WTN: Curious...George...(short/boring)

Tried these two wines from George over the long weekend:
1. HendryVnyd Albarino HendryVnyd/NapaVlly (13.5%; Block 9B; SS Fermentation; www.HendryWines.com) 2010: Light gold color; rather stony/mineral light floral/fragrant/appley/apple blossom spicy/perfumed talc attractive nose; quite tart/lean/austere totally dry some stony/mineral light floral/apple/apple blossom bit tight/austere flavor; long bit steely/metallic/stony/mineral light apple blossom/floral high acid finish; nice food wine; varietally correct in an austere/stony style. $28.00
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2. HendryVnyd Primitivo HendryVnyd/NapaVlly (15.2%; Block 24; Planted in 1997; Clone 3; 15 mo.in Fr.oak; 1/3'rd new) 2007: Very dark color; strong earthy/blackberry/Zin/DrPepper light toasty/pencilly/oak somewhat spicy attractive nose; fairly tart rather tannic/structured strong earthy/blackberry/Zin/DrPepper some toasty/Fr.oak flavor; long rather tannic/hard/structured blackberry/Zin/DrPepper/earthy some toasty/oak finish; a bit lacking in charm and needs another 2-5 yrs to develop. $32.00
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A wee BloodyPulpit:
1. Last week, in the NYTimes Obits, I saw one for GeorgeHendry. I immediately thought...ohhh...noooo. Turns out, 'twas another GeorgeHenndry. Whew!!
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2. George is a very interesting guy. I really must visit his vnyd sometime and talk shop with him. He was the designer of the Bevatron at the UC/Berkeley Radiation Lab, there on the Berkeley campus. The first proton cyclotron to reach 1 BeV in energy. Back in the '50's as I recall. Back when I was a snot-nosed teenager and just getting excited about neutron & such things. And had the (unrequited) hots for SusanDavis. The Bevatron has long been shut down there at Berkeley...occupying primo real-estate on the campus. I recall that it can't be demolished because there is low-level radiation in the concrete shielding in the bldg...and Berkeley...being a nuclear-free zone..won't permit it to be hauled away on their streets. If Berkeley is really to be truly a nuclear-free zone, they oughta do something about those dangerous cosmic rays zapping all the Berkeley citizens. And all those lethal alpha particles zapping out of the concrete blocks there in the city. Methinks Berkeley is only half-a$$ed nuclear-free. But, anyway, there the Bevatron sits.
George still keeps his finger in the pot. He builds small accelerators in his barn for medical purposes. Probably illegal as hell and against all sorts of zoning regs.
I really should visit George & his vnyd some day. I'm curious.
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3. Primitivo: George is one of the few opportunities to taste Zin & Primitivo grown side-by-side and compare the differences. The vnyd owners I've talked w/ think Primitivo is superior to Zin out in the vnyd. The vines certainly look different. I find that Primitivo doesn't show the bright/zippy/raspberry character you find more frequently in Zin..it seems to have more bass notes in its song.
Tom

Tried these two wines from George over the long weekend:

2. George is a very interesting guy. I really must visit his vnyd sometime and talk shop with him. He was the designer of the Bevatron at the UC/Berkeley Radiation Lab, there on the Berkeley campus. The first proton cyclotron to reach 1 BeV in energy. Back in the '50's as I recall. Back when I was a snot-nosed teenager and just getting excited about neutron & such things. And had the (unrequited) hots for SusanDavis. The Bevatron has long been shut down there at Berkeley...occupying primo real-estate on the campus. I recall that it can't be demolished because there is low-level radiation in the concrete shielding in the bldg...and Berkeley...being a nuclear-free zone..won't permit it to be hauled away on their streets. If Berkeley is really to be truly a nuclear-free zone, they oughta do something about those dangerous cosmic rays zapping all the Berkeley citizens. And all those lethal alpha particles zapping out of the concrete blocks there in the city. Methinks Berkeley is only half-a$$ed nuclear-free. But, anyway, there the Bevatron sits.

Tom,
Thanks for this info. I had no idea of the connection of George Hendry to the Bevatron. One small point: the Bevatron sits not on the Berkeley campus but in Bldg 51 of Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory set higher up on the hill. The whole sad story of its planned demise can be found here. I agree about the whole "Nuclear Free" agenda: what are they going to do about the residual gamma decay of concrete, I wonder? And then there's the preserved cupola of the old Chemistry building still present on campus that sets Geiger counters a-flutterin' wildly thanks to the Manhattan project.

Mark Lipton
(whose summertime employment in Bldg 50B in '76 played no small part in his decision to become a scientist)

Tried these two wines from George over the long weekend:

2. George is a very interesting guy. I really must visit his vnyd sometime and talk shop with him. He was the designer of the Bevatron at the UC/Berkeley Radiation Lab, there on the Berkeley campus. The first proton cyclotron to reach 1 BeV in energy. Back in the '50's as I recall. Back when I was a snot-nosed teenager and just getting excited about neutron & such things. And had the (unrequited) hots for SusanDavis. The Bevatron has long been shut down there at Berkeley...occupying primo real-estate on the campus. I recall that it can't be demolished because there is low-level radiation in the concrete shielding in the bldg...and Berkeley...being a nuclear-free zone..won't permit it to be hauled away on their streets. If Berkeley is really to be truly a nuclear-free zone, they oughta do something about those dangerous cosmic rays zapping all the Berkeley citizens. And all those lethal alpha particles zapping out of the concrete blocks there in the city. Methinks Berkeley is only half-a$$ed nuclear-free. But, anyway, there the Bevatron sits.

Tom,
Thanks for this info. I had no idea of the connection of George Hendry to the Bevatron. One small point: the Bevatron sits not on the Berkeley campus but in Bldg 51 of Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory set higher up on the hill. The whole sad story of its planned demise can be found here. I agree about the whole "Nuclear Free" agenda: what are they going to do about the residual gamma decay of concrete, I wonder? And then there's the preserved cupola of the old Chemistry building still present on campus that sets Geiger counters a-flutterin' wildly thanks to the Manhattan project.

Mark Lipton
(whose summertime employment in Bldg 50B in '76 played no small part in his decision to become a scientist)

Thanks for the insider info, Mark. My recollect was from reading a SFChron article several yrs ago. It sounds as if they're able to proceed w/ the bldg demolition.
I think the radiation in there is probably pretty low level. I didn't know that LBL still had real estate up there above the campus. Whatever, is primo real estate.
Tom