New Classic Winemakers of California: Conversations with Steve Heimoff

What a fun and informative book! When one starts reading Heimoff's interviews, they seem a bit slight and unfocused. But as one builds up momentum through the collection, the picture changes. Taken together, the interviews shine a steady beam of light on current winemaking personalities and trends. Heimoff manages to ask numerous winemakers the same sorts of questions (e.g., "What do you make of the recent higher alcohol levels in California wines?"), and the answers are interesting to compare. What comes across in the portraits of the various winemakers is their many interconnections in the world of wine, and their unyielding commitment to quality. I have only two criticisms. First (not a major point), it would have been nice to include someone from the Santa Cruz mountains. Second, and more substantively, I wish Heimoff had avoided the subject of "cult wines." Do we really care if a tiny group of consumers can afford to pay $500 per bottle? No, we don't. The cult wine thing doesn't come up often in the book, but when it does the book takes on a pretension that is otherwise refreshingly absent. On the whole, though, a very enjoyable read. Heimoff deserves our thanks for opening up a new window on California wine.

Robert Benson's 1977 book that interviewed California winemakers was one of the most important wine books "early in the game", that is the 1970s when California wine was coming into the mainstream of respectability. Those of us who were trying to learn more really wanted to have "conversations with the winemakers" to understand how they achieved quality and greatness in their wines. I have been hoping for a modern version of Benson's book for 30 years now. So, congratulations to Steve for finally fulfilling this long-lived desire. Steve is a penetrating journalist in addition to being very readable. He avoids the cliches and all the cuteness, we see too much of in wine writing today. He goes for the facts as well as the feelings. Here he provides a book that can sit on your desk to be dipped into from time to time, particularly after you have enjoyed wine from one of the subject wine makers. There is almost too much information to absorb in one reading, but in my case I did it, as I could not stop learning more.But here is a book that will last as long as Benson's and will become an essential classic of California wine literature. Glad Steve seized the opportunity to reinvent this good book idea. No one else seemed to have the courage or the initiative.

I suppose the oxymoron in the title reflects Heimoff's inspiration, Great Winemakers of California: Conversations with Robert Benson (Interviews with 28 California Winemakers) (1977). And Heimoff's book is a wonderful modern day realization of that template. Heimoff is the West Coast editor for "Wine Enthusiast" magazine and the author of A Wine Journey along the Russian River, another excellent book on California wine. A few highlights: Dan Morgan Lee describes the benefits of using clones of Dijon 115, 667 and 777 with Wadenswil 2A, clone 12, clone 23 and Pommard, a little bit of geek talk, but Lee's personality and commitment shine through. Greg La Follette of De Loach Vineyards and Tandem Winery: "Vladimir Nabokov ... said, 'There is no art without science or fact without fancy,' [and] I'm a believer that the language of wine is actually the language of yeast biology, of vine physiology, of chemistry." Gina Gallo: "I sometimes think that being able to touch more people with your family's wines is a greater value than making the most iconic wine that only three people in the world can have." For anyone who likes oral history, this book contains a well edited collection of interviews with winemakers currently making wine. The California University system has been collecting these histories for a number of years; there is an excellent index available free and online through their website: lib.berkeley.edu/ Eric Asimov fairly summarizes the joys of this book on his blog on "The New York Times": "Though he occasionally descends into the winespeak of Brix, malolactic and trellising, Mr. Heimoff stands back as his subjects reveal their industry and themselves. Some seem to be thoughtful and well-rounded, others are fun-loving and down to earth, and a few come across as rampaging egotists. Ego in the wine business? I'm shocked." Heimoff does provide a good glossary at the end of the book to help with any unfamiliar terms, but it's quite amazing how he captures the personality of each interviewee in a simple Q & A format. Robert C. Ross 2007 2008