Oh! Sweet Nuthin’: The Quest for Vinous Immortality

January 13, 2014

lane tanner pinot noir

“Thought of you as my mountaintop
Thought of you as my peak
Thought of you as everything
I’ve had but couldn’t keep”
– The Velvet Underground, “Pale Blue Eyes”

The recent passing of Lou Reed hit me hard.  As a teenager growing up in sleepy Santa Maria, the world created by The Velvet Underground transported me to a place far removed from the sprawling broccoli and strawberry fields of the valley.  Characters from Andy Warhol’s Factory and New York’s seedy late ‘60s underground were vividly captured by Reed, evoking a time and place that, 45 years later, still feels timeless.

This loss of a hero got me to thinking about wine (all roads seem to lead me there nowadays).  As an adult, I have often found this same transformative experience through great wine bottles.  Unlike The Velvet Underground & Nico, however, which will sound exactly the same 100 years from now, wine, no matter how great the vintage or producer, is finite by its very nature, prone to inevitable decay. The memory of a great bottle is persistent and haunting because we know we will never have quite that same experience again.

So for those whose art is wine, how does one find the same sense of immortality allowed through the mediums of film, painting, or music?  In the Old World, it is the site, the terroir, which is prized above all else.  Each successive generation is passed the torch of great land, from Romanee-Conti to Clos de la Coulee de Serrant.  Yet it is the human element that must channel Mother Nature and define the voice of a given place in a lifetime; as the vineyard passes from one generation to the next, so too an inevitable stylistic shift happens.

In the New World, on the other hand, we often place the human element above all else.  Technical innovations and stylistic touches often trump the expression of site, for better or worse.  The greatest practitioners of this style focus less on sense of place and more on sense of self, driving so intently toward a personal vision that they capture something utterly unique.

The greatest wines and winemakers of the world, however, be they from France or Germany, Oregon or California, manage to marry these two philosophies; they showcase a special place while putting their own personal, inimitable stamp on it.  One such winemaker that I had the chance to share a table (and more than a few bottles) with numerous times this past harvest is Lane Tanner.

Lane retired her namesake label with the 2009 harvest; she still consults here and there, but she is, essentially, done with full time winemaking.  Unlike the typical scenario in Europe, there is no scion to carry on her namesake; all we have left is the string of superb vintages she crafted from 1984-2009.  These wines, whether from consumption or from decay, will eventually disappear, leaving only the memories they created and the imprint of their influence.

Rather than dwell on this unfortunate fact of wine, however, I’ve begun to embrace the unique beauty in its life and death cycle.  The fact that I am alive to enjoy these wines in their prime (her ’90 Sierra Madre was a transcendent experience), to learn the farming and winemaking lessons that Lane has been gracious enough to pass on, to have a hero from my hometown; these are things to celebrate.

Perhaps it’s fitting that, here in the Wild West, our vinous heroes ride off into the sunset.  And maybe one of wine’s greatest qualities is its fleeting nature: it forces us to be present in the moment, to embrace those sharing a table with us, and to stop and appreciate something beautiful.  So as you pop a bottle of Lane Tanner’s ’94 Sierra Madre Plateau, and cue up “Sunday Morning” on the stereo, take a moment to appreciate the unique, and ephemeral, beauty of the experience; ‘cause when it’s gone, it’s gone.

We have a VERY limited quantity of library 4 packs from Lane.  Limit 1 per person.  Featuring:
– 1992 Sanford & Benedict Vineyard Pinot Noir
– 1994 Sierra Madre Plateau Pinot Noir
– 1995 Sierra Madre Plateau Pinot Noir
– 1996 Sierra Madre Vineyard Pinot Noir

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