{"id":486,"date":"2014-08-12T02:20:48","date_gmt":"2014-08-12T02:20:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/?p=486"},"modified":"2015-04-03T02:50:04","modified_gmt":"2015-04-03T02:50:04","slug":"machieavelliandsandiegowine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/machieavelliandsandiegowine\/","title":{"rendered":"Machiavelli and San Diego Wine"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"P1090962\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Machiavelli said, \u201cIt is not titles that make men illustrious, but men who make titles illustrious.\u201d<\/p>\n

I say, \u201cIt is not appellations that make wines illustrious, but wines that make appellations illustrious.\u201d \u00a0But that phrase will not always be true when spoken. \u00a0It takes good wine a long time to make a grape-growing region famous. I guess about 50 years. \u00a0Maybe that\u2019s when San Diego County will be an illustrious appellation.<\/p>\n

Wine has a long history in San Diego, probably longer than in any other part of California. \u00a0But San Diego has no reputation for wine. \u00a0Therefore, ambitious winemaking in San Diego is a very long-term project. \u00a0The project has begun. \u00a0And it\u2019s not just a twinkle in my eye. \u00a0Important wine journalists and critics are beginning to notice.<\/p>\n

Serious winemakers here find themselves at the very beginning of something they hope will last. \u00a0For now, it\u2019s almost a blank slate. \u00a0The potential is real. \u00a0The county is vast, more than 4,000 square miles, and varied. \u00a0It includes coastal areas, of course, but also hills and mountains and valleys. \u00a0A lot of the land available for planting vines is granitic. \u00a0At higher altitudes this soil seems to produce extraordinary Mourvedre and Grenache. \u00a0Gamay might be very good here too. \u00a0We need to work on it. \u00a0There are vineyards at well over 3,000 feet of elevation. \u00a0So, altitude plus decomposed granite is typical here and, I think, special.<\/p>\n

How good a region might it be? \u00a0Only a half century will tell. \u00a0We are beginning to have the first hints of what San Diego wine might become. \u00a0A handful of innovative and determined winemakers are trying to figure it out. \u00a0My partners and I hope to be a part of it. \u00a0Each year we try to make the great prototype, a bottle that people will hold up some day and say, \u201cthat\u2019s when San Diego found its way. \u00a0That\u2019s what wine in the area is all about.\u201d \u00a0Every step we take is into the unknown.<\/p>\n

Taking risks is required and comes naturally in a place with no great reputation to defend and no traditions to offend.<\/p>\n

Recently, my winemaking partners and I took a big risk that paid off.<\/p>\n

Imagine you are an inexperienced, untrained, uneducated, unfunded group of winemakers in a region of California not currently known for good wine. \u00a0And yet in your first vintage you produce a very successful red blend that attracts nationwide praise and promptly sells out. \u00a0Miraculously you repeat that trick with the next vintage. \u00a0You know nothing about making white wine and less about making sparkling wine. \u00a0Should you employ your sparse means to make, or try to make a sparkling white wine? \u00a0The obvious answer would be \u201cno.\u201d \u00a0Ours was \u201cyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not like making Merlot in Burgundy. \u00a0We are utterly free to discover what can be done here. \u00a0There is no San Diego orthodoxy, no equivalent of Napa-Cab or Rioja-Tempranillo or Chianti-Sangiovese. \u00a0We can write our sonnets with no deference to iambic pentameter.<\/p>\n

With so much freedom and a growing love for bubbly, we began to think about sparkling wine and do a little research. \u00a0A short, superficial history of methods for making sparkling wine goes like this: \u00a0Accidental Method \u2192 Rural Method \u2192 M\u00e9thode Champenoise (or M\u00e9thode Traditionelle) \u2192 Charmat Process \u2192 Gas Injection.<\/p>\n

Accidental: \u00a0If you unintentionally put wine that has not finished fermenting in a sealed vessel, you get accidental carbonation and pressure and possibly an explosion. \u00a0Rural: \u00a0The rural method (p\u00e9tillant naturel, \u201cpet nat,\u201d or \u201cm\u00e9thode ancestrale\u201d) is really just using the accidental method on purpose, bottling wine before the primary fermentation is finished. \u00a0Traditionelle: \u00a0The Champagne method is a way to exercise more control by bottling finished wine and then adding sugar and yeast to it (\u201cliqueur de tirage\u201d). \u00a0Other: \u00a0The Charmat and gas injection processes are cheaper, large-scale methods that I won\u2019t describe here.<\/p>\n

In our quest for bubbles, we \u201cinvented\u201d a hybrid of the rural method and the Champagne method. \u00a0We always use natural, wild yeast fermentation, so we didn\u2019t want to add sugar or cultivated yeast. \u00a0Instead, we chilled a little bit of the grape juice to arrest fermentation. \u00a0When the main tank finished fermenting, we added the chilled juice and bottled. \u00a0Fermentation finished in the bottle, and we had sparkling wine. \u00a0Thanks to the knowledge and connections of our friend Jeremy Parzen, we have since learned that others have begun to use the same natural technique, notably in Franciacorta (where the method is described as \u201crevolutionary\u201d).<\/p>\n

