Central Valley photographs

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Patrick Sawyer

climber

Originally California now Ireland

Feb 13, 2017 - 11:27am PT

If anybody wanted to know about California wine, my late brother Mac would have been the person to talk with. His wines were just about always rated in the mid-high 90s by god himself, Robert Parker (hah hah, god, hah hah, I need a glass of wine or bottle or two after writing that - Robert Parker, arguably did more for Bordeaux than California - ahh, but the Paris tastings beat his and other butts - California wines were proven).

We started out with Saw's Vineyards in 1973, a small barn/winery in Saranap, no more than 800 cases a year at best (1977) (and handcrafted beer that would beat any). We had a handful of Cab vines, but also sourced fruit from Napa and Contra Costa (yes, the Pinole Valley/Alhambra Valley Road area by Bear Creek, there was an old gent, Portuguese, we used to get golden chasselas (not an Iberian variety, but the gent grew it) to make sherry with, and an Italian gent ("I am from Puglia)" down the road with zinfandel - he called it primitivo, he seemed to know years earlier than the DNA tests at Davis).

At UC Davis, Mac interned (as if he needed to, we were already producing good wine, but he had to intern as part of the curriculum) at Wente Vineyards, Livermore and then Stags Leap (Napa) and then Chateau Montaud, Pierrefeu-du Var (where I also worked, as well as Hugel et Fils, Alsace). He was the second foreigner to go to the viticole school at Ecole Normale Superior Agricole Montpelier (then ENSAM, now renamed as has my alma mater Cal State Hayward, now Cal State East Bay).

Wine. To each their own. As the late Johnny Hugel (a legend in France) told me, when I told him I did not know much, he just said (pointing to his nose and then his forehead): "Patrick it does not matter, all that matters is your nose, your brain and what you like." Best lesson I ever got on wine, and I have worked in wineries in California and France, restaurants/wine bars in California, London, Dublin.

Johnny (down to earth, unlike some other Hugels, some buddies of mine, snobs IMO. "We are one of the few winery families over 300 years old in France," said Etienne, yeah well, I, uh... need to use there toilet) is right. It is that simple. Nose, Brain, Preference. You want white wine with steak, red wine with fish, I don't care (a chilled red Languedoc with smoked fish is nice). But a sweet Sauterne with Rochefort - there is marriage between wine and food.

I know this is thread drift from the Central Valley, but I was not the one to bring up wine, Livermore and who played first base for the Giants or played bass for John Coltrane (actually for the last two, nobody did mention it on this thread, and I have yet to have a glass of wine, but...).

Patrick Sawyer

climber

Originally California now Ireland

Feb 13, 2017 - 11:52am PT

Yeah Dingus, but where are the vineyards to go with the goat cheese?

EDIT
Oops, I wrote too soon. Fair play to you DMT. You beat me to the punch.

Patrick Sawyer

climber

Originally California now Ireland

Feb 13, 2017 - 01:42pm PT

Aisles of wine racks. Oh wait, candy rolls, Dingus, you are showing your sweet tooth.

I do not care, I get my money on Mondays and I pig out on Mondays, sort of like Babette's Feast. Then I worry about the rest of the week. Hey. I am a Democrat. Republicans feast all the time, and do not care about the week or years, they will just blame their excesses on the liberals. But do the Repubs drink Californian wine?

And is the Central Valley up for sale?

And my poor mother, a good dentist, but not a shrewd business person. She had the choice in the early 1960s, buy property on Oakland Boulevard and Ygnacio Valley in Walnut Creek, but the real estate agent (con man probably). "No Mrs Sawyer, Atwater, Merced. They are going to build a new prison there and the land will increase in value three-fold."

And mom, heavens bless her, she bought ten acres in Atwater.

No need to say what property prices did in Walnut Creek as opposed to Atwater.

EDIT

You see, as a single widow (my mother, a smart and good-looking person, she had offers but she never remarried) with (four) children, the younger kids tend to hang out when somebody (such as a real estate person) shows up, and listen in (she tries to shoo us away, Mac, Mary and me) but like, when this is a new person in the house, we are all ears. I learned a lot as a kid by seeing my mom bilked as a widow raising a family. Mom was smart (one of the first female dentists out of WVA), but she was gullible.

