Fall 2020

To Our Customers;

This is quite a wordy newsletter, filled with some new and very delicious things. I hope you find them as fine as I do. In this very trying period, I hope they will give you enjoyment to read about and to try. Keep up the fight, we’re not through it yet!

Darrell Corti

KHAZANA SMOKED BASMATI RICE

KHAZANA–The Treasure–is the name of a new brand for Corti Brothers of Smoked Rice. “Smoked rice,” you say? Yes, this is a traditional Persian staple which we have offered before and now again after finding a producer of this elegant, smoked Basmati rice. Smoked rice, long a staple in Persian cooking is novel to us in the West. Basmati rice is a scented, long grained, thin rice coming from India’s north-western Himalayan region comprising seven states and other districts. Pakistan’s Punjab also grows it. The rice was given a G.I. or Geographical Indication in 2016. What was understood to be a speciality product has now been given due recognition. “Basmati” is from a Sanskrit word, through Hindi, meaning “Queen of Fragrance.” The Farsi word for Smoked Rice is “Berenje Doodi.”

What is unique about the KHAZANA SMOKED BASMATI is that the already scented Basmati (with the compound 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline) is smoked over fragrant wood, to increase its fragrance. I find it absolutely perfect with grilled or broiled meats since it retains its slightly smoked aroma with the already scented character of basmati. If you thought that rice was only white, please think again, since this elegant, long grain, fluffy rice is wonderful just cooked simply with water, a bit of salt and a pat of butter. I like cooking it the Chinese way, after washing and soaking, with about one finger joint level of water above the rice, the salt and butter, brought to a boil, the heat turned down to low and waiting until little craters form in the rice surface. Then you simply turn off the heat, cover the pot with a cloth covered lid and let rest for about 15 minutes. No peeking! Then lift off the lid and fluff with a fork and serve. One cup of Khazana rice will make ample rice for 2-3 diners. But making more, for left overs will allow you to make an especially favorite dish of mine: Elizabeth David’s recipe for Rice with egg: Uovo al riso.

The recipe is simplicity itself. Take as many eggs as diners. Boil the eggs for 4 minutes, so the yolks remain liquid. Cool them in cold water and then shell carefully. Halfway fill individual ramekins or souffle dishes previously buttered and dusted with grated Parmigiano with leftover cold rice. Place the shelled egg on top of the rice. Drizzle a tablespoon of clarified butter and a sprinkle of Parmigiano on the egg and rice. Put into a shallow pan with enough boiling water to come up halfway to the dishes. Cover and steam for 5 minutes. Remove carefully and set before the diners. A grind of Red Kampot pepper or a light sprinkle of the salted green Kampot peppercorns will do harm.

KHAZANA SMOKED BASMATI elongates but does not widen. Its character is astoundingly pleasant in the mouth when cooked–fluffy and savory, with an impressive texture due to its elongation. Some grains actually elongate to almost a 3/4 inch or more.

KHAZANA SMOKED BASMATI RICE

2 pound resealable bags $5.49 (#5050)

Case of 6 $29.00 (#5050C)

BARIANI ACETO BALSAMICO 12 YEARS OLD, Made in California

This is a product that shouldn’t exist! Yet it does, and it is very good, but not much is produced. “Why should it not exist” you ask? Well, it is a Balsamic vinegar made as is Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale of both Modena and Reggio Emilia in Italy. It is made ONLY with boiled down grape must, that is then aged in the small, traditional casks made by the master cooper of Modena, Francesco Renzi. The other element to the equation is time. It represents 12 years of slow fermentation producing alcohol which is then oxidized by acetobacter to produce vinegar and time in these small casks of different woods to evaporate and condense, producing a product very similar to Aceto Balsamic Tradizionale–the true Balsamic Vinegar.

The Bariani family, 1990 arrivals from Italy, started in the Sacramento region by producing extra virgin olive oil from the trees on their property in south Sacramento, close to Elk Grove. This production has grown so that now the Bariani own a several hundred acre orchard with their oil production plant in Zamora. In the oil plant, the “acetaia” or vinegar cellar is where they produce their Aceto Balsamico. It is remarkable for its character and typicity of the Tradizionale model. While still young, it is delicious and can be used much like the imported style. Perhaps it is more useful than the Italian Tradizionale, since it is sharper and not quite so viscous, which allows it to dress salads or fresh produce or even cooked dishes where you want the sparkle of vinegar sharpness. Had Paul Bocuse known about the Bariani Balsamic when he concocted his famous Poulet au Vinaigre (chicken with vinegar sauté) he probably would have used it instead of Sherry vinegar. Complimenti alla famiglia Bariani!