The result is a traditional San Diego grape, Muscat, transformed into a natural sparkling wine that smells like honey and flowers and ginger but is dry and a little tannic on the palate. \u00a0We love it and so do the critics and our distributors and customers. \u00a0We are happy to make wine in a place where there are no rules.<\/p>\n


\nIf we and our colleagues and our heirs can reproduce this sort of success for two or three generations, \u201cSan Diego wine\u201d will come to mean something very good.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Machiavelli said, \u201cIt is not titles that make men illustrious, but men who make titles illustrious.\u201d I say, \u201cIt is not appellations that make wines illustrious, but wines that make appellations illustrious.\u201d \u00a0But that phrase will not always be true when spoken. \u00a0It takes good wine a long time to make a grape-growing region famous….Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":341,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"\nMachiavelli and San Diego Wine - Los Pilares<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/machieavelliandsandiegowine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Machiavelli and San Diego Wine - Los Pilares\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Machiavelli said, \u201cIt is not titles that make men illustrious, but men who make titles illustrious.\u201d I say, \u201cIt is not appellations that make wines illustrious, but wines that make appellations illustrious.\u201d \u00a0But that phrase will not always be true when spoken. \u00a0It takes good wine a long time to make a grape-growing region famous....Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/machieavelliandsandiegowine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Los Pilares\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-08-12T02:20:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-04-03T02:50:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/P1090962-729x1024.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"729\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael Christian\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Michael Christian\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/machieavelliandsandiegowine\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/machieavelliandsandiegowine\/\",\"name\":\"Machiavelli and San Diego Wine - Los Pilares\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/machieavelliandsandiegowine\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/machieavelliandsandiegowine\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/P1090962.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-08-12T02:20:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-04-03T02:50:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/#\/schema\/person\/09df741d35d5aacedacec9080933069a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/machieavelliandsandiegowine\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/machieavelliandsandiegowine\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/machieavelliandsandiegowine\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/P1090962.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/P1090962.jpg\",\"width\":2296,\"height\":3225},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/machieavelliandsandiegowine\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Machiavelli and San Diego Wine\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/\",\"name\":\"Los Pilares\",\"description\":\"Craft Wine Making from San Diego\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/#\/schema\/person\/09df741d35d5aacedacec9080933069a\",\"name\":\"Michael Christian\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba30982efae2f4af4b05aea92d8f186d13e186fcc17956a2a187c49b7152ca85?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba30982efae2f4af4b05aea92d8f186d13e186fcc17956a2a187c49b7152ca85?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Michael Christian\"},\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/author\/michael\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Machiavelli and San Diego Wine - Los Pilares","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/machieavelliandsandiegowine\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Machiavelli and San Diego Wine - Los Pilares","og_description":"Machiavelli said, \u201cIt is not titles that make men illustrious, but men who make titles illustrious.\u201d I say, \u201cIt is not appellations that make wines illustrious, but wines that make appellations illustrious.\u201d \u00a0But that phrase will not always be true when spoken. \u00a0It takes good wine a long time to make a grape-growing region famous....Read More","og_url":"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/machieavelliandsandiegowine\/","og_site_name":"Los Pilares","article_published_time":"2014-08-12T02:20:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-04-03T02:50:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":729,"height":1024,"url":"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/P1090962-729x1024.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Michael Christian","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Michael Christian","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/machieavelliandsandiegowine\/","url":"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/machieavelliandsandiegowine\/","name":"Machiavelli and San Diego Wine - Los Pilares","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/machieavelliandsandiegowine\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/machieavelliandsandiegowine\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/P1090962.jpg","datePublished":"2014-08-12T02:20:48+00:00","dateModified":"2015-04-03T02:50:04+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/#\/schema\/person\/09df741d35d5aacedacec9080933069a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/machieavelliandsandiegowine\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/machieavelliandsandiegowine\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/machieavelliandsandiegowine\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/P1090962.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/P1090962.jpg","width":2296,"height":3225},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/machieavelliandsandiegowine\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Machiavelli and San Diego Wine"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/","name":"Los Pilares","description":"Craft Wine Making from San Diego","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/#\/schema\/person\/09df741d35d5aacedacec9080933069a","name":"Michael Christian","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba30982efae2f4af4b05aea92d8f186d13e186fcc17956a2a187c49b7152ca85?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ba30982efae2f4af4b05aea92d8f186d13e186fcc17956a2a187c49b7152ca85?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Michael Christian"},"url":"http:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/author\/michael\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":489,"href":"http:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486\/revisions\/489"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lospilareswine.com\/production\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}