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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 8, 1962)
New York Wineland Reminiscent of Old World By OTTO E. STURM Naples, N.Y. -UPD- There's an autumn nip in the air as you leave the city of Roches ter, N.Y., and head south along a state highway. Soon the suburbs are left behind and you're out in the country. The peak brilliance of the fall foliage has passed but there's enough color left to make an enchanting view. Gradually the scene chang es and the country becomes hilly. You no longer pass truck or dairy farms. Now, wher ever you turn, your eyes rest on serried ranks of trellises bearing grape vines the leaves now brown under the autumn sun. Occasionally the road winds between straight rows of tall, slender poplar. You glance down a slope to your left and I a blue-green body of water comes into view. i Old World' j Suddenly you feel that you're in another world the Old World. Those poplars are right smack from a French landscape. These vineclad hills could be rising above the Rhine. But that body of water ta pering to a point parallel to the road is not the Rhine. It's Lake Canandaigua, which the Seneca Indians called "The Chosen Place." And this is not the Rhine valley, but the Naples valley in the beau-' tiful Finger Lakes country of New York state. Here, in 1882, John Jacob ; Widmer, a young immigrant from Switzerland, found the I same climate, the same pecu-1 liar blend of shale soil and natural drainage as those of the famous vineyards of Eu rope. He planted his first vines and laid the foundation for an American Wineland that would produce Rieslings, champagnes and sherries equal to those of the Old ' World. But it is not only in geogra phy and topography that this land of the grape is compara ble to the Rhine valley. Wine is the lifeblood of this area. It cultivation, from the vine to the bottle, is the way of life of its people. These descendants of Swiss, j German, French and Alsatian Immigrants are fircely proud of their tradition and all the Old World art and tender care of their forebears goes Into their wine-making. They have been so success ful that their vines have been transplanted in European vineyards. And that a leader of the local wine industry can say confidently: "This is potentially the greatest wine country in the world. The grape is the King of Wineland and this is his day. . You're on your way to the i annual Naples Grape festival. The harvest is in, the long, hard days of climbing up the ; steep, winding vineyard trails to pick the grapes are over. I This is the day for bands, speeches, crowning of a fes tival King and Queen, trophy awards, street dancing and fireworks. Gals Mood A gala mood is in the air as you enter the little village of Naples. Flags and bunting drape the buildings on Main street and the homes of vil lagers. People in costumes gather for a parade. It's the first sunny day in more than a week and the ordinarily sparsely traveled road is , crowded with a steady stream of cars. This day will see Naples' population of 1,200 swelled to 10 times that num- ( ber. An odd sight greets you from the road. Stacked on the roof of a winery are tier up on tier of barrels. There are some 10.000 of them and each holds 50 gallons of sherry. Here, under sun, rain, snow and wind, the wine ages and mellows for four years before It is bottled. It s an Old World touch because this is the sherry-making process as the famous solero system used in Spain. Identifies Wine At the winery the Old World crops up again when you talk to "Will" Widner, 70-year-old son of John Jacob. He is said to be able to ident ify by year any wine he has ever tasted. A tour of the winery is a unique blend of the Old and New Worlds. In the sweet . smelling pressing room, huge modern mechan ical presses squeeze the Juice from the grapes. Traditional oak fermentation vats have been replaced in the pungent and yeasty fermentation room with glass-lined stainless steel tanks, towering 20 to 30 feet high and holding as much as 10.000 gallons. But the wine-carrying hoses which snake in twisting pat terns across the damp floor are made of pure white rub ber, carrying on the Old World adage of "new hose for old wine." Modern mechanical means are used, too. to filter and clarify the fermented liquids but then the Old World takes over. Nothing can replace sap less white oak casks and tanks during aging. Row upon row of them 20 feet tall and hold ing thousands of gallons, loom in the murky depths of the cool aging cellar. Lunch in the old-fashioned dining room of the little Nap les Hotel is a real trip to the Old World. Seated near you is a prominent vineyard own er of the area, dressed in an Austrian "Jaeger," or hur,;er's outfit, a blue-gray coat of mili tary cut with metal buttons and worn over a black velvet vest decorated with little floral designs. Swiss Yodelers There is entertainment by a troupe of Swiss yodelers, on a tour of the United States. You're not surprised to hear one of them comment that they never felt so much at home. Now Main street in front of the hotel is lined with an eager throng awaiting the parade. This is their big day, the culmination of a year of work Springtime saw them covering the hills, tying vines in umbrella fashion to wire between cedar stakes. The long summer days were filled with tilling and spray ing and weeding. And harvest ing hasn't changed much from Jacob Widmer's day. It's still a careful hand procedure so that tender grapes will not be crushed or bruised. These people, celebrating before the year-round cycle of wine-making begins again, spent many hours and much ingenuity putting together pic turesque floats. Ancient Garb Appropriately, one of the leaders of the parade is a portly gent dressed in ancient garb. A sign identifies him as "Backus God of Wine." Grapes and wine are the theme of most of the floats. They depict people at work in vineyards, a "Bubble Car" of huge artifical grapes, an old-fashioned hand wine press. At nightfall, a band takes over the parade-reviewing platform in front of the hotel. Traffic is blocked off and the street dancing begins. With such Old and New World var iations as the Schottische and the Twist. The dancing Is called off at at ten o'clock and the people flock to a fireworks display to end their festival. It's obvi ous they're happy in the thought they they have earn ed its theme: "Honor the Keepers of the Vines." You head back for the trip of about 40 miles north to Rochester. The valley and the lake now are bathed in the soft light of a full harvest moon. When the lights of the city come into view, you find it hard to realize you haven't been in the valley of the Rhine. Old World , U.S.A., you might call it. SECTION B MedfordJ PAGES 1 to 10 'RIBUNE MEDFORD. OREGON, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1!)B2 Scio Youth Dies Of Crash Injuries Stayton -IUPII- Glenn Dean Gibbons, 18, Scio, was dead on arrival at a Stayton hospital Wednesday night from in juries incurred in a head-on traffic crash near here on the Stayton Scio highway. Four other persons were in jured. The Linn county sheriff's office said Gibbons was the driver of one of the cars, and was alone. The four persons in the oth er car were Malcolm King, 23, Ernest King, 19: Irby Batcy, 21. and Tyrone Batey, 18, all of Scio. Officers said Malcolm King was the driver of the second car. SORRY. 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