Robin Partch

I clearly remember seeing a very frail old man sitting motionless in a chair under a tree and turning to Bryan Pell. I said "We got here just in time, I hope he is alert". Little did I know!

Elmer immediately greeted Howard and asked him some pertinent questions about the people in tow. After speaking with Elmer for five minutes it was clear that he was more mentally alert than most people 30 years his junior. As the others arrived, he greeted each one he knew and had a small conversation with each.

I was waiting for someone to get the golf cart or truck to take Elmer to the vineyard. Then Mark Hart (he who is afraid to produce his picture, but the taker of all other pictures) said that "Well, if Elmer is walking to the vineyard, so is everyone else. I thought (OK, so we walk slowly). Howard Krosch had us taste some vile plant that left my tastebuds burning for about an hour on the way out. I gagged my way to the vineyard and followed Elmer and the rest around. We were joined by Tom Plocher's winemaking partner, Bob Parke co-author of the new book Northern Winework

Elmer is not a tall man, and he has built his vineyard so that he and his Cabell's baseball cap can walk under the trellis wires, while all others must duck and dodge. Within a few minutes, any idea that this 87 year old Tasmanian devil was in any way incapacitated was dispelled. Within an hour and a half, the first baby boomers were slinking off quietly, back to the house and the cool, cool shade on a hot, hot day. Elmer simply wore everyone out. Vine after vine he would give a history to, sometimes reaching back almost 60 years. My god, this man was breeding vines when Churchill and Roosevelt were fighting Hitler and Mussolini!!! And, I'm sure, intends to be doing so in another 20 years. And we still couldn't keep up to him. He is an international treasure, a mind full of detailed important information that must be somehow preserved and enhanced. Yet I saw little sign of official recognition of his work. He is not wealthy, and certainly not conceited.

After a few hours of non-stop heat, sun and information, Elmer suggested that he had "another vineyard just a half mile away". My arthritic knees and type A male stubborness groaned. Searching for a way out with honour, I suggested to Elmer that the people who had dropped out already were back at his house drinking all the wine and eating all the food. That was the end of that. "We'd better go back then," he laughed.

We tasted apples he had bred, and visited his grandfathers' vine - almost a hundred years old - which is home to the strangest green fruit I have seen. We all had our pictures taken with this living history - vine and man - and then set to with gusto at a great picnic lunch I will remember for many years.

Elmer brought out treasured relics - viticultural books that had been new when he was young - and explained many things to those who would listen between mouthfulls of hearty simple food and glasses of wine. (I just read George Hostetter's personal copy of Growing European Vines - 1941 - courtesy of current owner Katherine Reid - and feel reverance for these pieces of history). It was worth the trip for this chance to hear a living legend.

Tom Plocher and I did some serious (impromptu) blending experiments on the porch of Elmer's house. The best white wine I tasted on the trip was the blend of Louise Swenson, Prairie Star and barrel fermented La Crosse we cooked up. Or it simply tasted best after hours of not being able to keep up to Elmer in the 95 degree sun. I really think the future of northern viticulture depends on blended wines. This blend would have sat well against any Chardonnay wine from anywhere. A target to aim for.

We eventually bid the energizer bunny (or is that Roadrunner?, or Tasmanian devil??) goodbye and headed to Castle Plocher for dinner. We were served great food in a friendly atmosphere. If ever the Plocher's end up in Peterborough they will see how sadly outclassed we are. The best red wine of the trip was, for me, Tom's late harvest Minnesota 1180 - big, complex, almost porty in character, great nose. I have been fortunate enough to put myself in situations where I have had a chance to taste the great wines of the world. This wine would have easily fit on the same table. Another target to aim for. But only if we can ever get the vine legally into Canada!!!! And even then I want to blend in some Landot Noir and Sabrevois for complexity...

The next piece of comic relief was Bryan trying to follow the directions from Tom's place back to our hotel in Stillwater. He had John Antony for a co-pilot, and both completely ignored my every request to stop here or there and ask. Male vanity! I mentally screamed as I tried to fall asleep in the back of the Minnow. Eventually we accidentally stumbled onto a road we knew and found our way in. John said that despite the time lost our male egos were intact...

Enuff for another day...

Friday Aug 24Pictures from University of Minn HRC Aug 24

Saturday Aug 25Pictures from Northern Vineyards Winery Aug 25
Pictures from Elmer Swenson's Vineyard Aug 25

Sunday Aug 26Pictures from St. Croix Vineyards Winery Aug 26
Pictures from Tom Plocher's Vineyard Aug 26

In Search of Elmer Swenson Wine Growers www.littlefatwino.com