DOES THIS WINE MAKE ME LOOK GAY?
by joel martens
DO YOU LOVE WINE? How about great food and amazing company? Want to meet some well-heeled (love that one) people? Or just drown your sorrows in some of the best Cabernet, Merlot, Chardonnay or Chablis in the
world, without having to leave the state? Well we think we’ve found the perfect weekend gay-getaway this month for all the above, here at The Rage Monthly… Just to the north, past San Francisco, one of my favorite cities on earth, is the magnificent Sonoma Valley—home to some
of the world’s most prestigious wines and wineries. This glorious locale has always grown la grape, the Mission padres first planting the fruit in the early 1800s. The tradition was painstakingly carried forward by a settler named Valejo, followed by a gentleman named Haraszthy, who refined the process after taking a California state-sponsored trip to Europe to study propagation methods (Hmmm, I wonder whose grapes he was stomping). Haraszthy then helped to found the first official winery in the region (owned by the state) called Buena Vista Winery, (again with the stomping) with many others to follow. By 1876 production reached a peak at 2.3 million gallons per year. Surviving feast and famine became the name of the game. From the parasite phylloxera vitifoliae, which attacked the
region nearly killing off the industry as it did worldwide, to Prohibition and its “dry” period, which destroyed the trade again, proving winemaking was not for the faint of heart. I read a story that tells of a vintner during this time, who allowed firefight- ers to use thousands of gallons of his wine to help douse the “great fire” of 1911, because there was no demand. I wonder how drunk the fumes from that dousing made the firemen… Such a waste, I would much rather help them dispose of that wine in the way it was meant to be, through human consumption—namely mine. Celebrate your pride this summer in a slightly different way, by attending this annual event in Northern California put on
by the LGBT-oriented travel-and-event company Out In The Vineyard as they host the “Gay Wine Weekend” during the heart of summer’s Gay Pride season. Enjoy world-class wines and tour some of the greatest vineyards in the country from Friday, June 15 through Sunday, June 17 on this oenophilic three-day sojourn. It means wine-lover silly.
60
RAGE monthly | JUNE 2012
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76