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Look back to the future.

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Big Event: The Wine Institute (WI) hosted a grand shebang at the elegant old Palace Hotel in San Francisco (where we used to hold all our meetings) to celebrate 75 years of Repeal. Surprisingly, many old timers attended (including your writer and his old-time buddy, Bob Rossi). Sadly, most of the giants of our industry could not make it, such as Ernest Gallo, Bob Mondavi, Bro. Tim, etc., but we who were there had a great time reminiscing. Thank you, Mr. De Luca and WI.

The May, 1934 issue of the California Grape Grower (now Wines & Vines) is the Special Sherry Number. The industry by this time had reluctantly concluded that the American taste in the immediate, post-Repeal era, definitely preferred our dessert wines. And so we promoted them.

The cover of this issue has a fine, black and white picture of a large vineyard. I think it may be the Guasti vineyard, which now lies under the tarmac of the Ontario airport in Southern California. Appropriately, the picture shows the Palomino and Pedro Jimenes grapes that we so desired in the making of premium sherries.

E.M. Sheehan writes a solid article on the method used in California to produce sherry.

"Have You Tasted Sher-po?" It "is a new wine beverage evolved by Colonial Grape Products Company and is a combination of Sherry and Port." Wow! And Ugh! But we were trying.

"Wine Awards at the State Fair. For the first time in 14 years, the State Agricultural Society will offer rewards for the choicest (n.b., editor Stoll must have liked the word 'choice'--he used it at least five times in this issue alone) California wines" and brandies. The fair judgings lasted how many years? Forty?

"Wines of High Alcohol Content by Fermentation," by W.V. Cruess of the fruit products laboratory, University of California. Because there was a tax on the brandy used to fortify the port, sherry and Angelica that had become so popular, great interest was shown, at least by my family, in the use of fermentation to achieve 20% sweet wines. Nothing...