I was saddened to hear the news that David Lett, Papa Pinot, who planted pinot noir in Oregon's Willamette Valley in 1969 and from there a wine region was born, died yesterday.
I had only one opportunity to meet David. Three years ago I was out for Lisa Donoughe's Indie Wine festival and became reacquainted with the delicate and ageable beauty of the wines over a long and wine laden lunch.
David at that lunch, after a long talk about malolactic fermentation
He made wines stubbornly against the fashion. His son Jason followed thoughtfully down a similar path. He made wine the way the earth and weather moved and not the way certain critics whimed. There are few people these days who make a wine that tastes like Oregon, and Eyrie was indeed one of the remarkable few.
A few months ago, Jason said to me, "Dad and I were thinking that it was time that you made your own wine, and we're going to offer you half- a -ton of grapes."
I'm going to write more about this hypothetical situation in the coming days, but even though this offer never came to pass---(I would have traveled to Oregon today, the day of David's death became public, and not being a close friend of the family, not the most appropriate time to have me under foot)--the idea sparked plenty of thoughts and fantasies and fears and panic and elation and produced fruit of another kind.
I salute David and extend many sympathies to his wife, children and those who were closest to him.
David at that lunch, after a long talk about malolactic fermentation
He made wines stubbornly against the fashion. His son Jason followed thoughtfully down a similar path. He made wine the way the earth and weather moved and not the way certain critics whimed. There are few people these days who make a wine that tastes like Oregon, and Eyrie was indeed one of the remarkable few.
A few months ago, Jason said to me, "Dad and I were thinking that it was time that you made your own wine, and we're going to offer you half- a -ton of grapes."
I'm going to write more about this hypothetical situation in the coming days, but even though this offer never came to pass---(I would have traveled to Oregon today, the day of David's death became public, and not being a close friend of the family, not the most appropriate time to have me under foot)--the idea sparked plenty of thoughts and fantasies and fears and panic and elation and produced fruit of another kind.
I salute David and extend many sympathies to his wife, children and those who were closest to him.
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