For the record, it’s not our goal to engage in social commentary, at least of the serious variety. So you can make all the gags you want about people whose motorsport involves both left and right turns preferring fermented grapes to beer. True story: I was under the grandstands at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse one time, looking at the concession offerings for Super DIRT Week. One of the stands offered frozen upstate New York wine – a rose blush, as I recall – molded into a adult popsicle. Perhaps fittingly, given that the race was for Modifieds on a dirt mile, the frozen wine concession wasn’t open. Just saying. Other places, other things: Just now, the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association, an organization that warmly embraces racing cars of the past, has selected Adobe Road wines as the The Official Wine of SVRA, effectively immediately.
This ain’t no exercise for dilettantes, we’ll have you know. That’s because the owner and founder of Adobe Road Winery in Sonoma County, California, is Kevin Buckler, who happens to be a real race driver, not just a vintner (winemaker? winesmith?). Buckler is also founder of The Racers Group, motivating in a series of trick Porsche 911 GT3 cars, and winning the Rolex 24 up the street at Daytona International Speedway back in 2003. Since its founding, Adobe Road Winery has produced more than 90 handcrafted wines that have been peer-reviewed in influential industry publications such as Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate. Very impressive, especially for those among us who grew up with an affinity for wines that came in screw-cap bottles and are now broadening our horizons.
Jim Donnelly On Wheels 