But as the wine industry has matured (vineyards & wine making techniques have improved) and customers have become more sophisticated, the wines of Gamla have improved by leaps and bounds. The oldest one I tried was a 1993, but I've also had the '97, '99 and have recently been drinking the 2002, & 2003. The Dalton Canaan Red.

tasted California wines, Oregon wines, French wines, Italian wines, young wines, sweet wines, old wines (I had an AMAZING 1967 Barolo that was very much alive & a 1993 Chardonnay that sadly tasted oxidized). When speaking to many people in the industry, their love of wine and passion for it is very evident.

Industry tasting : Terry Theise Grower Champagnes at the Michael Skurnik tasting. Mature wine: 1993 Chandon de Briailles Savigny-les-Beaune 1er Cru Aux Forneaux. This is my 200th post here at the ol' Brooklynguy blog. That's a lot of writing about wine and food. Kind of hard to believe. But there is also some junk in here. So good.

Organic" WAS conventional, in that it was just-the-way-things-were-done, up until about a half century ago when chemical companies began calling on farmers (I interviewed one of the patriarchs of California agriculture recently, and he was the one who turned on that lightbulb for me. Main | Hearty Burgundy at Sanford? Do check it out.