I was reminded of this when I read a recent headline in the NYT: “Harris injects wine into politics.” But there's really no “injecting” to be done. Food (regular readers know I include wine under that broad umbrella) is political.
Necessary to our lives in the “polis,” there is, therefore, no politics without food. And food is by nature political — what we grow, how we grow it, how we harvest it, how we transport it, how we adulterate it, how we package it, how we market it, how we price it, how we cook it, how we eat it, how we waste it. Kamala Harris, we learn from the article, cooks.
She eats. And she drinks wine. (She laughs, she dances — just imagine!) Alex Prud'homme, author of “Dinner With the President: Food, Politics and a History of Breaking Bread at the White House,” says, I don't think there has been anybody who understands the power of cooking quite like Kamala.
” Harris, the article continues, “has taken a particular interest in food issues like hunger and farm labor. But she also turns to cooking as a meditation.” She says “Everything else can be crazy, I can be on six planes in one week, and what makes me feel normal is making Sunday night family dinner.
” If elected, she'll break the spell of eight years under non-wine-drinking presidents. And wine-drinking is more than just a casual thing for her. Kahlid Pitt of D.
C.'s Cork Wine Bar, says “She can talk about different varietals. She can talk about differences between California oak and French oak.
...
She knows what she likes and doesn’t like, and knows why she doesn’t like it.” She's also apparently a good tipper. (Finally a candidate you'd like to have a glass of wine with.
) During her Senate years, she was a member of the bipartisan Congressional Wine Caucus, a 117-member group dedicated to protecting “the interests of our vibrant wine community from grape to glass.” She seems to have a special interest in wine from California, her home state, and was a member of a now-defunct urban winery in Alameda. Right now Kamala Harris has a lot (besides food) on her plate — and in her glass.
So, I'm recommending some very small wonderful wineries for her in case she doesn't have time to research interesting bottles that reflect her values. Regular readers will recognize the names of some of my favorites. First of all, Margins wine, the work of Megan Bell (a UCD grad), who lives and makes wine in the Santa Cruz mountains.
Megan works — hands on! — with several vineyards, all of them farmed organically, and has been instrumental in promoting regenerative farming practices in 'her' vineyards. She's especially interested in seeking out underrepresented grapes and vineyards of the Central Coast. One of her newest projects is an assyrtiko from San Benito, which I haven't yet tasted but am very excited about, since I've loved every one of the Margins wine I've had (and most of the assyrtikos I've tried as well).
She also makes a counoise from Santa Clara, a white pinot noir from Makjavich Vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains, a dry muscat from Contra Costa County, and many other intriguing bottles. And I think her philosophy would resonate with Kamala Harris. As one writer put it, “Not only does Megan make beautiful wines in these places of transition, but she has put them at the center of the conversation about caring for the earth and the people who tend it.
” The Co-op used to carry some of Megan's wines, but no longer, so if you're interested, you'll have to order from her website (do sign up for her occasional newsletters to learn about new releases, discounts, shipping deals, etc.) or, even better, visit The Cubby, her tiny tasting room in downtown Santa Cruz. Megan shares winemaking facilities with another small wonderful natural wine company, Flor è z, that I think Kamala would like as well.
And when she visits Berkeley, she should certainly make the rounds of the tiny urban wineries on Fourth, Fifth and Sixth streets. Many of my own favorites are there and open for tasting and purchasing — Broc Cellars, Donkey & Goat, Vinca Minor, and Hammerling (there are a couple of new ones that I haven't tried, too). One of things I love about this area of natural and politically-conscious winemaking is their appreciation of and support for one another.
They even put on events together, often in conjunction with local chefs and artists. What a good model for our politics--collaboration rather than competition. Joy and fun rather than fear and gloom.
The wine writers I most admire and often quote in this column, like Jancis Robinson and Eric Asimov, have, over the years, become more overtly political in their writing and recommendations, urging readers to look at, for example, labor issues, vineyard policies, and environmentally-conscious packaging. Spend a bit more, they urge, on carefully-made bottles from politically-conscious wineries. We vote with dollars as well as official ballots.
Which is not to underestimate the importance of the latter — so I'm going to be “political” here and urge you to elect a president this fall who would appreciate the bumper sticker on the back of my car: “Heal the world. Cook dinner tonight.” And who would appreciate as well the beautiful wines of Megan Bell and the Berkeley gang.
Dare I hope? It does seem that in the last few weeks the political landscape has changed (at least temporarily). As comedian Paula Poundstone just quipped, “I'm not used to feeling hopeful. I don't know what to wear.
” How about sneakers, jeans, and a Kamala-Tim T-shirt? — Reach Susana Leonardi at [email protected] . Comment on this column at www.
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