Wine & Spirits - Spring 2022 - 1

PHOTOGRAPH BY ELISA CARUCCI
Editor's
Note
TK
Spring
Awakening
T
HE SKIES ARE CLEAR BLUE, THERE'S
a fresh layer of snow on the
ridge, and the mercury reads fi ve
degrees in the sun on the morning we
are sending our fi rst quarterly issue to
print-Spring. In the Berkshires, talk of
a " real winter " harks back to the '70s
and '80s, not so long ago, when temperatures
were similarly brutal (more
brutal, in fact) and snowpack lasted well
past the equinox (two days from now,
the high is predicted at 56).
The climate may be chancy, but I plan
to get my fi rewood in early this spring,
hoping to learn from the kind of forward
thinking that led Ed King, Jr., to buy a
horse farm in Oregon's Coast Range and
plant it to vines, similar thinking that
took Sergio Manetti high into the Chianti
Classico hills of Radda. King Estate
and Montevertine may not have much
in common, in terms of wine, but they
both positioned their vines in the remnants
of a cool climate by planting them
high enough to catch an evening chill.
For
this
Spring edition, Patrick
Comiskey drove the length of the Willamette
Valley, stopping at vineyards
planted in the hills long before this summer's
Heat Dome heightened interest
in the Coast Range. Stephanie Johnson
headed to the ridgetops of Radda in
Chianti, fi nding a community of likeminded
growers, encouraged by the elegant
freshness of their Chianti Classico.
There's no amount of forward-thinking
that could prepare restaurants for
the last two years. The COVID-19 pandemic
has been a brutal winter of dislocation
in the restaurant community-
with some friends lost, others out of
work or out of hospitality completely.
Our friends who are working in kitchens
and dining rooms are working overtime-through
reopenings and new closures-trying
to stay on pace with the
shifting moods, thirsts and appetites of
their guests. Reporting on the restaurant
community was diffi cult last year,
when the dining rooms of so many
respondents to our annual survey were
closed. It was more diffi cult this year,
when the disparities in their businesses
and the wealth disparities of their guests
have taken the community deeper into
crisis. We talked with restaurant workers
in a struggle for survival (many did
not have the time or the data to respond
to our poll) and the lucky few who had
their best year ever in 2021.
For the media, 2021 brought its own
upheavals-with paper shortages and
forest management issues coming to
the fore. We set out to strengthen what
we do best, even as we work to lessen
our carbon footprint. Since our reporting
is tied to the annual cycle of winegrowing;
we don't need to participate
in the 24/7 news cycle. So, we are focusing
on a slower pace for our long-form
journalism, slowing down our publishing
schedule, cutting back on our paper
usage and bringing you timely wine
recommendations from our editors
in biweekly online tasting reports. It's
a new, more sustainable model for us
and, we hope, a better way to share our
excitement with you over some remarkable
fruits of the earth. You'll fi nd a lot
of them in this quarterly edition, ready
to bring sustenance and pleasure as we
head into spring.
JOSHUA GREENE
https://www.cristomvineyards.com
Wine & Spirits - Spring 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - Spring 2022
