Author: David B. Williams

I was quite honored to be interviewed recently by the book editor of the Seattle Times, Mary Ann Gwinn. Today is the day that the interview appeared in the news. My favorite question was the one about cairns of tragedy. It let me focus on the cairn that honors the death site of Robert Falcon Scott, Edward Wilson, and Henry Bowers, who along with Lawrence Oates and Edgar Evans died on their doomed goal of reaching the South Pole. The other famous cairn of tragedy is the one found on King William Island and which contained the only written evidence ever found from the Franklin Expedition of 1845.

 

Wine and geology are two things that go together like peanut butter and jelly. So today I am featuring the label from a vineyard in Napa Valley. The Rock Cairn vineyard was named for cairns built by Native people on the property. Unfortunately, I have not had the pleasure to taste the wine, a 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon. The vineyard has just harvested a 2012 Cabernet. Perhaps I’ll have a chance to try that one. If anyone had tasted these wines and has a thought about it, please let me know.