The Kosher Vigneron of Four Gates, part #1

The morning after the nettle pizza and face-lifted 1964 Faustino @ Chez Panisse cafe, with importers/distributors and friends, Jose Pastor, Keven Clancy (I've decided everyone in California is named Kevin) and his wife Gillian, Jose and I traveled to Santa Cruz on a mission--this county's and perhaps the worlds only frum kosher vigneron. I keep on thinking of that head winemaker of Moet Chandon I squared off with (not pretty) three years ago. He told me he wanted to be a winemaker because of the lifestyle. That is what the wine world has been reduced to. Lifestyle. And not because someone wants to be linked to the seasons and the land, but the dinners and the travel and the marketing and the richness, especially if you've landed at MH. Like, you think I wanted to be a writer because of the extravagant lifestyle? Likewise, even though he started this whole adventure just because he wanted to make his own kiddush wine, lifestyle was the last thing Benyamin Cantz had in mind when he ended up with Four Gates Winery and certified organic vineyards. His first commercial vintage was 1997. Jose drove up a petite mountain and hooked off the main...