Lunch with Randall Grahm: Imagining Change

Imagine we live on a planet. Not our cozy, taken-for-granted earth, but a planet, a real one, with darkpoles and belching volcanoes and a heaving, corrosive sea, raked by winds, strafed by storms, scorched by heat. An inhospitable place. It’s a different place. A different planet. It needs a new name. Eaarth."

Environmentalist, Bill McKibben

To be honest, it took me a while to sit down and write this post after lunch with Randall Grahm from Bonny Doon vineyards. Why?

2010 Wish List #3: Screaming Eagle

"How can I get onto your waiting list?

Production cannot nearly accommodate the demand evidenced by the existing waiting list, many of whom have been waiting patiently for many years. With a waiting list of this length it is unlikely that you will be able to purchase wine directly from the winery, and therefore we have stopped adding names to a waiting list. We thank you for your interest in the very small amount of wine that comes from this extremely special property." From www.screamingeagle.com

You might say I just want Screaming Eagle because it's on a waiting list. Correction: a waiting list for the waiting list for the waiting list. OK, yes, I admit it: this does make me want it more.

You got me.

The Eagle is an elusive thing. Like a dream. You look up in the sky and maybe you see it but it's so bright up there. You look into the sun. Those black dots are not birds, you are about to pass out. What is that? The world screaming for more.

It may be elusive to find, but once you do find it - you'll know it's there. It's presence is immediately felt. It's a big, blockbuster wine with the volume turned full blast. Or so I am told. It's on my wish list to taste in 2010.

"The Screaming Eagle seemed to be saying: you paid through the nose, now all I can do in return is offer olfactory and gustatory pleasure…which it did"

(Neal Martin, "I love the smel of Screagle in the Morning" - erobertparker.com Mar 09)

Link: www.screamingeagle.com