Chris Nicolson, and more
Red Hook Winery, Cucamonga, Wine Globes and Paula de Pano
I just finished Lulu Miller’s Why Fish Don’t Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life and find myself haunted by it, even tempted to go back and reread it.
Next up? Acts of Infidelity by Lena Andersson, a strong, powerful voice. Let’s see where it goes.
Just when I wanted to remake myself, lock myself away in a cave with thoughts and piles of books, the universe sent me to the Red Hook Winery.
It had been ten years since I’d been there to taste, which is unacceptable given how winemaker and fishing wizard Christopher Nicolson is one of my favorite people to talk with. What he is doing with Long Island fruit is commendable, and I am a bit sheepish about ignoring him when talking about Long Island wine. He needs to be recognized.
Precision winemaking. And talk about an acrobat: He is charged with making his own wine as well as channeling Abe Schoener and Bob Foley. And he succeeds. In that fabulous tasting room right atop the Upper New York Bay, he showed me his first vinification from Long Island nebbiolo, and you know what? I’m intrigued.
When we were tasting older wines out of bottle, he wanted to get to the heart of things. “Do you read essays?” When he said he had started reading those from 16th-century philosopher, Michel de Montaigne, I felt my intellectual inferiority. When he told me he didn’t finish, I was relieved. Once home, I Googled Montaigne to refresh my memory and came across his memorable quote, “He whose mouth is out of taste says the wine is flat.”