BARIANI CALIFORNIA BALSAMIC VINEGAR 12 YEARS, 6% acidity,

250ml $21.99 each (#5051)

G.D. VAJRA CLARÉ J.C. 2019

We have now received our shipment of the new Vajra nebbiolo wine called CLARÉ J.C.. From the 2019 vintage, this nebbiolo wine has been made since the 2014 vintage. Aldo Vajra and his family make wine in Vergne, a suburb of the village of Barolo. They make Barolo and several other lovely wines, but this one is special and was made to be like it is.

It represents what the variety nebbiolo was like before the invention of the wine called Barolo in the mid 19th century. The focus of this wine has two purposes, its name reflects what these wines were called in the 18th century, the J. is for Jefferson; the C. for Corti. Let me explain: Thomas Jefferson, while ambassador in France just after our Independence Revolution and just before the French Revolution, traveled through Italy and kept a notebook. In his notebook, he recorded all the wines, both French and Italian that he enjoyed and made notes on what he drank. One wine called “nebieul” which is the dialectical pronunciation of nebbiolo. He liked the wine, calling it: “Very Singular, It is as sweet as the silky Madeira, as astringent on the palate as Bordeaux, and as brisk as Champagne. It is a pleasing wine.”

How did I get involved? I had suggested to the Vajra family that I would like a sparking nebbiolo to be made that I would buy. I have wonderful memories of the 1949 Gancia Nebbiolo Spumante we drank the night I graduated from high school and wanted to duplicate this. The Vajras had read Jeffersons’s notes on his Nebieul and thus decided to make a wine in this same style. Nebbiolo has a very pretty color, not black, yet very pretty and it has a scented character and was always bottled with some residual sugar to referment in bottle the year after the harvest. It was this character that the Marchesa Falletti di Barolo, a French noblewoman, wanted to get rid of in her wine and hired a French enologist to change the wine from the family estates in Barolo to something more like French wine. So it was done. And that is why we have Barolo today.

Vajra Claré J.C. 2019 will probably live to be 5-7 years old. It was not meant to be a long lived wine, although sometimes wines can surprise you with their longevity. It is meant to be slightly sprightly on the tongue, fragrant and dry, with a delicate fruitiness. It is ideal for first courses of cold cuts, salame and such; cheesy dishes and pasta courses with meat sauce. With Chinese--especially Cantonese dishes--it is remarkable. But it should be taken for what it is, not what is isn’t. Perhaps you’ll agree with Jefferson.

G.D. VAJRA CLARÉ J.C. 2019 13.5% $26.99 750ml (#5052) $291.00 Case/12 (#5052C)

BURUNDI COFFEE, A women owned cooperative in Burundi: Drinking well by doing good.

Everyone likes a good cup of coffee. A new Corti Brothers coffee selected by San Francisco’s famous Jeremiah Pick is a Busiga Region, Ngozi province, arabica coffee from the tiniest country in Africa, BURUNDI. This country--land locked in the Great Rift Valley in equatorial Africa--is bordered by Rwanda to the north, Tanzania to the east, and southeast, and the Democratic Republic of Congo to the west. Lake Tanganyika is its southwest border. Interestingly, the country is the source of the Nile River. The country’s history is besotted with trials and tribulations since before the beginning of the 20th century, and things have not improved much.

Enter: Jeanine Niyonzima-Aroian, born in Burundi and educated in the U.S. She has created a coffee export company called JNP Coffee that empowers women producers of Burundi coffee. Interestingly, coffee and tea, are two of the most important exports of Burundi, which exports mainly agricultural products. JNP has a network of some 206 Burundian women producers, part of the group International Women’s Coffee Alliance. Due to the efforts of these women, some men have asked to take part. The women growers pick the best cherries, hand sort them, and float the husks off the cherry and then dry them on raised beds. The specific area is in the Karehe growing region. JNP’s Jeanine’s, empowering movement, allows her to pay the women grower members well above the government minimum for cherry and then the women meticulously sort the beans for this bonus. This gives the women a real pick up in the GDP. By purchasing this coffee, you will drink well and do good at the same time.

