Grapes Grown at a Crossroads

The Livermore Valley is not what we remembered from a couple of years back. Journeying out this weekend to go find some red to serve at the reception (tough job!) the landscape bursts with messages that this is one place where agriculture, nature and California's growing population are vying for space.

The wild turkeys I spotted running through the grapevines getting ready to start the 2007 crop wanted to get away from me fast. The natural landscape once consisted of prarie, chapparal and mixed oak and manzanita forests. Now, the oak trees share with cows and roads run through the lilting green (the reason we chose March for our wedding) hills. We didn't remember the large houses abutting Livermore Valley Cellars tasting room from the last time we visited- but they were directly abutting the vineyard now.

City girl that I am, I went right up to the corral across the street to go talk to a horse and a friendly dog. My skin immediately burst out in welts as a reaction to the stinging nettle that scratched my ankles. The horse wanted to be friendly but there was an electric fence inside so I threw home stray blades of green grass over the fence to her. Beautiful countryside, gorgeous horse- a little too well kept.

For one of the cases to be served in two weeks (!!) we contemplated choosing this 2005 Syrahnade (a syrah combined with a rosé). This wine has a high alcohol content and some dark toasty flavors I can't name. I do better naming scents than I do tastes. Wine idiot that I am, I asked why the bottles read "Sirah" and "Syrah," wondering if it was some vintner's typo. Petite sirah and syrah are in fact very different grapes. There are so many typos in the world now (especially from my own fingertips), you must understand how valid the question actually is!

There is a capacity for all of us to support our values for use of this land with our economic powers. Coming here to buy wine, we demonstrate that we favor agricultural use of land. If we'd bought a house here, especially one of these that abut LVC, we'd have grapes and horses in our front yard...along with a big country home. The hardest of the three options is choosing ways to demonstrate we want the prarie kept the way it is and letting the Pacific flyway continue to support wildlife. But there are options: Central Valley Joint Venture, Greenbelt Alliance.

Dedicated to Shelli Rose who helped me learn love and awareness for the Bay Area's greenbelt.