Extreme Heat and The Big Game

It started last weekend. Traffic became noticeably heavier. And that’s saying something for LA. 

This week the heat wave hit. 

Heat wave February 10, 2022, in Los Angeles.

It’s February 10th and it’s going to hit almost 90 degrees today. Yes, LA has warmer weather than other places, but not this warm this early in “winter.”

Then yesterday our day was derailed by a phone call in the morning that led to us pouring Centralas wines on a hotel rooftop in Hollywood hosted by NFL hall of famer Shannon Sharpe!

If you don’t know who Shannon Sharpe is, neither did I until yesterday. When I got the call I had to feign being impressed by the invite. Wendy had to tell me. Apparently he’s a big deal. There was a red carpet, press, and celebrity guests. 

Honestly, we have mixed feelings about giving away our wine at these kinds of events. The details of Centralas’s mission to promote an ecological perspective through wine are lost on a noisy crowd of perfumed and cigar smoking high-profiles. And we don’t have a lot of wine. 

We decided to make a fun night of it and let the chips fall where they may. At the very least, we’d get a glimpse into a world we don’t often see. 

The biggest lesson we learned was that the wine needs to speak for itself. If people liked what they tasted, they wanted to know more. 

I’m not saying we’re going to start making wine to suit the palates of professional athletes and celebrities. But I think it’s really important to realize that the sensory experience of wine can be one of the most powerful tools of capturing attention for engagement at a deeper level. 

What we poured for Shannon Sharpe.

As I woke up this morning, with that not-quite-hungover feeling, I was still thinking about the surreal night we experienced

”Was it worth all the time and wine we spent?” I asked myself, as I sat in unusually thick morning traffic on my way to check on a vineyard that I tend in central LA near Crenshaw Cru. 

I found an equally surreal answer when I got to that vineyard. The vines had already started pushing buds. Tiny leaves had already formed. Bud break came in the first week of February.

For anyone unfamiliar with viticulture cycles in California, this is a very early bud break. While this isn’t a bad thing in itself, it’s an aberration caused by unseasonably warm temperatures. And that makes it a harbinger. 

Here’s something to consider: last summer was the hottest summer ever recorded on earth. It’s likely that it will be the coolest summer any of us experience for the rest of our lives. 

While we don’t spend our time wallowing in dismay over the climate crisis, nor do we think that would be helpful for anyone, we do find ourselves being more thoughtful about every choice we make because of this awareness. 

And awareness is something we think it’s worth spending the time to bring to anyone through the delicious flavors of wine from organically grown vineyards. 

Happy Super Bowl Weekend!

From your friends with a little permaculture vineyard 10 minutes (in normal traffic) from SoFi Stadium.