All of this Burundian coffee is arabica, from old landraces--without any genetic modification--grown at between 1200 to 1900 meters high. Its flavor is a bright acidity, sweet, complex, with a full body. This is a wonderful example of what Americans like about coffee, especially when drunk with a bit of milk. I cannot imagine a better morning cup, nor for that matter, an afternoon one either.

CORTI BROTHERS BURUNDI KAREHE COFFEE

12 oz bags $13.99 each (#5053)

KAMPOT PEPPER from Cambodia: On its way back

In 2011, Corti Brothers first offered KAMPOT Pepper from the kingdom of Cambodia. Kampot pepper was famous in France during the almost 87 year period when Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam were part of French Indochina. Known by the Chinese since the 13th century, Kampot pepper comes from the vine of the species Piper nigrum, which produces all of what we call “pepper,” the little grain that also gives its name to a monetary term: peppercorn rent.

Kampot is a province in the southern part of the country, just south of the capital Phnom Penh. It is the first Cambodian product to be given, in 2009, a PGI or Protected Geographical Indication by the national government and the European Union. This means that the pepper vines must be grown within its designated area in Kampot and Kep province, following traditional methods. Kampot was the source of most pepper in France from 1863 to 1953, when the country declared independence. In the 1970s, the country became a site of political devastation and the pepper vines were left to die. They are very sensitive and require careful attention. The fruit of the pepper vine produces a series of differing peppercorns.

From the same “fruit of the vine,”a new producer, La Plantation, owned by a Franco-Belgian couple, produces traditional black peppercorns; white pepper corns, which are black pepper with its skin removed; the very special and slightly different flavored “red” peppercorns, which are pepper berries picked when red colored and ripe, and a very special type of green pepper corns, which are fermented and salted. These latter two are remarkable!

Together with the Red Kampot pepper, the salted green peppercorns is something no kitchen should be without. Rare and delicious, they are both truly exceptional. The Kampot Red should be ground in a mill just like white or black pepper is. The Salted Green is to be used whole, as is, in place of ground pepper. Put into sauces, braises, even salads, it acts as pepper but with a very special character: the berries pop in your mouth much like first rate caviar berries do, but these have a magical piperine flavor which hits your palate with an almost mentholated burst that is both surprising and delicious.
The peppercorns themselves seem hollow. When wine is drunk after a hit of these peppercorns, you mouth comes alive. Now I can see why Lord Byron used to sprinkle cayenne pepper on his tongue before drinking claret. But the sensation with the salted peppercorns is more delicious.

LA PLANTATION KAMPOT PEPPER all packed in 50 g plastic bags

KAMPOT BLACK PEPPER $8.99 each (#5054)

KAMPOT WHITE PEPPER $10.99 each (#5055)

KAMPOT RED PEPPER $9.99 each (#5056)

KAMPOT SALTED PEPPERCORNS $10.99 each (#5057)

Another very special pepper is also produced by La Plantation. It is another flowering vine in the same family as Piper nigrum, but is completely different looking and historically was used much earlier than peppercorns. It is Long Pepper, or Piper longum, or Indian long pepper called “pipli” or “pippali.” It used to be used in European cooking and is probably why capsicum peppers began to be called “pepper” when they were first brought to Europe from the New World after 1492. They are similar looking.

Long pepper looks like a hazelnut catkin. The fruit is attached to its stem in minuscule fruits, poppy seed sized. It is hotter than its relative, Piper nigrum. Both long pepper and round pepper were known in Europe and Piper longum was displaced by round pepper about the 14th century. It also must be milled in a pepper mill or in a mortar, with pestle. Used a lot in medieval recipes, it is now used mainly in Pakistani and Lucknow cuisine. You should try it to see the difference between them.

LA PLANTATION LONG PEPPER 100g bag $16.99 each (#5058)

Two new Spanish oils: An HOJIBLANCA and a Green Harvest ARBEQUINA bottled for Corti Brothers

These two Spanish oils are from two different cultivars which have slightly different characteristics. Both are light medium bodied oil bottled here in the States. They are from a company called MillPress which sells numerous oils, buying oil from around the world. These two new Corti Brothers labeled oils are special since they represent the two cultivars and the efforts in making fine oil. Both have the influence of Marino Uceda and his family.

