Le Cuvier

PROFILE OF A WINERY
By Bangkok Bob

[Article reprinted from the Pattaya Gazette, March 18, 2000]

Le Cuvier (variously translates from the French as the “little barrel room” or less appropriately, the “little laundry”) lies a few miles inland from the Pacific Ocean on California’s Central Coast. The winery was founded in 1981 by co-owner/winemaker John Munch, but the Le Cuvier brand itself was not established until some years later. Originally, the winery bottled its wines under the brand name “Adelaida Cellars.”

Under the guise of Adelaida Cellars, the winery remained a proprietorship owned & operated by Munch until 1990, when he joined into a partnership with the current owners of Adelaida Cellars. At that time, a certain amount of the existing wines were held back by Munch & bottled using his parallel Le Cuvier label. The first Le Cuvier wines were a Cabernet Sauvignon & a Syrah (the latter from the famed Hard Nose Vineyard owned by Munch), both from the 1988 vintage. Subsequent to 1988, very small amounts (under 2,000 combined cases yearly) of Le Cuvier wines have been made. Claiming that a profound epiphany provoked his move, Munch ended his Adelaida Cellars partnership in early 1999 to (as cliché goes) focus his attention on Le Cuvier. A new Le Cuvier winery was almost built in time for the 1999 harvest in the high hills west of Paso Robles.

Enter Mary Fox, Doctor of Organizational Psychology – while researching the possibility of investing in vineyard property on California’s Central Coast, Dr. Fox serendipitously engaged Munch as consultant for her project in early 2000. She soon became entrapped by the glamour & deeply refined complexity of the Le Cuvier operation, & shortly thereafter joined with Munch as an equal partner in the winery. In addition to her considerable professional skills, Dr. Fox also brought much needed cash to the partnership. She appears to have found a life project in her new association where she now applies all of her energies in an attempt at creating organizational order.

WINE PRODUCTION – Le Cuvier appears to have embarked upon a program of downsizing, & the principals have both stated unequivocally that wine production will never exceed 2,500 cases per year. This writer observed that the winery’s capacity is well beyond the self-imposed case limitation, & there is clearly enough available space to produce something in the excess of 15,000 cases per year. One suspects that an unreasonably protracted barrel aging program, together with the winemaker’s phlegmatic disposition, is the main factor limiting production.

LABEL ART – original work by famed English artist, John Whittaker, depicts a pink snail traveling slowly, left to right, as viewed through a triangle-shaped keyhole in a door rather psychedelic in aspect.

“Click” to enlarge

WINES BEING MADE – all kinds of wines are being made.

WINEMAKING – the winemaker lays claim to a special relationship with micro-organisms, & apparently believes that so-called “wild” yeast represent a multi-cellular global community of an interlinked, intelligent life form. Use of commercial strains of yeast is eschewed because, according to the winemaker, this would be tantamount to use of slave labor, & of consequence represents a despicable practice. Conversely, the peculiar winemaking process at Le Cuvier is stated to be a voluntary collaboration between the winemaker (or “wine herd” as he terms himself) & a wiling & excited spiritual community of indigenous yeast. Sundry other creatures, the latter of which are often described, erroneously he believes, as "pathogens" by the oenology professionals, also take part & pleasure in grape conversion. In practice, very little effort of any kind appears to be expended in the process.

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY – Le Cuvier is an ecologically responsible winery & vigorously supports Bat Conservation International (“BCI”), though it is not clear whether or not that organization appreciates the association. Nonetheless, the winery requests that readers of this review contact BCI at www.batcon.org & enthusiastically encourages everyone to join the international Chiroptetic movement in support of bats & other flying mammals. Construction of a municipal bat house is planned at the property in the near future.

CURRENT AVAILABLE WINES – everything in bottle, & I suspect everything in barrel as well. [click Unbiased Descriptions for windy-words & details]

SALES –Le Cuvier wines are sadly not available for sale in Thailand, nor almost anywhere else
outside of Paso Robles and environs, since we have become ‘members only’ and sell almost all of our wine to the esteemed members of our wine club, the Elliptical Society.  However, we sometimes open membership for a time in February and then again in October, so please contact club@lcwine.com for current information on joining.

A NOTE ON THE AUTHOR OF THIS REVIEW: Robert Fallon (AKA “Bangkok Bob”) was born in Detroit, Michigan, moving in his early youth to California where he has lived for many years along the Big Sur coast. In addition to being correspondent-at-large for the Pattaya Gazette in Thailand, he spends his productive time writing sensitive poetry & creating engrossed sculptings of heavy metal. He is currently on extended stay in Bangkok researching material for his forthcoming travel guide: A Concise Guide to the Flesh Pots of Thailand.