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What's Up with Randall Grahm? In Conversation with Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl

  • Open Book - Target Performance Hall 1011 Washington Avenue Minneapolis, MN (map)

On Thursday May 8th we have a very special What's Up Pop Up for you. We chose the beautiful Open Book Target Performance Hall for this Pop Up and look forward to welcoming you.

Our topic? Discovery of Terroir in the New World: Just how Might this be Doon?

Celebrated and iconoclastic winemaker, and prolific blogger Randall Grahm, founder of Bonny Doon Vineyard, will make a rare appearance in the Twin Cities in conversation with Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl, the Minneapolis-based food and wine writer extraordinaire. They’ll discuss a radical strategy for the potential discovery of terroirin the New World, making use of a number of different elements: the creation of a multiplicity of new grape varieties, the establishment of grapes from seeds, dry-farming, extreme polyculture, soil supplementation withbio-char, and the deep integration of livestock into farming operations.  

There are many challenges to the discovery and amplification of the signal of Terroir against the backdrop of the Noise of the Agora. The main hurdles appear to be: climate change, the extreme brevity of human existence, and the degree of commercial difficulty in selling non-varietal wines to a seemingly ADD-addled customer base. Having said that, there also appears to be a growing interest in wines of place, in wines made in a less manipulated fashion, as well as a good-old fashioned curiosity about really what the New World might actually do if it set its mind toward something truly original.

Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl is a food and wine writer with 5 James Beard Awards to her credit. She writes for Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine, Food & Wine, Saveur, and Bon Appetit, appears regularly on MPR and the Current and hosts CBS Radio's Off the Menu heard on WCCO 830 AM. Her latest book is Drink This: Wine Made Simple; she lives in Minneapolis with her family.

Whether you’re a wine freak or novice, interested in the practice of writing or the philosophy and nature of work, or want to think more deeply about the connection between place and culture, including agriculture, this Pop Up is for you. Join us! And yes, there’ll be Randall’s wine to enjoy.

Place: Open Book, Target Performance Hall, 1011 Washington Avenue, Minneapolis

Date: Thursday May 8th, 2014

Time: Doors open at 5:00 PM, Program at 5:30 followed by Q and A

Event ends at 7:00, JJ’s Café and Wine Bistro open ‘til 8:00 for conversation and serving Bonny Doon wines

Tickets:

The event is free, but tickets are required. Click here to reserve your place.