France and Spain moving quickly now to modern grape varieties, to minimize poisonous spraying

THIS is great news. We continue to see reason take hold over senseless attachment to the old ways. Lives of vineyard workers are at stake, not to mention the lives of billions of beneficial worms and microbes in the soil, which inorganic sprays have been killing for decades now.

When France allows modern grapes (after a century of senselessly prohibiting them), you know the tide is turning. Read my book! Modern Grapes for the Pacific Northwest (on Amazon).

Kenton

Javier Alfonso makes very good wines under the Pomum label. He's from Spain, and suggests that eastern Washington is the best place in the US for Spanish grape varieties. He's quoted in this article about the Taste Washington event.

I love what Abacela is doing in southern Oregon, but why not plant more Spanish grapes in Washington? How about some old vine Garnacha?

Padrones!

In Northern Spain a favorite tapas treat is Padrone peppers, hot-seared in olive oil and dusted with large-grain salt. If picked at 1 to 1.5 inches long, about 19 of every 20 peppers is mild and pleasant-tasting. But the 20th is hot! It's like culinary Russian Roulette. If you let the peppers get longer, then a rising percentage of them will be hot. Bueno!