Marino Uceda is probably the most important oil technician in Spain. Having retired from his position at Jaen Oil Station, he now acts as consultant for oil production both in Spain and throughout the world, with his company IADA INGENIEROS. His daughter Mercedes is following in his footsteps.

Both oils were entered in the Los Angeles International Competition where, (full disclosure) I am the chairman, but do not taste the oils. The Hojiblanca won a Gold medal and Best of Class. Hojiblanca, grown mainly in the center of Spain, produces a delicate flavored oil from the area of Montes de Toledo. Our oil is from Antequera, in the province of Málaga, where the orchard was planned and planted by Marino Uceda for his wife’s family. The oil was extracted under his care at the Almazares Aguilar mill in Ecija (Sevilla). The fruit was mechanically harvested in excellent condition, on 23 and 28-29 October 2019, where 11 kilos of fruit produced one kilo of oil. Hojiblanca is a variety which produces oil of great finesse, well balanced, and not exaggerated in either bitterness or pungency.

The other oil is a Green Harvest Arbequina from Ecija (Sevilla), selected by Mercedes Uceda and milled also at Almazares Aguilar. This oil won a Gold Medal in the New York tasting. The fruit is from an intensive planting, mechanically harvested with excellent fruit condition between 10-19 October 2019. Seven kilos of fruit produced one kilo of oil. Both oils were filtered after extraction for stability. Arbequina is a Catalan variety, which produces the two first denominations of origin oils in Spain: Borges Blanques and Siurana. Arbequina is now widely planted in the south of Spain and throughout the world, especially California. When harvested early, as was this oil, it retains its characteristic green fruitiness with soft palate hints of bitterness and pungency. Delicacy and softness are characteristics of this variety’s oil. Harvested early, when still green in color, it does not lose its fruity character by becoming flat tasting with time. Both oils were bottled for Corti Brothers on 20 June, 2020.

CORTI BROTHERS GREEN HARVEST ARBEQUINA

750ml $13.99 each (#5059) $151.00 Case/12 (#5059C)

CORTI BROTHERS HOJIBLANCA

500ml $18.99 each (#5060) $205.00 Case of 12 (#5060C)

CORTI BROTHERS RIME 2019: A Veneto IGT white wine

This is a very special white wine from the Colli Euganei, blended for Corti Brothers. Due to brand questions, it is sold under its registry number rather than its winery name. The name of the wine is RIME, (Rheemeh) which means “Poems” and the label comes with the inquisitive eyes of Francesco Petrarca peering out, dressed with his laurel wreath crown as Poet Laureate in Rome in 1341.

The wine is a blend of wines--all from the Colli Euganei--which include: chardonnay, pinot bianco, sauvignon blanc, incrocio Manzoni, moscato bianco. They are all from the splendid 2019 vintage.

But why RIME? This is the name of the most famous collection of Petrarch’s poetical works also known as the “Canzoniere.” Petrarch was chosen since the producing winery is in Arquà Petrarca, the poet’s home at the end of his life, where he died on 18 July 1374. The 1911 edition of the Encyclopedia Brittanica has a very interesting history of Petrarch (Vol XXI, pp 310-315) where the article’s author, John Addington Symonds, describes him as “the founder of Humanism, the inaugurator of the Renaissance in Italy.” Petrarch’s works are now not much studied or even thought about, but as Symonds writes: “What he achieved for the modern world was not merely to bequeath to his Italian imitators masterpieces of lyrical art unrivaled for perfection of workmanship, but also, and far more, to open out for Europe a new sphere of mental activity...He determined what we call the revival of learning.” (p.313)

Thus, this wine is a fitting blend coming from Petrarca’s last home, that it should show the effects of all the white grape varieties planted there. RIME 2019 is a big wine in structure, not a fat one; with excellent acidity and a composed scent rather like white flowers in spring. It should hold well for 4-7 years in bottle and right now can be enjoyed with fairly full flavored dishes and should drink well with some age, holding up, much like Petrarch’s poetry.

