Vinous Vignettes

No topic has generated more elevated prose, nor a greater fondness for past events, than wine.

From growing vines on steep, stark slopes to the grapes’ harvest, through the fermentation of the grape’s juice, its aging and, with most loving affection, its consumption, wine has inspired poets and politicians, dreamers and ideologues to write and say things polemical and comical, pithy and silly about wine.

Only art, perhaps, has as passionate and ardent a following, yet few art lovers sit down to write their impressions of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night.” And there is, after all, but one “Starry Night,” while there are dozens of Chardonnays that parade before us, and Cabernet Sauvignons that keep replicating each vintage.

Just about every wine collector I know wants to recount grand dinners, great wines and perfect marriages (other than the human ones). Either verbally or on paper, or more recently in digitized video or computer-network format, the words flow as fully as the wine.

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Books on wine abound, dating back more than 2,000 years and in dozens of languages. Some are technical, some pure romance. Others delight in speaking of the revelry of the grape harvest or the medicinal qualities of wine. Still others discuss wine regions and the character each imparts to wine.

Jancis Robinson, in “The Oxford Companion to Wine,” devotes nearly four pages to wine literature. “The Wayward Tendrils” is a club of wine book collectors that claims a membership of 120 from virtually every continent. (It’s named after a famous book, “Wayward Tendrils of the Vine,” by Ian Maxwell Campbell.)

The Sonoma County Wine Library at Healdsburg has arguably the best U.S. collection of literary viniana (incidentally, “Viniana” itself is the title of a limited-edition book, published by Charles Walter Berry in 1930). Wine librarian Bo Simons has assembled 3,500 volumes relating to wine and another 800 or so historic tracts.

Los Angeles resident and writer Roy Brady and historian Leon Adams once had imposing wine book collections. Both have since sold them, but Brady’s may be seen in the library at Fresno State University.

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Recently I began to muse about the words and phrases we use to describe wine and I realized that despite numerous compilations of witty and sage sayings about wine, I keep hearing more new phrases that remind me of the wealth we have in wine lore.

This came to mind when I saw an old, overused saying: “A dinner without wine is like a day without sunshine.” So trite is this line that I was tempted not to use it again. And yet it bears repeating in light of what a friend and former wine merchant told me.

Mike Lynch of San Francisco, a part-time writer and full-time wit, has a book of cartoons (drawn by Bob Johnson) coming out later this year. Its working title: “A Day Without Wine Is Like a Bicycle Without a Seat.”

And so I began to seek more remarks that had not (yet) been used widely or in other compilations. Interestingly enough, I found so many that room doesn’t permit listing them all.

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One of the more modern wine sages, author Hugh Johnson, may have written more about wine than any other person. Johnson isn’t as lyrical as some, but this thoughtful and incisive man did pen one of my favorite comments in his 1990 book “Vintage”:

“How can a rare bottle of wine fetch the price of a great work of art? Can it, however perfect, smell more beautiful than a rose? ‘No’ must surely be the answer. But what if, deep in the flushing velvet of its petals, the rose contained the power to banish care?”

Now let’s balance that weighty remark with an old joke about the very successful Italian winemaker who for years refused to tell anyone the secret to his winery’s success.

Finally, the old man is on his death bed and he summons the eldest son, who bends down to finally hear, in whispered tones, the secret of his wine. The father says: “ Si fa anche con uve “--”It is made also with grapes.”

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The Italian tradition gives us another marvelous line, from the late Samuele Sebastiani, who had it engraved on the end of one of his famed hard-carved casks: “ Quand’ un bicchiere di vino invita il secondo, il vino e buono. “ Or, “When one glass of wine leads to a second, the wine is good.”

Some wise sayings turn up in other forms. For example, wine author Leon Adams, 90, is reported to have said: “All wine would be red if it could.”

That, however, is merely a variation on a theme. One anonymous line goes, “If it’s not red, it’s not wine.” Another: “White wine is what you drink until they bring the red.”

And in the book, “Thinking About Wine,” authors John Frederick Walker and Elin McCoy quote Piero Antinori of Italy as saying: “Red wine is wine; white wine is just white wine.”

Lynch, never at a loss for a quip, told me this one: “If wine is the drink that frees the soul, then cheese is the food that binds.” Which reminds me of the motto of Frog’s Leap Winery: “Time’s fun when you’re having flies.”

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Hugh Johnson once asked Acacia winemaker Larry Brooks, “What made you think you could make wine?” Brooks replied, “I always figured if the Three Stooges could make movies I can make wine.”

And finally, the wine writer (and wine curmudgeon) Roy Brady once gave this encouraging advice: “When people ask me about keeping wines too long, I tell them: ‘You never need to worry about that. When your wine gets too old, you can always sell it to a dumb doctor.’ ”

Wine of the Week

1994 Buena Vista Winery Sauvignon Blanc ($7.50) --When Buena Vista hired David Rosenthal away from Konocti Winery in Lake County in 1985 to be the assistant winemaker, the Sonoma County winery was making a wide range of wines and was keeping an eye out for top-quality fruit from other regions. Rosenthal told then-winemaker Jill Davis of some sensational Sauvignon Blanc grapes growing in Lake County, 75 miles northeast of Buena Vista.

Davis bought some of the grapes that year, made a Sauvignon Blanc and fell in love with the wine. These grapes make wines that are always exotically scented with hints of lemon oil, melons and mint, and have a grand, soft texture. Still, the wine is dry enough to match with a variety of foods.

Over the years, Buena Vista has made wonderful Sauvignon Blancs from Lake County grapes, and this 10th anniversary wine, now reaching the market, is an exceptional example.

Today, with a pared-down line, Buena Vista specializes in wines from its extensive vineyard holdings in the cool Carneros area. The only exception is this wine, which is now up to 48,000 cases in annual volume and remains one of the most stylish Sauvignon Blancs in the state.

But things do change. Davis has since left Buena Vista to work at William Hill Winery in the Napa Valley, replaced by Judy Matulich-Weitz, formerly at Beaulieu Vineyards in the Napa Valley. And Rosenthal has gone back to Lake County to work for Kendall-Jackson Winery.