Atwater was not a good choice.

Neither is Trump and I KNOW mom would be turning over in her grave knowing he is a so-called POTUS. She was liberal, she was sensible (her dad has a statue in Pittsburgh PA). But she got suckered for some central valley land, thinking about her children's future, not her own.

She was fooled. A smart, intelligent, feisty and independent woman, raising children (me, at five months) after her husband died. She got suckered by the Trumps of this world.

The land in Atwater? Sold years ago for a pittance. Perhaps it would be worth something nowadays considering the growth of the Central Valley.

Gawd I want to delete this post but if I do (I am sure it is now on some record someplace) I'd be accused of... having sex with goats. so I will keep it up (the post not the sex, ahah hah).

(I am tired and had a hard day and no excuses really) as this is not a political thread and I am just a jerk. but if you think back to the 1960s and the land being sold in the Central Valley... I think if you cut through my political BS, one can see, it was a hot selling zone for... people like Trump (oops, there I go again).

tuolumne_tradster

Trad climber

Leading Edge of North American Plate

Feb 13, 2017 - 01:47pm PT

[Click to View YouTube Video]

Patrick Sawyer

climber

Originally California now Ireland

Feb 13, 2017 - 03:11pm PT

DMT, it looks like, it looks like... a Central Valley hooker. Gawd, that is horrible of me. Shoot me now before I have to weather the comments made at me. C'mon folks I am just joking.

I have criss-crossed and scourged the Great Valley sideways, up and down (sounds sickening), from Shasta and Castle Crags to Bakersfield and Tehachapi (I prefer the Northern part), but I have yet to see... (see an ellipsis, I knew about those long go but the Donald has made them popular again), anyway, an ellipsis, write your own words, such as...

...but I have yet to see... a smart Sawyer.

I love this forum. I can make an ass of myself and either get away with it or be called on it and either is fun. Cheers folks, Patrick

NB I miss home California, I love it, but I also love Ireland and for personal reasons I shall stay here, probably until I die. But, I do not want to be buried for plant food, nor cremated and burnt to ash with my ashes flung to the wind.

I want to be buried at sea off the California coast in the Pacific. My youth "stomping grounds" (or surf waves). To be fish food, to feed the wildlife, to give to the earth what I have received. Is that morbid? Perhaps, but for heaven's sake, don't foist my leftovers on the Central Valley. It has enough problems.

micronut

Trad climber

Fresno/Clovis, ca

Feb 13, 2017 - 03:17pm PT

Great thread. My first time here. Long time Central Valley Resident. Can I get a Fresno shout OUT!!!!

mouse from merced

Trad climber

The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.

Feb 13, 2017 - 03:40pm PT

^^^I'm looking! Dry Creek, eh? That's incredible, man!

http://www.thejournal.ie/irish-wine-2351581-Sep2015/

It is a modest assessment from the man behind the only vineyard consistently producing commercial batches of Irish wine on the local market.

Ireland is, believe it or not, classified under the EU’s official wine-growing regions, joining much of Germany, as well as the UK and other northern European countries in a cold-climate zone.

However according to the Department of Agriculture, which doesn’t regulate vineyards because of the small scale of production in the country, Llewellyn is the only known commercial winemaker in the country.

The trained horticulturist, who said he learned the trade from working on other vineyards and trial and error, grows mostly cabernet sauvignon, merlot and rondo grapes on about half an acre of land.

Grapes grown by a friend.

I recall another friend who lived in the middle of a north Fresno vineyard and used its cover to grow his weeed.

