Allison was raised on the vine in Sonoma, California, and believes that life is too short to drink bad wine, count calories, or second-guess your destiny. She now lives in Los Angeles where she practices many things, the two most important being contentment and tricks for opening a wine bottle without a wine key.
The school of biodynamic winemaking preaches that the experience of a wine—the smell, the mouthfeel, the many ways a glass of wine engages the senses—will differ depending on how the stars in the sky are positioned on the day it is uncorked (although they are careful to avoid the hocus-pocus sounding term astrology in favor of the much more scientific astronomy). So, to be fair, according to ArtCharts AstroBlog, on the day I opened the Patianna Vineyards Fairbairn Ranch Syrah, Mendocino, Sonoma County 2006, Mars sextiled Saturn, and the Moon was in Gemini (if you know what that means, by all means, do tell).
Tom and I had brought the bottle of Patianna Syrah to dinner at The Spot, our favorite little natural health food restaurant in Hermosa Beach (we thought it would be fitting), and as soon as the almost-black juice was poured into one of their antique-looking wine goblets, I knew the wine was as happy to be there as I was. Syrahs are well known for their untamed character, their wild yet elegant demeanor, and the Patianna is no exception.
The nose of black cherry spiked with black pepper and clove was enhanced by a powerful earthiness of cedar and truffles. The palate mimicked this precisely, layering the spice with a velvet richness, bringing me to a far-off exotic land filled with candlelight and incense, dark-eyed strangers draped in opulent fabrics, lavish Moroccan rugs covering packed-dirt floors, gold bangles clinking as delicate hands pour saffron tea. The Patianna is a young gypsy woman, wild black curls falling over keen eyes rimmed in kohl. Her deep violet skirt of soft velvet swishes softly as she moves with a grace beyond her years. She understands the mystic workings of the Universe and lives in accordance with ancient teachings long forgotten in our world. While today she kind and wise, enchanting you with visions of riches and oneness and transcendental powers derived from communion with the Earth, who knows who she might be tomorrow. In this world, it all depends on the alignment of the stars.
