Wine: In honor of Miljenko "Mike" Grgich

[Mike Buckley]

Winery: Grgich Hills Estate
Year: 2010
Region: Napa Valley California
Grape: Chardonnay


I made this image with the bottle casting a long shadow to symbolize, at the risk of getting too deep, the impact on Napa Valley wineries by the estate's owner, Mijlenko "Mike" Grgich. Though I look forward to enjoying the wine some day, I actually bought it so I could photograph it.

You might have seen the movie, Bottleshock, which memorialized (with considerable artistic license that contradicts many of the important facts) the famous blind wine tasting by French judges in 1976. That contest pitted the best Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon wines from Napa Valley and France against each other. Much to everybody's complete surprise, especially the judges' surprise, American wines took top honors. Prior to that wine tasting, Napa Valley was considered no better than a stepchild of every important wine-making region, especially Bordeaux and Burgundy. The outcome of the wine tasting put Napa Valley on the international wine map.

The winning Chardonnay was produced at Napa Valley's Chateau Montelena and Mike Grgich was its winemaker and limited partner. Grgich left Chateau Montelena (I think the next year) and started his own winery. In 1980, he entered his wine in a competition held in Chicago that had 221 entries for the best Chardonnay. That was the largest blind tasting ever held (at least at the time if not still today) of wine made from just one grape. Again, his Chardonnay won.

I should probably hold off until April 1 to post this, when doing so could be in celebration of Grgich's 91st birthday. Nah, better to honor him sooner than later.

I'm in a rush to get out the door right now, but I'll add a post later today or tomorrow explaining a bit more about Mike Grgich and why the wine world is so grateful to him.

EDIT: A revised image has been added later in the thread.

[Brownbear]

Exquisite... Extra special exquisite!

I adore the long shadows and the faint circular rainbow frame, the magical little flame like highlight on the bottom of the bottle, the sense of motion, and as always your beautiful use of light.

I'm curious as to what those to small lines are that begin under the foil top and lead to the surface level of the wine.

I think you should send a print of this image to Grgich for his 81st birthday. I expect that he would be thoroughly delighted! And that one day the wine world will be especially grateful to you for photographing their products.

[Loose Canon]

Mike? Did you change the photograph with your thread edit? Or am I just losing it (if I ever had it to begin with!)

I'm liking the introduction of color to the environment. And I like that it is a color from (or close to) the bottle.

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, Terry! I changed only the text, not the photo.

Notice the rear label. It's about 1 1/2" narrower than the front label but the liquid makes it look the same width. The front and rear labels are the same height, so at this angle the rear label appears slightly above the front label. I thought that was a nice touch that helps display the bottle in three dimensions.

Thanks also to Christina!

I'm curious as to what those to small lines are that begin under the foil top and lead to the surface level of the wine.

I have no idea. I examined that area of the bottle with my eyeballs about two inches away from the bottle and can't tell. It's either moisture on the side of the wine bottle or something about the bottle itself. I examined that area twice about four hours apart. If it's moisture, it's clinging to the side of the bottle for a very long time.

[Donald]

Exce;;ent. Great idea that has been well conceived, set up and executed. Can't ask for much more, really.

[deetheturk]

Super image Mike!

[ChrisH]

Great composition well executed. You could sell this as an advert.

[Rob Ekins]

Mike,

I have looked at this image on three monitors today (Just to make sure I wasn't seeing things or more importantly not seeing things) And have come to the conclusion that the varying heights of the high lights between the label and the cap give the body of the bottle a twisted distorted appearance.

Robbie.

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you, everyone!

Can't ask for much more, really.

Sure we can. We can ask to open the bottle and drink the wine.

the varying heights of the high lights between the label and the cap give the body of the bottle a twisted distorted appearance.

Thanks, Robbie. I don't get the impression of distortion but I've got a related issue to consider. I'll get back to you after I review some details.

[Mike Buckley]

I promised in my first post to provide a little more information about Mike Grgich's importance to the wine industry.

Malolactic fermentation is widely used throughout the world to make wine and Grgich was one of the very first winemakers to begin experimenting with it and improving it. This happened long before the famous wine regions throughout other parts of the world began using it.

Grgich noticed the strong similarity between Zinfandel vines and Plavac Mali vines, the most prevalent red wine grape in his home country of Croatia. Grgich persuaded the University of California, Davis to pursue the possibility that Zinfandel and Plavac Mali were actually the same grape. After a rather long, convoluted story involving improved DNA testing techniques and detective-like work that finally found nine vines of Crljenak Kaštelanski among thousands of other vines, it was determined that Plavac Mali is one of the parents of Zinfandel and was proof that Zinfandel's direct origins are in Croatia. (Later work apparently unrelated to Grgich has documented that the Tribidrag grape is the same as Zinfandel and has been growing in Croatia since the 15 century. This was documented when one 90-year-old vine was discovered in an elderly woman's garden in Split, Croatia.)

Grgich has been operating a winery in Croatia near Dubrovnik about 15 years. One of the two wines he makes is Plavac Mali, which is sold all over Croatia.

I actually have a rather strange, coincidental connection with Mike Grgich that goes beyond our shared first name. Until about three years ago, I had visited only four wineries. That was when my wife and I visited Christian Brothers winery (now a branch of the Culinary Institute of America), Beaulieu Vineyard, and Robert Mondavi Winery more than 30 years ago while in Napa Valley on our honeymoon. I never heard of Mike Grgich until a couple decades later. Grgich worked for four wineries before becoming a limited partner at Monteau Chatelena and the last three of them were those three that we visited. Very strange!

[Mike Buckley]

Robbie mentioned that the highlights on the bottle between the label and foil caused the bottle to appear twisted and distorted. I still don't see that but his thoughts did bring my attention to related aspects of a mask that I had intentionally applied to achieve the results in the first image. Upon reviewing that mask closely while considering his helpful critique, I changed my mind by deciding that I didn't like the results. So, I changed the mask to produce the revision shown below. If the new version also solves Robbie's issues for him, so much the better!

[Brownbear]

Just to say that I prefer the original as those highlights around the bottle were very pretty and gave the image a sense of motion, not that wine bottles dance or anything like that. Perhaps that is just a quirk of my personal preferences.

[Wavelength]

Excellent; do you have statutory warning on liquor bottles?

[cliffmccartney]

Mike,

What I love most about this shot is that it is simple but compelling. On the one hand, "it's just a bottle," but on the other much more important hand, I "leaned in" pretty quickly to see all the incredible detail. I also love the lighting. My eye goes straight to the label and then moves up the bottle from there. I'm having a hard time finding anything I'd change. I guess I might try to lighten up the far left side of the bottle a bit, but that is a real nit. Great image!

Cliff

[Mike Buckley]

The following warnings are on all wine bottles sold in America:

"Government Warning: (1) According to the surgeon general, women should not drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy because of the risk of birth defects. (2) Consumption of alcoholic beverages impairs your ability to drive a car or operate machinery, and may cause health problems."

"contains sulfites"

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you, Cliff!

My reasoning about the rather dark shadow on the left side of the bottle is that to use a brighter shadow would be inconsistent for me with the strength of the shadow on the tabletop.

[cliffmccartney]

I see your reasoning and I agree. Like I said - a nit.

[Mike Buckley]

not that wine bottles dance

The wine inside the bottle makes my tongue dance.

[Brownbear]

Funny guy...

The wine inside the bottle makes my tongue dance.