DMT, perhaps the vast Fresno vineyards (gone to suburbs, everyone) which covered the land north of Shaw Avenue back in the day, are now living out on the rolling hills of the area you have presented. Where, exactly, are those?

micronut

Trad climber

Fresno/Clovis, ca

Feb 14, 2017 - 08:11am PT

Yeah Dingus you're right. We mostly have Thompson Seedless and Ruby Flame grapes down here in the Fresno, Sanger, Reedley, Selma area. I went to Sanger High School bitd. My girlfriend was The Raisin Queen of the San Joaquin. And I swam for "Raisin Country Aquatics" out of Selma. Best table grapes on the planet.

micronut

Trad climber

Fresno/Clovis, ca

Feb 14, 2017 - 08:18am PT

I was running late on my way to work today and had no time to pull over and take pictures but after stumbling onto this thread yesterday I just had to stop and get a few shots of the fields near my home.

Life is starting to sprout and stir from these cold limbs. The first hint of spring is in the air.....

mouse from merced

Trad climber

The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.

Feb 14, 2017 - 09:14am PT

You should take care driving into the sun on days like this, too.
Poor Deb got smacked this morning on her way to court by a lady who stopped immediately. She had no idea anyone was in the cross walk, apparently, because of the sun. But who knows? This sad accident could have been very much worse.
The cop in the black & white shot was nowhere to be found this morning when he was needed. He was last on the scene - Deb had already been loaded into the ambulance.

I have seen horses running loose on foggy Santa Fe Avenue, back when I was a teen. Only one was hit by a car that night, but the sheriffs had a hard time finding them all. It was pretty funny, except for the poor animal.

Micronut, I swam 400 yd freestyle and the free leg of the 200 yd medley relay for the Merced Bears and we swam against the Fresno high schools in our division in a final, taking second to Clovis High in our home pool. We went to the section finals at Selma, took second place again. Then we met the boys from Bakersfield and dropped to a tie for third in the Valley with San Joaquin Memorial.

mouse from merced

Trad climber

The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.

Feb 14, 2017 - 02:22pm PT

All shots from early or mid-March/2013, beginnng of the drought.
I take it back - nothing is "late" this year...things happen in God's own good time.
I can deal with that.
Shot from the YARTS bus.

mouse from merced

Trad climber

The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.

Feb 15, 2017 - 07:11am PT

Locke!! Knew it as soon as I saw it on the sign.

No ka oi. Qu'est-ce que c'est?

"One time while in high school, I went with Dave Baxter to haul wood from Green Mountain in the Raymond District. Jerd Baxter had two wagons so Bud Baxter went along with him to open the many gates.

Dave had to get a third wagon at the Raynor ranch. The wagon was in a barn near the end of Buchanan Hollow road where the hogs all slept.

After we got the wagon hitched up and started up the hill I had to get my clothes off to shake out the fleas and got them on just in tome to close the gates." --Glenn Gillette

There are many PISTACHIO orchards going in just south of here. All these water-guzzling orchards are fed by drip irrigation.

I have seen orchards uprooted, Dingus...miles and miles of trees awaiting the firewood cutters. Stumps get hauled to a central point and burned, or some go to fill in other spots.
Pistachio orchards line the horizon.

mouse from merced

Trad climber

The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.

Feb 18, 2017 - 12:49pm PT

Scattered clouds with the scant chance of the odd shower.
or
Partly cloudy & Partly sunny.

Choose one or both.

Any adjective in the list also fits today's weather in the valley:
good, great, nice, fine, lovely, beautiful, wonderful, excellent, gorgeous, fair, mild, pleasant, and dandy.

Il fait trés beau.

Lollie

Social climber

I'm Lolli.

Feb 20, 2017 - 02:03pm PT

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
And I say it's all right

mouse from merced

Trad climber

The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.

Feb 20, 2017 - 06:40pm PT

micronut

Trad climber

Fresno/Clovis, ca

Feb 22, 2017 - 09:17am PT

Nice shots Dingus. Here's a couple from yesterday between the episodes of rain. So amazing when the sun peeks out and shines down her warm, buttery goodness on the wet and saturated land.

mouse from merced

Trad climber

The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.

Feb 23, 2017 - 08:39am PT

Top of the morning from the top of the Tioga, "Where the ways part."
Someday a supertrain will make the distance shrink.
LOL.
And maybe someday I'll get a better long lens.
[More polite chuckles.]