Rogue Grapevine: “This is a story about journeys that start in one direction and end up going in another, where both choice and accident play a part and deviations along the path turn out to be positive. It involves winemakers Brian Gruber and Vince Vidrine.”
MJ Daspit: “Rogue Valley wine grower Terry Sullivan keeps a yearly record of what he calls season milestones, noting the dates of budbreak, flowering, onset of ripening and harvest. Budbreak is the point in spring when the vines emerge from dormancy and show their first tiny leaves and shoots. Later flowers appear that will form fruit after pollination. Veraison begins in late summer as the bunches of green grapes change to a ripe color — purple or gold, depending on the variety.”
MJ Daspit: “Caprettone got my attention because I’d never heard of it before. A light, dry Italian, it was refreshing and delicious. … ‘Caprettone is a white Italian wine grape variety that is grown in the Campania region of southern Italy … Caprettone is also grown in the Rogue River Valley of southern Oregon.’ Wait — what? We’re it outside Campania? How did that happen?”
According to Wine Spectator magazine, the restaurant associated with the Ashland Springs Hotel, Larks Home Kitchen Cuisine, offers exactly that: a world-class wine list. Larks is among the restaurants in some 70 countries worldwide to receive a Wine Spectator Restaurant Award for 2022 as announced on June 27.
MJ Daspit: “The last time my wine column appeared was in April 2020 in the Mail Tribune. Let’s just call it two years ago, give or take. Amid the recent viral contagion, my husband and I decided the better part of valor was to self-quarantine at home and we did — to the point that when I decided to take up writing about our local wines again it was with the sense that I had no idea where to begin. I decided to start by taking a walk.”
The Say Their Names T-shirt memorial at Railroad Park in Ashland was vandalized again this week, but a group of community members long invested with maintaining the shirts have organized an event for Sunday, April 2, to rebuild the memorial.
Obituary: Jefferson Straub, 78, passed away Feb.25, 2023, in the arms of his wife, Kelly Nash Straub. A celebration of Jeff’s life will be held at the Ashland Congregational Church at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 6.
Herbert Rothschild: “When they covered the 20th anniversary of our invasion of Iraq, our mainstream media were as craven as they were during the run-up to the invasion itself.”
Productions of all kinds and sizes abound at the Oregon Fringe Festival, which will begin its five-day run of unfiltered creative outpourings in Ashland on April 26. Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the festival is produced by the Oregon Center for the Arts at Southern Oregon University.
Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument officials are accepting applications for the annual Artist-In-Residence program through April 17. Selected artists receive a residency at the monument during the early summer months, where they will spend time creating art while surrounded by the monument’s natural beauty.
Ashland Rotary will host its annual Easter egg hunt event at 1 p.m. Sunday, April 9, at Lithia Park near the pickleball courts, according to a news release.
(It’s free)
