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National Geographic : 1979 May
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Autumnal leaves bring beauty to the vineyard, as does Katie Barnette, who picks for a high-school fund raiser. Picking for a living is thirsty work for Abelino Cal deron (below). A bright-eyed harvesting machine gathers champagne grapes in the cool of night (facing page). Napa vintners know that a few degrees or a few hours can spell the difference between a wine that's good-and one that's great. celebrated the end of the crush, and I was whirled to a mariachi band by men who would soon be home in Mexico with their families. By the end of October the valley was looking back on perhaps the largest crush in its history. Despite some mildew and mold, 1978 would be a good year. Possi bly even a great year. As if in celebration, the valley turned a flaming quilt of color. Napa Quality Known Worldwide Bob Mondavi was getting on a plane for London, carrying the Cabernets he would introduce at Harrods, the famed depart ment store, to some of Europe's most experi enced and critical drinkers of that wine. He seemed to be lifting a page from history, for as long ago as 1889, Napa wines had gone triumphantly abroad, winning 18 of the 42 awards at the Paris Exposition. And the early wine makers had opened their doors to the world, as Mondavi does now. At a recent feast at his winery at Oak ville, an honored guest was Andre Tchelist cheff (page 696), the Russian wine maker brought from Paris in 1938 by Beaulieu Vineyard's Georges de Latour. For the three decades that preceded the '70's, Tchelistcheff's Cabernets carried the flag of quality for Napa Valley. His influ ence on the new wave of California wine makers runs like an underground stream. Mondavi toasted him: "Now Napa Valley wines belong in the company of the finest wines in the world." A man of dynamic energy and a promoter extraordinaire,Mondavi never stops inno vating, trying to prove that a large winery can lavish the same loving care on wines as a tiny one. His experiment in "bottle pricing," in which the price of grapes is based on the retail price of the wine, may prove the secret weapon in the survival of Napa's grapes, let ting the growers share in the wine boom. Even a swim after some hard sets of tennis last summer inspired experimentation. Bob Mondavi lifted his glass of white wine and speculated, "I wonder if this could float." It looked impossible. But he eased the stemmed glass into the water and-eure ka-it floated, and prompted by a gentle push, carried Napa Valley wine across the water. 5 716
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