CORTI BROTHERS RIME 2019, Bianco Veneto IGT, 12.5% $9.99 750ml (#5061)

$100.00 Case (#5061C)

A UNIQUE WINE NEVER BEFORE MADE IN CALIFORNIA: VERDELHO CANTEIRO 2015

This is a MADEIRA-STYLE wine made from a Madeira grape variety, VERDELHO, grown in Clarksburg, California, fortified and then aged in the not often used CANTEIRO fashion, which is putting the wine in cask and then allowing it to age at alternating very warm and cold temperatures without the normal “estufagem” or baking process used on Madeira. The Canteiro system is used on the island of Madeira for only the finest wines. The vintage of Lost Slough Verdelho Canteiro is 2015 and was just bottled, so it is a little less than 5 years old. This is the first time Canteiro aging has been used, as far as I know, in California. California does not produce a large amount of fortified wines made any more. At one time, more fortified wine was made than table wine, and more was sold.. California sherry, baked, was more like a Madeira style wine than your typical sherry from Spain.

With the McCormack family winery, Dancing Coyote of Acampo–previously Barengo winery and previous to that, the Mondavi winery–we have tried to revive the original purpose of the Portuguese variety Verdelho. This variety has never been made as a Madeira-style wine ever in California. There was some made like this in Australia, but Verdelho got stuck in the table wine position in both countries and now is only grown for making a light table wine.

I have taken the Dancing Coyote Verdelho to Portugal, to the Douro, where it was tasted with the Douro Verdelho–called Gouveio, and only recently available for planting in California. The table wine style was well liked, but considered less interesting than the Gouveio. The actual name of what is planted here as Verdelho is known as Verdelho da Madeira. Portugal is practically the only country to use this variety to make fortified wine. Other than Madeira Verdelho, made as a semi-dry/dry-ish wine, the only other famous wine made from the variety is in the Azores, where on the island of Pico, a Verdelho based wine called Lajido is produced. We offered this some time ago. At the time of Tolstoy’s War and Peace, the Verdelho of Pico was highly thought of at the Russian Court.

The Lost Slough is the name of one of almost eighty sloughs (pronounced “slews”) in the Sacramento/San Joaquin River Delta, south of Sacramento and along the Sacramento River. The Sloughs are rather like meandering bodies of water mixed in the levee protected strips of land that comprises the Delta area. Basically, the vineyards are in the area of Clarksburg, a small township named after Judge Robert Christopher Clark in 1849. This area has become noted in recent times for its agriculture and especially for grapes–before it was famous for its pears–and now it is very much sought after for its Chenin Blanc, which is possibly the best grown in California. Edwin Bryant, the next to last alcalde of San Francisco, writing in 1848 in his work What I Saw In California, describes the sloughs thus:

The Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers empty into the Bay of San Francisco at the same point, about sixty miles from the Pacific, and by numerous mouths of Sloughs, as they are called. These sloughs wind through an immense timbered swamp and constitute a terraqueous labyrinth of such intricacy, unskillful and inexperienced navigators have been lost for many days in it, and some, I have been told, have perished, never finding their way out.

Grape growing was started in this area by the Bogle Family in 1968. So it has a comparatively recent history. But it has gained traction and the wines of Clarksburg have a presence on the market.

Wanting to try making a distinct Verdelho, not just a table wine, but the Madeira-styled wine, I asked Celia McCormack if the winery would make a fortified Verdelho to be aged in the former sherry barrels from the closed Harbor Winery whose wines we bought and had bottled. These reused whiskey barrels had previously held a sherry type wine for some 40 years. Celia agreed, and I asked that the wines be put into a space at the winery that would get very hot in the summer and then cold in the winter. This was done and the wines were just left to age on “scantlings,” or beams that support the casks, which is what the word “canteiro” means in the Madeira tradition. It also means that the wines aged by this method are not forcibly baked with steam coils as is done normally with Madeira. It is rather a sort of benign neglect, at different temperatures, if you will, that transforms the wine into something different from what the variety produces as a white wine. There are some 10 barrels that have aged this first vintage–some 170 cases. Half of the quantity belongs to Corti Brothers, the other half to Dancing Coyote.

The Verdelho’s label is LOST SLOUGH. It is not that the slough was lost, its name is actually Lost Slough, where there are 220 acres of the McCormack’s grapes. The unique nature of these vineyards is that they are very warm during the day and then cooled by the Delta breeze coming off San Francisco Bay in the late afternoon and evening. Since the soil condition is erosion soil from the two rivers, it is fertile with lots of former marine residue which provides an interesting soil condition for wine grapes. There will be a follow up vintage of Verdelho Canteiro in 2020. But it will take time to mature, at least as long as the 2015, so I would suggest that you buy some of this first vintage and then get on the list for the next one. Due to the small quantity of wine available, we are limiting sales to 6 bottles per customer. In the American Madeira tradition, this is probably what the wines drunk in the 18th and 19th century were like, but of an infinitely better quality. Madeira ages well, but once, it also, was a young wine.

