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A lesson in history
I enjoyed your recent feature article on "Wines That Changed the Industry" (January 2009). The piece on David Lett, while largely correct, is somewhat misleading because of several key omissions.
First, the person who identified the Willamette Valley as a place to grow Pinot Noir and other cold climate varietals was not Lett but Charles Coury. Coury and Lett were classmates at the University of California, Davis in 1964, where Coury who had a previous degree in meteorology, wrote his masters' thesis espousing his theory that the best wines are made from grapes grown in a climate that just matches their ripening requirements.
Lett was heavily influenced by Coury, and they both decided to grow grapes (particularly Pinot Noir) in the Willamette Valley, arriving in 1965 at about the same time with cuttings of Pinot Noir and a few other cold climate grapes.
Coury established his eponymous winery and vineyards near Forest Grove on the site of a 19th century vineyard whose Riesling had won an award at the St Louis World's Fair in 1904. Lett planted his vines not far away in the Dundee Hills, where the vineyard is still producing.
Coury was an enigmatic person, not universally admired, and an erratic winemaker. He quit the Oregon wine business in 1977, and later returned to California and did not work again in the wine industry.
David Lett founded the Eyrie Vineyards and in 1979 his 1975 South Block Pinot Noir Reserve placed in the top 10 at the Gault-Millau Wine Olympiades in Paris. A year later, the same wine placed second in a similar tasting sponsored by Robert Drouhin. The results of those two tastings did the same thing for Oregon wine that the Paris Tasting of 1976 did for the wines of California.
So, while it is true that David Lett put the Willamette Valley on the world wine map, Coury deserves credit for laying the scientific basis for it to work. Coury died in 2004, and his passing was hardly noted, but hundreds of friends attended Lett's memorial service in December 2008.
Will Brown
Visiting professor of history Southern Oregon University
Ashland, Ore.
Knowledge is sweet
I enjoyed Tim Patterson's recent article in the January 2009 issue, "Residual Sugar--How Sweet It Is." But I believe he had his tongue in cheek when he wrote "Unlike alcohol levels, residual sugar information isn't required on wine labels, the logic here, I guess, being that sugar can only be good for you, whereas alcohol is a problem." I'm sure you know that the alcohol level is on the label because of tax reasons, not health reasons (the warning label about alcohol content serves a particular health issue), and that sugar is not good for us diabetics.
I'd like to see the government force wineries to put the residual sugar content on wine labels to help diabetics decide if they want to ingest the sugar or not. Tech sheets from U.S. wineries may give residual sugar contents for their white wines, but I haven't seen it for red wines. And anyway, in a store, one doesn't have access to the tech sheet. I understand that the government is in the process of rulemaking that may require alcohol, calorie, carbohydrate, protein and fat labels on all alcohol beverages. I hope this happens soon. After all, wine is a food, isn't it?
Bob Kozlowski
Kenwood winemaker, retired
San Francisco
Missing mitten
I enjoy your magazine, and looked forward to reading the vintage reports for '08 (January 2009)--especially Michigan, where I grow grapes. For some reason, Michigan was a no-show in that article. Maybe we needed some really bad news to get us a mention, but we had a decent vintage, although a little cooler than we would have liked. Disappointed, but I will look ahead in future issues.
Skip Telgard
The Bluebird Restaurant & Bar
Leland, Mich.
Good news or bad, we include as many winegrowing areas as possible in our January vintage reports. Despite reaching out to several possible contributors, we did not receive a response from Michigan this year. Anyone willing and able to contribute next year should contact edit@winesandvines.com and we'll put you on the list next fall
I enjoyed your recent feature article on "Wines That Changed the Industry" (January 2009). The piece on David Lett, while largely correct, is somewhat misleading because of several key omissions.
First, the person who identified the Willamette Valley as a place to grow Pinot Noir and other cold climate varietals was not Lett but Charles Coury. Coury and Lett were classmates at the University of California, Davis in 1964, where Coury who had a previous degree in meteorology, wrote his masters' thesis espousing his theory that the best wines are made from grapes grown in a climate that just matches their ripening requirements.
Lett was heavily influenced by Coury, and they both decided to grow grapes (particularly Pinot Noir) in the Willamette Valley, arriving in 1965 at about the same time with cuttings of Pinot Noir and a few other cold climate grapes.
Coury established his eponymous winery and vineyards near Forest Grove on the site of a 19th century vineyard whose Riesling had won an award at the St Louis World's Fair in 1904. Lett planted his vines not far away in the Dundee Hills, where the vineyard is still producing.
Coury was an enigmatic person, not universally admired, and an erratic winemaker. He quit the Oregon wine business in 1977, and later returned to California and did not work again in the wine industry.
David Lett founded the Eyrie Vineyards and in 1979 his 1975 South Block Pinot Noir Reserve placed in the top 10 at the Gault-Millau Wine Olympiades in Paris. A year later, the same wine placed second in a similar tasting sponsored by Robert Drouhin. The results of those two tastings did the same thing for Oregon wine that the Paris Tasting of 1976 did for the wines of California.
So, while it is true that David Lett put the Willamette Valley on the world wine map, Coury deserves credit for laying the scientific basis for it to work. Coury died in 2004, and his passing was hardly noted, but hundreds of friends attended Lett's memorial service in December 2008.
Will Brown
Visiting professor of history Southern Oregon University
Ashland, Ore.
Knowledge is sweet
I enjoyed Tim Patterson's recent article in the January 2009 issue, "Residual Sugar--How Sweet It Is." But I believe he had his tongue in cheek when he wrote "Unlike alcohol levels, residual sugar information isn't required on wine labels, the logic here, I guess, being that sugar can only be good for you, whereas alcohol is a problem." I'm sure you know that the alcohol level is on the label because of tax reasons, not health reasons (the warning label about alcohol content serves a particular health issue), and that sugar is not good for us diabetics.
I'd like to see the government force wineries to put the residual sugar content on wine labels to help diabetics decide if they want to ingest the sugar or not. Tech sheets from U.S. wineries may give residual sugar contents for their white wines, but I haven't seen it for red wines. And anyway, in a store, one doesn't have access to the tech sheet. I understand that the government is in the process of rulemaking that may require alcohol, calorie, carbohydrate, protein and fat labels on all alcohol beverages. I hope this happens soon. After all, wine is a food, isn't it?
Bob Kozlowski
Kenwood winemaker, retired
San Francisco
Missing mitten
I enjoy your magazine, and looked forward to reading the vintage reports for '08 (January 2009)--especially Michigan, where I grow grapes. For some reason, Michigan was a no-show in that article. Maybe we needed some really bad news to get us a mention, but we had a decent vintage, although a little cooler than we would have liked. Disappointed, but I will look ahead in future issues.
Skip Telgard
The Bluebird Restaurant & Bar
Leland, Mich.
Good news or bad, we include as many winegrowing areas as possible in our January vintage reports. Despite reaching out to several possible contributors, we did not receive a response from Michigan this year. Anyone willing and able to contribute next year should contact edit@winesandvines.com and we'll put you on the list next fall
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