Salamandre Wine Cellars, 1998-2005 from the Web Winery archive
Salamandre Wine Cellars was on the original Web Winery from December 1998 until the winter of 2004-2005, and its pages kept newsletters going back to 1996. Most of what it published was Wells Shoemaker's own writing: seasonal newsletters that mixed backpacking stories with harvest news and new releases, essays on the vineyards the winery bought from, and a photo gallery of "great places to drink Salamandre". Several of the vineyards it describes, such as Arroyo Seco and Los Lobos, are in Monterey County, not the Santa Cruz Mountains. 48 entries, from September 1996 to November 2004, each with a link to the original page on the Wayback Machine.
1996
Newsletter
Fall 1996 newsletter: crush on a broken ankle
Wells Shoemaker's fall 1996 newsletter told how a falling boulder crushed his ankle on a backpacking trip in Idaho's Sawtooth Wilderness, and how the 1996 harvest began with him in a cast. He reported that the Merlot and Syrah looked promising.
Any wine will do for these special occasions, but there's no sense hoarding the best for "later."
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
1997
Newsletter
Summer 1997 newsletter: omens from the sky
The summer 1997 newsletter, written as El Niño built, recounted the winemaker's year of outdoor trips (Oahu, the Panamint Range above Death Valley, the Lost Coast and the Trinity Alps) and predicted a good thirteenth harvest.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Newsletter
Fall 1997 newsletter: Bacchus and bubble wrap
The fall 1997 newsletter was a comic fable about how wine was first discovered, eight thousand years ago, when two boys trampled a basket of wild grapes. It ended by inviting readers to the fall open houses.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
1998
Winemaker
Wells Shoemaker, pediatrician and winemaker
In his own words, Wells Shoemaker described how six months in Italy at 19 drew him to family winemaking, how his career as a pediatrician shaped his habits in the cellar, and his writing on wine and health.
I tend to judge doctor winemakers by the color of their hands in October.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Winery page
About Salamandre Wine Cellars
The winery's home page, archived in 1998, described a small family winery in a redwood canyon near Aptos, opened in 1985, focused on Chardonnay from the Santa Cruz Mountains and Arroyo Seco and increasingly on red wines, made by Wells Shoemaker and Dave South.
We also find that the wines we stash in our backpacks are invariably red.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Winery page
The Arroyo Seco Vineyard (early profile)
A short 1998 page described the Arroyo Seco Vineyard in a Monterey County canyon fed by the Ventana Wilderness, its gravelly soil and afternoon winds, the character of its Chardonnay, and vineyardist Terrel West's custom work on Salamandre's rows.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Winery page
The Matteson Vineyard Chardonnay
This 1998 page profiled Mike Matteson's hillside vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains behind Corralitos and explained how Salamandre made its Matteson Chardonnay entirely by hand, from early-morning bucket picking and basket pressing to barrel fermentation and weekly lees stirring.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Winery page
Why a salamander on the label
The winery explained its salamander emblem: Aptos is the last refuge of the Santa Cruz long-toed salamander, the creature appeared on the arms of France's Francis I, and salamanders lived in the cellar, which Shoemaker dug by hand to protect them.
Remember, one must be gentle with newts
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
1999
Photographs
Shasta, the winery dog
A photo page introduced Shasta, Salamandre's official greeter.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Newsletter
Spring 1999 newsletter: where tradition came from
The spring 1999 newsletter traced traditional French Chardonnay methods (60-gallon oak barrels, lees aging, natural malolactic fermentation) to the practical limits of 19th-century cellars, and explained that Salamandre still barrel-fermented and hand-tended its Chardonnay for similar reasons.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Newsletter
Fall 1999 newsletter: anniversaries and the 1999 crush
The fall 1999 newsletter recalled opening long-saved wines with neighbours after the 1982 floods and the 1989 earthquake, and reported that the first 1999 grapes were crushed on October 17, the earthquake's tenth anniversary, marked with the 1989 Temblor.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
2000
Newsletter
Spring 2000 newsletter: Primitivo in the desert
The spring 2000 newsletter described a two-week solo walk in the Amargosa Range east of Death Valley with a barrel sample of the 1998 Primitivo, announced the March 18–19 open house, and floated the idea of a wine club.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Newsletter
Spring 2000 newsletter with new releases
Full version of the spring 2000 newsletter: the Death Valley Primitivo story, the March 18–19, 2000 open house, notes on the 1998 Primitivo and the 1997 Merlot, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Syrah, and a reader survey about a proposed wine club.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Photographs
Great places to drink Salamandre (photo gallery)
A photo index of places where Wells and Sandie Shoemaker had taken the winery's wines, including the Andes, Big Sur, Costa Rica, Death Valley, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Greece, Hawaii, Idaho, Montalcino, the Lost Coast, the Solomon Islands, the Trinity Alps and Utah.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Letter
The winery's view on moderation
A brief statement in which the winery endorsed moderation in drinking and diet, urged scientific skepticism toward both health scares and overblown health claims, and joked that some pursuits are not worth doing moderately.
