block of viognier. In its first year of production, the aroma from the flowers was so strong that the bees went into a frenzy and knocked a lot of the blossoms off the vines. In the fall, the remaining grapes ripened unevenly--they were hard and green on one side and sunburned on the other side. The following spring the vines all died of oidium. Grahm replanted the block to another variety.

-Paul W.