Olive Harvest, musings.
Contadino: a person who works on, and lives off, the land and the fruits of its production.
In the Kitchen with Stephen: Pizza Dough Recipe
PHOTO CREDITS:Braden Tavelli
2024 Harvest Journal at Singer Baker Lane Estate
PHOTO CREDITS:Braden Tavelli
The Singer Baker Lane Estate Cool Climate Syrah Project
In the world of wine (as in other realms where aesthetics and commerce converge), there are many descriptive terms and catchphrases that gain traction. Instead of providing clarification, though, sometimes these expressions themselves are much subject to interpretation. As examples, consider the following: Is that ‘spicy’ salsa going to be equally spicy to every eater?…
2023 Harvest Journal at Singer Baker Lane Estate
When collecting my thoughts on this year’s harvest, atypically the entirety of the growing season necessarily figures in to the narrative. In other words, unlike the previous 20 years when historical weather patterns generally pertained, things were pretty much turned on their ear from March through October. Unsurprisingly, this year’s agricultural campaign was in turn…
Here’s a Thought
Actually, it’s more appropriate to call it a thought experiment. It explores the notion of a pro-active initiative against the tragically bifurcated character of the American body politic. Its quest would be to create a progressive counter weight to the culture (and public policy) war being waged by the political right. It would be rooted…
The Harvest Numbers Through a Number of Harvests
I’ve always had an affinity for numbers, or to be more precise, arithmetic. I enjoy algebra and geometry too, and both have been indispensable to my painting practice. At a crucial point in my studies, though, my interests led me away from math and the sciences as a whole. I regret that (along with eschewing…
Notes from a European Sojourn
I’ve been fortunate to have moved around widely throughout my life. My travels began, as it did for many, with family car trips. An important early one (at age eight) entailed a departure from my hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma and traversing the American southwest. This experience alone did much to cement an enduring thrall with…
Whither Côte-Rôtie
With these essays, my attention now turns to Côte-Rôtie, the esteemed Syrah zone in the northern Rhone Valley. I’m not a wine historian, nor do I suffer the delusion that we are producing Côte-Rôtie from our Estate vines; that only happens much closer to Ampuis than where Baker Lane is situated. These musings reflect on…
Priorities of Taste
I’ve always regarded polemic as dreary and uninspired rhetorical practice. Perhaps it’s evidence of a pollyanna streak, but asserting a point of view driven by positives rather than one freighted with refutation feels most natural. Thus in sharing reflections on what I regard (at least partially) as a vinous generational divide, I’m trying to avoid…
A Season’s Transition
When winter recedes in Northern California, the anticipation that is hardwired into spring’s warmer days and the onset of budbreak has always been accompanied by a practice of reflection and critical thinking. While memories remain vivid, and wines and oils are still resting in barrel or bottle, a new growing campaign at Singer Wine is necessarily a…