Held The Bible, Lost The Mountain
TASTING NOTES: “Medium-bodied and approachable with juicy red fruit flavors, a well-defined structure, and a smooth, silky mouthfeel.” (AbV 12.5%)
VARIETALS: Pinot Noir
BARRELS: Not specified.
PAIRS WITH: Poached or grilled salmon; Mushroom risotto; Charcuterie and cured meats; Duck or roasted chicken
THAT REMINDS ME OF: Mount Fitz Roy — the peak this wine is named after, straddling the border of Chile and Argentina in Patagonia.
Robert FitzRoy, the man the mountain is named after, captained the HMS Beagle on the famous voyage that gave Charles Darwin the raw material for On the Origin of Species. Which is a genuinely wild thing to have on your résumé: “Inadvertently enabled the most consequential scientific theory of the 19th century. Also: excellent sailor.” FitzRoy’s original job on that trip wasn’t even to do science — he was there to survey the South American coastline and, separately, to have a gentleman companion at the captain’s table, because long voyages got lonely and officers didn’t fraternize with the crew. Darwin was essentially hired as a dinner guest who turned out to be good at beetles.
FitzRoy himself did not take the resulting theory well. He became a vocal critic of evolution and allegedly showed up to the 1860 Oxford debate — the one where Thomas Huxley famously dismantled Bishop Wilberforce — holding a Bible aloft and begging the audience to trust the Book over the man. It’s the kind of detail that makes history feel almost too on the nose. The guy who gave Darwin the Beagle voyage, the data, and the years of uninterrupted thinking time, then spent the rest of his life publicly opposed to the conclusions. History has a real sense of humor about these things. The mountain, at least, kept his name.
ICYMI, you have two choices:
- Worried Summer heat might get to your wine before your wine gets to you? Order from the sale linked here, and we’ll get it to you at a cooler time of year!
- Want it shipped now? Every package during the summer will have protected temp control ground shipping for much of the country that takes longer but will ensure safe delivery. Expect up to two weeks for delivery. Now through the September 12th offer.
