RIP Miljenko Grgich

'Mike' Grgich, as he was known, passed away yesterday at the age of 100. He was born on 1 April 1923 in the village of Desne, Yugoslavia, which is now Croatia, into a winemaking family producing in the coastal region of Dalmatia. He is the winemaker behind the 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay that bested several white Burgundy wines in the 1976 blind wine-tasting event that became known as the Judgement of Paris. It was his wine that brought Napa to the world stage. This tasting helped shatter the myth that only French soil could produce the world’s greatest wines 

Grgich attended the University of Zagreb where he studied viticulture and enology. When he learned about California he wanted to leave the then-communist Yugoslavia to become a winemaker there. In 1954, he obtained a fellowship to study in West Germany. From there he emigrated to Canada and upon receiving a job offer from a winery in California, Mike took his place in history. 

Mike worked at several wineries in Napa Valley — including Souverain Winery, Christian Brothers Cellars, Beaulieu Vineyard (working alongside André Tchelistcheff), and Robert Mondavi Winery.  Mike’s first vintage at Robert Mondavi, a 1969 Cabernet Sauvignon, was entered into a blind tasting of California cabs and was ranked #1. Afterward, Grgich became the winemaker and limited partner at Chateau Montelena. His 1973 vintage Chardonnay at Chateau Montelena was selected to compete in the historic Paris Wine Tasting of 1976, where it was ranked the number one white wine. A Cabernet Sauvignon made by Mike’s Napa neighbor, Warren Winiarski of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, was named the top red wine. A dramatized version of the story is told in the 2008 film Bottle Shock which did not depict Grgich because "he did not want to be part of it."

This success permitted Mike to establish his own winery, Grgich Hills Cellar in Rutherford, California, together with business partner Austin Hills, after he and his sister sold Hills Brothers Coffee. The winery, which changed names to Grgich Hills Estate in 2006, owns 366 acres (148 ha) of vineyards and produces 70,000 cases of wine each year. Its very first vintage won the Great Chardonnay Showdown, with 221 competitors from countries around the world.

In recognition of his contributions to the wine industry, Grgich was inducted into the Culinary Institute of America's Vintner's Hall of Fame on March 7, 2008. The tribute came as Grgich was celebrating his 50th vintage of winemaking in Napa Valley. He was also named winner of the James Beard Award.  Today, the dark blue beret for which he was famous, the suitcase he carried to America, and a bottle of his 1973 Chardonnay that won the Paris Tasting are on display in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

His winery announced his death on December 13, 2023. A Croatian TV documentary about his life, “Like the Old Vine,” won the Grand Jury’s Special Award from France’s Oenovideo Film Festival. Mike's wife, Tatjana Grgich also Yugoslavian born, passed away in 2020. His daughter Violet, now runs the winery he founded.

"I realized that you don’t make wine only with your head and your senses. You make wine with your heart."

Miljenko "Mike" Grgich

Warmer Climes

 

With the recent temperature anomalies heading into uncharted territory, perhaps we should be buying land in Iceland to future-proof our holdings. After all, Ireland is just one sea away from Iceland. 

Copernicus reports that 2023 will be the warmest year on record

The remarkable year continues, with the warmest boreal autumn ever.

The boreal autumn September–November 2023 was the warmest on record globally by a large margin, with an average temperature of 15.30°C, which is 0.88°C above average.

The European average temperature for September–November 2023 was 10.96°C, which is 1.43°C above average. This made the boreal autumn 2023 the second warmest on record, just 0.03°C cooler than autumn 2020.

November 2023 was the warmest November on record globally, with an average surface air temperature of 14.22°C, 0.85°C above the 1991-2020 average for November and 0.32°C above the temperature of the previous warmest November, in 2020.

Copernicus reports that November broke multiple records. November 2023 was about 1.75°C warmer than an estimate of the November average for 1850-1900, the designated pre-industrial reference period. The average sea surface temperature for November 2023 over 60°S–60°N was the highest on record for November at 0.25 °C warmer than the second warmest November, in 2015.

For January to November, the calendar year to date, the global mean temperature for 2023 is the highest on record, 1.46°C above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average, and 0.13°C higher than the eleven-month average for 2016, currently the warmest calendar year on record.

Copernicus November 2023

Drought in rainy places

A new study of forests suffering from climate change has suggested that forests in typically wet climates may be more vulnerable than those already adapted to drier environments. That's my premise with vines: the roots remain shallower in wetter regions, whereas in drier regions they have to grow deeper to find water.

I don't know if that's been proven, but it's why the first couple of years, we let the vines grow very long above ground, hoping that would encourage them to grow equally long roots below ground. We had 6 weeks with almost no rain early this year followed by 6 weeks of extraordinary rain and the vines thrived. So I am hopeful that my strategy for adaptation to a shifting climate worked. 

Drought sensitivity in mesic forests heightens their vulnerability to climate change

ROBERT HEILMAYR, JOAN DUDNEY, AND FRANCES C. MOORE 

SCIENCE

7 Dec 2023

Vol 382, Issue 6675

pp. 1171-1177

DOI: 10.1126/science.adi1071

Editor’s summary

The increase in drought conditions caused by climate change threatens tree growth and survival. Heilmayr et al. investigated whether trees are most stressed by drought in relatively wet or dry regions. In drier areas, trees increasingly experience more severe conditions but may also be better adapted to withstand drought. Using tree ring measurement records from more than 100 tree species, the authors found that trees growing in the wetter parts of their range are more drought-sensitive, and hot, wet regions are predicted to have the greatest declines in growth under future climate change. Therefore, land management and policy focused solely on drought effects in drier regions will underestimate climate change vulnerability in forests. —Bianca Lopez

Abstract

Climate change is shifting the structure and function of global forests, underscoring the critical need to predict which forests are most vulnerable to a hotter and drier future. We analyzed 6.6 million tree rings from 122 species to assess trees’ sensitivity to water and energy availability. We found that trees growing in wetter portions of their range exhibit the greatest drought sensitivity. To test how these patterns of drought sensitivity influence vulnerability to climate change, we predicted tree growth through 2100. Our results suggest that drought adaptations in arid regions will partially buffer trees against climate change. By contrast, trees growing in the wetter, hotter portions of their climatic range may experience unexpectedly large adverse impacts under climate change.

The warmest November on record globally

November 2023 was the warmest November on record globally, with an average surface air temperature 0.85°C above the 1991-2020 average for November and 0.32°C above the temperature of the previous warmest November, in 2020. Europe was not affected as much as some other regions. 

Air temperatures were above average over large parts of the ocean, associated with the continuation of record sea-surface temperatures.

First frost

 

I awoke this morning to frost on the lawn. Croach Patrick is snow-capped, and the brilliant sunshine is not warming this chilled earth. Yesterday we had frozen fog all day. It was bitterly, bone-chilling cold. It never burned off. I guess that means the clocks will be reset for all living things out of doors. I don't believe we had much frost last year, so perhaps some of the insects will die off. 

Spotlight on Clew Bay

The indicators were out that December 1 could bring a spectacular display of Northern lights as a big CME struck Earth's magnetic field, sparking a strong G3-class geomagnetic storm igniting auroras in both hemispheres. We got all excited as it was a clear night -- finally a chance to see the aurora borealis. We walked up to the shed and then drove in the RTV up the hill. The ground was dry enough. 

When we got to the top, there was nothing to see but the gorgeous moon, like a spotlight on Clew Bay. What a beautiful place to be on top of the world. 

But no aurora in the northern sky.