A Year in the US

It's now a year since I flew into the US. A lot has happened in that time: I've got married, gained my green card, and started working. I've tasted several hundred California wines and partially finished in San Francisco the WSET Diploma I started in Manchester. And day-to-day I've lived the American life that I'd only briefly witnessed on holidays and TV. Here are some cultural observations on the US, and maybe how the US has changed me.

view from the Mayacamas mountains towards San Francisco

tipping

Getting used to tipping no matter what the service - though it's usually good - took some getting used to. Buy a beer and tip a dollar, even if you've been waiting five minutes and the glass isn't full. Go to a restaurant and all of a sudden the expensive meal becomes very, very expensive when you add a gratuity - again, regardless of whether the food was good or arrived on time.

After a month or so, it became second nature to me, adding on the 20% without even thinking about it. And now I find myself complaining about not being tipped. I'm working in a tasting room, where I serve five pours of wine, talk extensively about wine and the weather, and look after each set of customers for around 45 minutes. And receive next to no tips. This has always been my problem with tipping culture: in certain situations you are supposed to tip (bars, restaurants, the hairdresser, taxis) and so you do; in others, there is no expectation to tip, and so you don't. Somehow I need to integrate the concept of automatic tipping into tasting room culture.

wine and regulations

Tasting rooms are unlike most found in Europe. They range in style - some are big and ostentatious, others are small and intimate, designed to reflect the ethos of the winery. Especially in the Napa Valley, tour buses and limousines pour into tasting rooms, depositing drunken groups of visitors eager to spend lots of money.

every winery has a dog

This is part of a very different wine culture. For a start, it's still young, to a certain degree recovering from Prohibition. Many drinkers like their wines sweet (even reds); others claim to abhor sweetness in their wines and complain about dry wines being sweet. Understanding of wine is very much varietal driven which results in a lot of resolute prejudice - "I don't like Chardonnay. It's too sweet."

Regulations are another hangover from Prohibition. A winery cannot serve food unless the customer buys wine with it: a concept I kind of like. Wine, such an integral part of the California economy, cannot be shipped to many other states because those states (Kentucky, Oklahoma, Louisiana, New Jersey, Pennyslvania) don't want their people drinking too much booze. That's right, Louisiana, home of New Orleans, won't allow wine to be sent directly to people's homes.

driving

The US has one particular rule that makes driving a nightmare: you can both undertake and overtake cars. In theory, this opens up the road and makes passing slower cars easier. In practice, it leads to drivers hogging one lane because they're too scared to change lanes. And this often means four cars all lined up next to one another going the exact same speed. Roundabouts are scarce. Instead, there are stop signs at every junction at which every driver has to halt even if there isn't a car in sight. Outside a major city such as San Francisco, public transport is virtually non-existent. With this dependency on the car and rules which directly clog up traffic, driving in California is slow, often stop-start, even outside rush hour. It's the one negative aspect of living in this warm, sunny, wine-soaked state.

San Francisco

I've lived in some interesting cities - cocky Manchester, dirty Dublin, and mad Madrid - but my visits to San Francisco have revealed a city quite like no other. It's unforgettably beautiful, surrounded by water and mountains, rising on its own small peninsula. It's vibrant, each block revealing its own character, bars and restaurants driven by youthful enthusiasm. There are established, well-to-do areas and edgy quarters still emerging from industry and neglect. On one visit, a taxi driver described it to me as "beautiful but dysfunctional," which is very accurate. The city is full of roadworks and construction, trying and failing to keep pace with a constantly growing population, bringing traffic to a regular standstill. Rent prices are impossibly high, and commuters sit in rush hour traffic around the city for hours on end. For all its attractions, I'm not sure I could live in San Francisco.

the wine itself...

Napa Valley wine is uniformly expensive and uniformly Cabernet Sauvignon. There are some extremely good wineries in Napa, but I wish there were more variety and more affordable wines available. Land in Napa is so expensive, though, that it's difficult to make wine without having to charge high prices - which is why everyone sticks to Cabernet because that's what customers will pay money for.