LOST SLOUGH VERDELHO CANTEIRO 2015 19.5%

$39.99 750ml (#5062) $215.00 case/6 (#5062C)

Note:The un-linked items in the newsletter are not available for purchase on our website. If you are interested in any of those items, please phone or email us your request. 916-736-3800 or 800-509-Food cortibros@sbcglobal.net

TERMS OF SALE: This list supersedes all others. All taxable items, such as wine, beer, spirits, books will be taxed at the rate of 8.75%. This is for all sales since we sell in California. Foodstuffs are not taxable. Shipping will be charged at prevailing rates. PLEASE NOTE: In extreme weather, either hot or cold, please give us a shipping address where your order may be properly received and stored. Corti Brothers cannot be responsible for items left without protection.

PLANNING FOR THANKSGIVING: RE-MAKING THE A. T. TURKEYS

You might want to ask, “What are A.T. turkeys?” Well, they are turkeys raised and fattened according to the history that I got from Napa Valley’s André Tchelistcheff. André was the most famous winemaker in Napa Valley, having directed winemaking for Beaulieu Vineyards from 1938 to 1973 when he retired. What is very interesting is a little known fact: André was not trained as an enologist, but as an “agronomist.” Agronomy in the early part of the 20th century comprised almost everything that had to do with agriculture. Grape growing and wine making is definitely a part of agriculture. As was poultry husbandry and other parts of farming. In fact André’s sole book, is one dealing with poultry raising. He wrote it in Russian and it was published by the Paris Y.M.C.A. in both Russian and French. It was done as André said: “ to help impoverished emigré Russian nobility in France earn a living.”

But now to the A.T. turkeys. I was always invited to André and his wife, Dorothy’s “blini” parties at the beginning of Lent. At one of these parties, André was recounting to me what would go on in his family’s home for Easter, the most important religious period of a devout Russian Orthodox household. Amongst all of the dishes that would be set out for Easter and Bright Week, the week after Easter, would be roast turkey, served cold. The turkey was fattened according to the wishes of André’s grandmother, fattened with walnuts. I found this fascinating since animals do respond to what they are fed, and special feeds can produce special character and flavors. I asked: “What did the walnut fed turkeys taste like?’ He answered: “The flesh was very silky with a light walnut scent, The turkeys like the walnuts, because they are slightly oily and fragrant. This is passed through to the meat.” This notion stuck with me since in this country we used to have milk fed poultry, which sold for a lot more than normal poultry. I began to think about how to do this.

In 1995, the year after André died, I asked the then grower who produced our turkeys, if he would finish about 25 birds on walnuts. He did and we sold them that Thanksgiving. The following year, the experiment did not do so well and we dropped the project.

Come 2020. There is a family ranch in Amador County called P.T.Ranch, which raises turkeys, chickens and Pekin ducks on pasture and I asked if they would be interested in raising and fattening some turkeys for us using the Tchelistcheff regimen. They agreed and we will have 100 birds to offer at Thanksgiving of the A.T. Turkeys. There is one caveat, in order to get one, you must order it NOW. You have to give us your order so that the bird can be picked up just after November 20, 2020. Otherwise we cannot guarantee that you will get one. The price will be $9.99 the pound and sizes will be between 12 to 18 pounds. So, if you are interested in trying the walnut fed turkey, you might want to serve it as a cold roasted bird or at room temperature, rather than one right out of the oven.

Being pastured birds also, the texture of the meat will be definitely on the firm side, since the birds will get exercise. This is how poultry used to be, and its flavor should be definite. But you MUST order your bird in order to get one.

CORTI BROTHERS A. T. TURKEY approximately between 12-18 pounds

$9.99 per pound (#5063)

POST SCRIPTUM: The first biography of André Tchelistcheff, titled MAESTRO: André Tchelistcheff and the Rebirth of Napa Valley, written by James Gump, emeritus Professor of History at University of San Diego, will be out in early 2021 from the University of Nebraska Press. Be on the lookout for it.

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