There are several personal endeavors, however, in which moderation is just too deadly boring.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Newsletter
Winter 2000 newsletter: the sixteenth harvest
The winter 2000 newsletter opened with a rhyme, announced holiday open houses on November 18–19 and December 3 and 10, and described the 2000 harvest, Salamandre's sixteenth, with a tribute to the Arroyo Seco vineyard crews and a Syrah crushed under a full moon.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Newsletter
Winter 2000 newsletter with new releases
Full version of the winter 2000 newsletter: the sixteenth-harvest essay and holiday open-house dates, plus notes on the 1998 Chardonnay, Syrah, Primitivo, Merlot and Pinot Noir, the Pinot possibly the last from the vineyard Mike Matteson planted about 20 years earlier.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
2001
Event
Invitational tastings notice
A one-line page inviting readers to the next Salamandre Invitational Tasting; no dates survive in the archived copy.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Newsletter
Spring 2001 newsletter: wine for a bear market
The spring 2001 newsletter joked about the stock market's turn from bull to bear with a mock "Bear Essentials" menu, and invited readers to spring open houses on April 21 and May 13, 2001, with red wine specials.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Newsletter
Winter 2001 newsletter: marathon, mountains and a bear
The winter 2001 newsletter told of running a marathon with daughter Aimee and a Trinity Alps trip where a bear wandered into camp, listed December 2001 and January 2002 open houses, and described the 1999 Primitivo, 1998 Ménage à Trois and other 1998 releases.
we rank our wines according to how far we're willing to carry them on our backs.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
2002
Winery page
Wells Shoemaker on the Los Lobos Vineyard
The winemaker described the Los Lobos Vineyard on a warm bench near San Ardo in southern Monterey County, planted in the early 1990s for Syrah, and the experimental Primitivo there that supplied Salamandre's Syrah and Primitivo from 1996.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Letter
A note on shipping wine across state lines
Wells Shoemaker criticised the post-Prohibition rules limiting interstate wine shipping and listed the states then reachable through reciprocal agreements with California: Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Photographs
Great places to drink Salamandre: Trinity Alps
A gallery page of photos by Wells and Sandie Shoemaker from the Trinity Alps.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Winemaker
Snow Mountain trip, May 2002
Wells Shoemaker's account of a May 2002 backpacking weekend in the Snow Mountain Wilderness with friends Robin and Joel and dog Shasta: five planets lined up, golden eagles flew over the summit, and a late ice storm hit their camp.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Winemaker
Wells Shoemaker on the Rhône connection
Written in May 2002, this essay acknowledged the California Rhône trend behind Salamandre's Syrah (made since 1996) and its Ménage à Trois blend, and told how daughter Aimee helped harvest grapes near the Rhône's source in Sion, Switzerland, in 1993.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Winemaker
Wells Shoemaker on Primitivo and Zinfandel
The winemaker summarised the search for Zinfandel's origins, from Italy's Primitivo to vines in Croatia, and traced Salamandre's Primitivo from its first 1996 vintage off young southern Monterey County vines to the gold-medal 1998 and the dark 1999.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Winery page
Arroyo Seco: the vineyard and its people
A long essay by Wells Shoemaker on the Arroyo Seco Vineyard in Monterey County: its geology and afternoon wind, pioneers Terrel West and Doug Meador, manager Roger Moitoso and foreman Serafin Guzman, and its Chardonnay, Merlot and new Dijon-clone Pinot Noir.
I don't think Roger cuts his nails. He prunes them.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Event
Invitational tastings notice
A brief page, captured in late 2002, inviting readers to the winery's next Salamandre Invitational Tasting; no dates or wines survive in the archived text.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Newsletter
Winter 2002 newsletter: rattler tales
The winter 2002 newsletter told of a July trip to the Trinity Alps that ended with a friend's close call with a rattlesnake, offered a holiday rhyme, and introduced the 2000 releases: Ménage à Trois, Primitivo, Chardonnay, Merlot, Syrah and the first Pinot Noir from the Dijon-clone planting at Arroyo Seco.
