Vineyard Dogs: Friend or Fertilizer ?

Dogue De Bordeaux

Call me animal-centric, but at some point during the Westminster Dog Show earlier this week, I experienced one of those introspective mindscapes that tend to lead me away from reality. I envisioned an Orwellian world teeming with anthropomorphic creatures ambling through sun-lit greenery, where on inland hills, patchworks of vine plantations were suffused. Dogs, sheep, pigs, horses and cats were picking, sorting and processing cartloads of purple, ovoid fruit in the most imitable way. I recalled that one of the hogs preferred “demi-muids,” as opposed to barrels that held more of an anatomical, if not baleful, significance to him. Ok, give me a break, it was 11p.m. and I was funneling raw cacao into my system to remain focused. It turns out that “Hickory,” a 5-year-old Scottish Deerhound had just won “Best In Show” and I was reeling from a sleep-deprived, chocolate-induced epiphany: “Dogs will someday hold dominion over the earth and claim winemaking as their own.”

Perhaps it will take some time for them to make paw prints, but one can see why every vineyard has a dog. Their capacity runs pretty deep in places where lush, bucolic settings imply something wild, or which simply reveal to us, a world teeming with ecology and animism. Innumerable animals scamper through vine lots    everyday, but dogs appear to be the most pervasive. So much indeed, that a photographic show of these well

2007 Ella's Blend

beloved creatures appear in books like “Winery Dogs,” which provide readers with a profile of the influential canines in Napa and Sonoma Valley. Names like Kendall Jackson, Vincent Arroyo and Darioush all seem to show their interest in animals earnestly poking out their tongues, or sleeping on wet grass.  

Granted, a playful companion adds dimension, but what pertinent ideal allows any dog in question, to be the secondary element behind fantastic juice ? I doubt that we will see nuances of Bichon Frise and Rottweiler in a glass of Burgundy or Riesling anytime soon, but I  know there are dogs who act as the tribunals behind great wine. Bruce Wayne Winery named its fantastic Bordeaux style entry: “Ella’s Blend” after their Alaskan Malamute, whereas, Warwick Valley in upstate New York, owes the success of its “Baco Noir” Port to their imposing Great Dane, “Winston.” Personally, I wouldn’t mind sharing a steak with Ella, or mulling over the past with a giant dog while holding an aperitif in my hand.

Warwick Port

Far as I see, our four-legged compatriots sometimes help us eschew human constraints such as money and fame, but I begin to wonder about the cats that chase the field mice, or rather, the orangutan who so famously helped pick grapes for a cause much more philanthropic than his own. I do love dogs, but they seem to be marking their territory too much in part with vintners who haven’t quite decided what “woof !” means in their tasting notes.

I always wanted a Dogue De Bordeaux, but I intermittently wonder if he would be homesick in my apartment. 







Cheers !

-Brian Maniotis

Westchester Wine Warehouse Team

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