The price of wine is not only a Napa problem. California wine is either dirt cheap or expensive. Far too few wines offer truly good value for money. Here in California, that doesn't matter too much as people are willing and able to pay, but if California is to compete on the global stage with Chile, Argentina, South Africa, or Australia it has to produce more competitively priced wines.

Outside Napa, there's wonderful variety. Name a grape and someone somewhere makes a varietal wine out of it. Sonoma produces everything from Pinot to Zinfandel, with obscure French and Italian varieties in between. Paso Robles has exceptional Rhône blends. Santa Barbara and around is known for Pinot and Chardonnay, but has perhaps the greatest potential in California for Syrah. And then there are the hippies in the Sierra foothills, sometimes - whether deliberately or accidentally - producing great wine at decent prices.

...and other drinks

I'd argue that California is still behind the rest of the States in its craft distilleries - although in Germain-Robin they have the original and best, producing brandies from cool, wild Mendocino as good as the greatest Cognacs. I am surrounded by great breweries, all producing very drinkable, hoppy IPAs as well as their own distinctive creations: Bear Republic in Healdsburg, Lagunitas in Petaluma, Sierra Nevada in Chico, and, best of all, Russian River Brewing in Santa Rosa, as well as a host of up-and-coming microbreweries. It's a good time for a beer drinker to be in California.

boo to the metric system

I've become so accustomed to fiercely dry, hoppy IPAs that on a brief trip back to the UK the malty bitters I'd been drinking all my life were quite a shock to the system. Other aspects of American life I've found more difficult to become accustomed to. The US is the only country I've ever visited which defiantly avoids the logical metric system: recipes call for cups and ounces; temperatures are only given in fahrenheit; the twenty-four hour clock is never used; and an American pint is smaller than a British pint, one unit of imperial measurement I am familiar with.

Californians talk about the weather a lot, even though every sunny, warm day is the same as the last. A life of sunshine and no rain - now that's something I've begun to take for granted.

California snapshots

In California, the sun always shines. I heard one clap of thunder which was followed by a very brief downpour. I woke up in Sonoma to two mornings of cool fog; by eleven, the sun was in the sky again and temperatures in the mid-20s. Too much sun isn't a good thing, though. As it's barely rained all winter, there's a real drought problem in the state. The winemakers I spoke to in Sonoma and Napa didn't seem to think that was a problem, as they had enough water in reserve. Even if they can get by this year, long-term water shortages must surely be an issue and will affect how winemakers approach their job. The only winery that seemed concerned by the drought was Frog's Leap - the only winery I visited that refuses to use irrigation. Will other wineries be forced to follow Frog's Leap's lead and learn how to dry farm? If so, will wines be leaner and lower in alcohol and owe much more to the skill of the winemaker than California's idyllic conditions?

Mexicans in the morning fog

The vineyards at this time of year weren't teeming with workers, but there were still plenty trimming the vines beginning to flower. Every single worker I saw was Mexican and, as far as I could tell, valued by their employers. The employers' main concern with Mexican labour? - immigration legislation. The tougher legislation becomes, the harder it is for wineries to meet their costs, and it's a real concern for the future, as well as those Mexicans in need of work. Unfortunately public opinion, in the US just as in European countries, hasn't grasped how vital immigration is to their countries' economies.

Frog's Leap

Everything about Frog's Leap sets it apart: the name, the label, the alcohol, the winemaking, the philosophy. Land - not just terroir, but how it's cultivated and what other plants are grown there - is at the heart of it all. There are bees, fruits, and plants surrounding the vineyards, all contributing to the land's biodiversity. Everything is sustainable down to the last degree: all the buildings have been made from fully recycled material. It makes the winery seem quirky and different, but these sustainable practices may make it more financially and commercially stable as California's climate becomes more extreme. And the wines are great too: Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Zinfandel, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon are the grapes, producing elegant, restrained, expressive wines. We were also lucky enough to taste the 1993 Cabernet Sauvignon - these wines have serious ageing potential.