Enjoy your wine tonight, because you never know what's going to bite you tomorrow.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Event
Eureka Solstice, December 2002
A short prose piece by Wells Shoemaker, dated the winter solstice of 2002, about escaping a stormy, anxious December for the dunes of the Eureka Valley in Death Valley with a bottle of Primitivo.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
2003
Newsletter
Mount Lassen photos
A photo page from 2003 with pictures by Wells and Sandie Shoemaker of a trip to Mount Lassen.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Photographs
Great places to drink Salamandre: California
Part of the winery's photo gallery of places where Wells and Sandie Shoemaker had opened their wines, here around California, from Aptos and Big Sur to Mono Lake and Joshua Tree.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Photographs
Great places to drink Salamandre: Costa Rica
A gallery page of photos by Wells and Sandie Shoemaker from Costa Rica.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Photographs
Great places to drink Salamandre: Death Valley
A gallery page of photos by Wells and Sandie Shoemaker from Death Valley.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Photographs
Great places to drink Salamandre: France
A gallery page of photos by Wells and Sandie Shoemaker from France.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Photographs
Great places to drink Salamandre: Athens and Patmos
A gallery page of photos by Wells and Sandie Shoemaker from Athens and Patmos, Greece.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Photographs
Great places to drink Salamandre: Rome and Siena
A gallery page of photos by Wells and Sandie Shoemaker from Rome and Siena, Italy.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Photographs
Trona, a desert night drive
A prose sketch by Wells Shoemaker of driving at night through the mining town of Trona and on toward the Panamint Range.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Photographs
Great places to drink Salamandre: Hawaii
A gallery page of photos by Wells and Sandie Shoemaker from Hawaii.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Photographs
Great places to drink Salamandre: Solomon Islands
A gallery page of photos by Wells and Sandie Shoemaker from the Solomon Islands.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Photographs
Great places to drink Salamandre: Utah
A gallery page of photos by Wells and Sandie Shoemaker from Utah.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Newsletter
Spring 2003 newsletter: a salamander on Yap
The spring 2003 newsletter told of a kayak trip in Micronesia's Ulithi Lagoon with Don Foster, where the winery T-shirt drew laughs, and introduced the 2001 Dijon-clone Pinot Noir and 2001 Chardonnay alongside current 2000 releases.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Newsletter
Fall 2003 newsletter: Sauvignon Blanc returns
The fall 2003 newsletter described an early-summer Trinity Alps trip with a daughter, announced invitational tastings on September 6–7, 2003, and introduced 2002 releases including a revived Musqué-clone Sauvignon Blanc from Ventana Vineyard, a Merlot and a Syrah.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
2004
Newsletter
Spring 2004 newsletter: Capitol Reef and Alexandra Brut
The spring 2004 newsletter recounted an October backpacking trip in Utah's Capitol Reef with four friends, announced invitational tastings on April 3 and 17, 2004, and debuted the 1996 Alexandra sparkling brut and the 2002 Don Carlos Red.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Newsletter
Summer 2004 newsletter: Death Valley at the equinox
The summer 2004 newsletter told of a March 2004 equinox camping trip north of Death Valley with emeritus biophysics professor Evan Evans and his sons-in-law, and announced a July 31 tasting of new 2001 and 2002 reds and the last 1996 Alexandra.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Newsletter
Fall 2004 newsletter: Best of Show Pinot Noir
The fall 2004 newsletter announced that the 2002 Arroyo Seco Dijon-clone Pinot Noir won Double Gold and Best Wine of Show at the 2004 Santa Cruz Mountains Wine Competition, traced that planting's vintages since 2000, and listed six silver medals.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Newsletter
What's new, late 2004: anniversary tastings and recipes
The site's late-2004 What's New page announced twentieth-anniversary tastings on four Saturdays from November 20 to December 11, a December 8 winemaker evening at Shadowbrook in Capitola, and introduced the winemaker's gourmet backpacking recipes with nine cooking principles.
Just because you're sleeping on the ground doesn't mean you shouldn't eat like a caliph.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy
Newsletter
Winter 2004–05 newsletter: the twentieth harvest
The winter 2004–05 newsletter described Salamandre's early twentieth harvest, new Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noir sources, a first Bordeaux-style blend from the Wiley Ranch nicknamed the Coyote Cuvée, and holiday tasting dates, and noted the winery had no public tasting room.
I think the term "Meritage" is a stuffy contrivance.
Original page: Wayback Machine copy