Reinvention: Randall Grahm's Latest Quest to Succeed with Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir...it has been the sought after, elusive grape that has caught so many. Its finicky grapes make wines filled with finesse. Most famously most recently Randall Grahm, of Bonny Doon Vineyard has been the California winemaker's whose quest to grow and make the Great American Pinot Noir has been thwarted, by fire, by finances, by fate. (It's all been written about spectacularly, scribed by the subject hisself.) But watch as the Phoenix rises - again.

Here is Grahm's newest vineyard - Popelouchum (it's a native American word meaning "Paradise") - a 280 acre property in San Juan Batista, of which 80 acres has been planted - some to Pinot Noir grown from seed.

He is with the new Pinot Noir seedlings here.

Planting Pinot Noir at Popelouchum

Is this a sign? It seems to me that the stage right now is set for massive reinvention - as the government is shutdown, the economy still in a ditch, and - most importantly - ecosystems are more at risk than in the entire history of the planet. And that means going to the root of things - the origins, which is what growing grapes from seeds is.

It's nice to see a sign like this - of trying to replant, of trying to get it right, of not giving up on worthy ambitions.

Note

To see a photo gallery of the 2011 blessing and celebration at Popelouchum with Ohlone leaders and the Bonny Doon wine club, click here.