Sauvignon Blanc

Sauvignon Blanc, Cakebread Cellars

Like the good wine snob I try not to be, Sauvignon Blanc isn't my favourite grape: too obvious, too upfront, and too often the same aromas over and over again. However, California opened my mind, as I tasted some really interesting wines full of character and individuality, and quite different from both Loire and New Zealand. My favourite was from Cakebread; partly fermented in old oak barrels and aged for four to five months in neutral oak, the wine has lots of complexity. Although the characteristic flavours of Sauvignon Blanc are there - grapefruit, citrus, melon, capsicum - there's a creamy depth to the wine from the oak ageing and it has the potential to age another five years. Clos du Val also produce two excellent Sauvignons. The 2012 Sauvignon Blanc was grassy with ripe tropical fruits, and very fresh, but it was the 2011 "Signature Series" I was especially impressed by. A blend of Sauvignon and Sémillon, the grapes are separately barrel fermented and aged in neutral oak. After six months, the two wines are blended and aged for another five to six months, again in neutral oak. The seriousness with which the wine is treated is evident in the complex, appealing aromas: grassy, spiky, tropical, toasty, and spicy. A great wine with Thai curry or seafood, and again with ageing potential. 

Crispin's Spirits

another hard tasting; photo courtesy of @winebizkid

I visited this distillery in Mendocino in order to taste the brandies of Germain-Robin, reputed to be as good as those of Cognac, but the visit ended up centring around the spirits of Germain-Robin's former assistant distiller, Crispin Cain. After seriously injuring his back at the distillery over ten years ago, he created a rose liqueur to give himself something to do. He spent a great deal of time perfecting the liqueur and it was finally launched in 2007 to great success. Since then, with the help of his two sons, he has created a series of spirits, all of extremely high quality and great individual character.

The relationship between Crispin and Hubert Germain-Robin, whom he picked up hitchhicking in the 1980s, has clearly been key to the development of his spirits, as Crispin makes great use of the distillery's equipment. Part of the spirits' individuality comes from the old Cognac still installed in the distillery and then from the very old barrels scattered around the warehouse - some of them over a hundred years old. Add to that the imaginative skill of the distiller and you have a set of unique spirits.

I'm still not a convert to vodka, but I enjoyed the four I tasted. The "Straight Vodka" had been made with 10% Viognier, giving it grapey and floral notes, while the three citrus vodkas had each been naturally flavoured, with, respectively, citrus, tangerine, and Buddha's Hand citron. Refreshing but with deep, rich citrus flavours, without any of vodka's harsh alcohol. The Russell Henry London Dry Gin had lots of complex but balanced botanical flavours - juniper, coriander, rosemary, grains of paradise, cinnamon, and cardamon. There are two flavoured versions of the gin, with lime and ginger. Crispin has also started making whiskey; they're still young - he even makes a colourless whiskey - but with lots of potential.

My two favourite drinks were the 1850 Cocktail and the Rose Liqueur, where the enterprise had begun for Crispin. The 1850 is a barrel-aged cocktail, made with Germain-Robin brandy and absinthe, Crispin's whiskey, and herbs - like a Sazerac, but with both brandy and whiskey. Finally, the Rose Liqueur is simply divine: an apple and honey base, giving it a natural, rich sweetness, flavoured with seventeen rose petals, the most important being Don Juan, giving chocolate and raspberry character to the drink. Like California itself: rich, indulgent, and irresistible.

growlers

Every time I've visted an American microbrewery I've looked jealously on at the locals topping up their growlers. These are 64oz bottles (just under 2 litres; Americans serve their drink in fluid ounces, which is very confusing if you've been brought up in the twentieth century on the metric system) which you can buy from the brewery to take home. Once you're done, you come back and fill it up again. This is a great way of getting beer that's only available on tap at the brewery, as well as promoting customer loyalty. As I was staying at the family home of @winebizkid in Chico, we got to take home some growlers from the famous local brewery, Sierra Nevada. Launched in 1979, Sierra Nevada was at the forefront of the craft brewery revolution. Its beers are hop-forward, though produced in quite a range - they also make porters, stouts, wheat beers, and a barleywine. My favourite of the beers I tasted, and which I filled my growler up with, was the Nooner Session IPA - straw-coloured, very drinkable, with citrus and vanilla, and extremely refreshing for those warm Californian nights.

no American home is complete without a couple of growlers