by Richard Harvey
It all happened because of a wood nymph. It was the early 1970’s, and the time of the hippie exodus from a decaying Haight-Ashbury to the countryside of Sonoma County. And yes, there may have been marijuana involved… But I give California credit for my introduction to wine, and though the wood nymph was just a naked hippie girl splashing in the creek, I give that vision credit for making me feel that I really, really belonged in California.
The nymph appeared around the time that I was taking some preliminary sips of wine in the company of family, or amongst school mates—lashings of “mountain red” during meals or on weekend hikes. Everything seemed to be in harmony, albeit in a most bizarre and sometimes surreal fashion. I had moved from a redneck part of Washington State to Sonoma, California, transferring to a school where nobody looked twice at my shoulder-length hair, my trouser legs tucked into my work boots or my predilection for embroidering my denim jacket with Egyptian winged suns and Norse runes. Keeping California weird was easy and natural, and my peer’s acceptance of diversity was a refreshing change.
Although California does not occupy a large piece of Metrovino’s real estate, we’re doing our best to keep it eclectic. Yes, of course we have Napa Valley Cabs and Merlots, as well as some splashes of Chardonnay, but look further! Diversity abounds with Tocai Friulano, Valdiguié, Grenache and Mondeuse. And not just Napa, but El Dorado, Santa Maria and Mendocino are present as ambassadors of other notable regions of the Golden State.
We’ve maintained the Metrovino philosophy of working with small, family-owned California wineries. This isn’t easy given the massive presence of huge companies like the Jackson Family and Constellation Brands! On our shelves you can find wines from the likes of OG Steve Edmunds and Mendocino’s Greg Graziano, as well as the Clendenen Family who helped put Santa Barbara on the wine map. We’ve also got the marvellous wines of Sky Vineyards, where the Olds family make time stand still with their spicy and elegant Zinfandels (yes, you read that right). Not a single corporate suit in sight! The other lovely aspect of these growers is that they’ve all resolutely stuck to their guns, and when the fad for over-extracted, ponderous wines hit, they quietly continued making balanced wines and patiently waited until we (the wine drinking public) came to our senses.
Many years and voyages have made me an unrepentant lover of European wines, but it was those first sips of the likes of Sebastiani Zinfandel that baptized my lips and determined the course of the rest of my life. Perhaps as importantly, it was that brief glimpse of the wood nymph that showed me that there were so many promising experiences out in the world; that beauty and an exciting sense of freedom were potential aspects of a career in wine. This vinous beauty is still very much alive in California today.
