Views across Clear Lake

Woke up Monday with a sticky-swollen throat-- again. Seems I'm not out of the woods with this lingering virus or whatever it may be, & the weekend activities took a toll on my immune system. Precisely yesterday, I ran out of some Echinacea-Golden Seal extract that seemed to be doing a nice job of keeping a full-blown flu at bay.

Hallowe'en I spent mostly on a barstool, quietly nursing some Hennessey in a mini-snifter at Carlos & Vinny's while friend & Arbor House owner-host Sam wailed on guitar with Blind Monkey. Struck up a conversation with a local firefighter who had broad work experience related to water resource management. I touched a nerve when the issue of vineyard irrigation practices came up: he'd crossed words with a famous Napa vinegrower whose Lake County holdings top the thousand acres. Seems the drip-irrigated, high-density plantings pioneered & favored by the Beckstoffer viticulture machine are a drain on said resources, impairing availability to smaller growers & possibly depleting the water table.
From the Beckstoffer Vineyards website:

'...As a result of his willingness to experiment with closer spacing, innovations in pruning and trellising, and his introduction of drip irrigation, the vineyards of Andy Beckstoffer are some of the most technologically advanced in Napa Valley, and he is in the process of integrating these innovations into Lake County...The conventional wisdom that reasonable quantity and super premium quality are incompatible has been challenged. Canopy management techniques that include new methods in pruning, trellising, and vine spacing have brought improved access to sunlight, resulting in increases in both quality and tonnage. Adding drip irrigation has opened up whole sections of the Carneros region to new plantings. Sustainable agriculture has brought new life to soils and vineyards...' (My emphasis) Arguably, drip irrigation in & of itself can only by a stretch be considered a sustainable practice. In Lake County's Red Hills, from a local perspective that stretch might be close to a breaking point.

On waking Saturday I was troubled by a persistent, foggy sluggishness I attributed to the previous night's alcohol intake. (I did pour a couple glasses worth of the River of Skulls with a possibly too-light dinner before heading out & sitting down to the cognac.) My response was to overcaffeinate in grand & luxurious manner, as Sam had just taken delivery of a pound of Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee from his longtime supplier, Freed, Teller & Freed. Long story short, I felt anxious, fueled & vigorous enough that the short, light jog I had planned, taking advantage of a break in the persistent drizzle, lengthened into a 45 minute course along the lake.

(One of the less positive impressions I took home from my discovery of this area was the overwhelming dominance of private property on the lakefront & the curtailment of public access. This acted as a prod to walking a more activistic walk concerning such issues in Puerto Rico...but that is 'flour from a different sack'-- & longterm grist for the blogmill.)

(à suivre...)