If Tucson had nothing more to offer than its twilights and sunsets, it would be reason enough to visit.  In fact, when you visit the city most residents heartily recommend you get to the outskirts if you seek the true western spirit of the place, starting with Sentinel Peak, a natural landmark whose Mission Garden traces Tucson’s four millennia history of agriculture.
    Alternately there’s the Juan Baustista de Anza National Historic Trail, which runs for 1,210  miles, based on the route the Spanish commander de Anza took 200 colonists from Mexico all the way to San Francisco Bay.
    I didn’t have the time for any such treks on my last visit to Tucson, so I stayed close to downtown, which has more than enough historic and culinary attractions to occupy several days in the area. The four-mile Sun Link Tucson Streetcar connects all six downtown districts, making a casual off-and-on visit easy.
    Tucson was established as a Spanish military fort in 1775, sadly appropriated from the Native Americans who had lived there for millennia. The current day Presidio San Agustín del Tucson Museum has a reconstruction of the original Presidio, showing what life was like at a time the American Revolution was in full swing back east. From there you can walk a 2.5-mile loop trail through downtown’s historic sites.
    Here, too, is the Old Town Artisans street, established in 1922, housing art galleries and shops built on the vestiges of the original Presidio wall. Right next door is the superb Tucson Museum of Art (above) and the Historic Block, founded in 1924. The Museum was relocated in 1975, now covering a four-acre block of downtown. It’s one of the finest collections of western art in the Americas, with strong holdings in modern and Asian art as well. The Museum has just broken ground on the Kasser Family Wing that will feature an extensive collection of Pre-Columbian and Latin American Art.   
     I was delighted by the museum’s Mexican folk art by the Puebla artist Francesco Flores’s “Brass Band Tree of Life” (1996; right), and currently there is an exhibition on “The Western Sublime: Majestic Landscapes of the American West,” with a daunting array of artists ranging from Ansel Adams and Albert Beristadt to Eadweard Muybridge and the Cherokee artist Kay Walkingstick.
    Nine miles south of town is a very fine Mission Xaviar del Bac (left), the oldest intact European structure in Arizona, one of the largest and most beautiful of those established by the Spanish in 1692, with the current structure finished in 1797. An earthquake damaged the mission in 1887 and a lightning strike hit the West Tower lantern in 1939. Major restoration work began in 1999 and continues, and the Mission is now a National Historic Landmark.
    While the main building is constructed in the usual mix or brick, stone and lime mortar, Mission Xaviar’s masonry vaults are unique among U.S. Spanish Colonial buildings. Of particular interest are the statues, whose artists are unknown, draped in stiffened gessoed clothing (below). A shell motif pays homage to the patron saint of Spain, James the Greater. (There is a very good 20-minute video that fills you in on its past and present.)
    I’ve always had an avid interest in aviation history so it was requisite for me to visit the Pima Air & Space Museum (below), spread over several acres of the Sonoran desert outside of Tucson. To my mind, this is one of the finest museums of its kind with an astounding array of airplanes from every era. The indoor setting of seaplanes shows just how huge they were, and the carrier-based Grumman F-14 and Vietnam War fighter planes possess impressive power just sitting on the ground. There are B-17 and  B-29 bombers, Kamikaze fighters, uniforms, flight logs, instruction manuals, flags, gun sights, bombs and rockets. The Joyce M. Corrigan Women in Flight Gallery examines women’s contributions to the history of aviation.
    All the planes in the indoor galleries are in impeccable shape, looking ready to be shipped to a theater of operation, but outside an even greater number are lined up on the tarmac in the broiling Arizona sun, which has not been kind to their metal skins or colorful paint.

    I was determined to see everything outside, but because of their sheer number and the June heat bearing down on me with overwhelming intensity, I made a vow  to return at a cooler time of year to try to take it all.

(Tucson’s restaurant scene has gotten much better in the last five years, and I shall be devoting another article to that subject soon.)

    Having inherited five acres of vines from his parents, whose family goes back to the 17^th Century in Burgundy, 19-year-old Vincent Girardin, went out on his own in 1980 to produce the best grapes he could in the Côte de Beaune. His reputation grew quickly as a pioneer in what was called biodynamic viticulture in tradition-bound Burgundy.

    With winemaker Eric Germain, Girardin bucked the trend in Burgundy for bigger-bodied, high-alcohol wines in favor of allowing nature itself to guide the vinification process.  Winemaking additives were discontinued, as were herbicides and insecticides, the proportion of new barrels drastically reduced. Natural composts from Burgundy farms were used, high trellising was adopted for better photosynthesis, and harvesting was by hand, with grapes sorted both in the vineyard and in the vat room.

    In 2012 Girardin sold his winery to his partner Jean-Pierre Nié, President of the Compagnie des Vins d’Autrefois in Beaune, with Germain continuing as winemaker and Marco Caschera as director of world-wide marketing.

    I had dinner in New York with Caschera, 51, whose name is Italian, though he was born in Lyon, France, and he speaks with a light French accent. He trained in finance but fell in love with the wine industry, first joining the marketing department of Maison Nicholas. Since joining Maison Vincent Girardin he has been constantly on the move, trying to keep up with the flux that will be caused by Brexit and the 100% tariff taxes threatened by Trump on European wines. (As of this writing the White House announced that Trump and French President Macron "agreed it is important to complete successful negotiations on the digital services tax," though did not confirm his decision to hold off on tariffs for now.)

    “Everyone will be the loser,” said Caschera. “The Europeans will lose market share and sales of hundreds of millions of dollars. Some are saying, ‘Ah, well, the French will just sell their wine to other countries,’ but, believe me, we cannot find enough other countries to fill the void left by the U.S., which buys 20% of French wine exports [for more than $1 billion]. Japan’s purchases are decreasing, places like Singapore are very small markets. If this goes through everyone is going to have to get very creative in pricing.”

    Caschera’s other main concern is the change in environment, while noting that for now “Burgundy can always use more sunshine and heat.” But he has already seen the effects of global warming on his vineyards.

    “We are now harvesting two to three weeks earlier than we were in 2003. We were harvesting on August 20^th this year, and some regions like Monthélie, Pernand-Vergelesses and Auxey-Duresses are always ripe, every year now. Spring starts before winter ends, so we see earlier bud break.

    “We’re also seeing more mildew like flavescence dorée, which has no cure and requires uprooting the vines, especially in Maconnais. And the use of chemicals is changing the character of the terroir. It’s been three years since I’ve seen a beetle in the vineyards because of chemicals used in  the region, even though we don't use chemicals in our vineyards. Bees are rare too.”

Caschera spoke of how even Vincent Girardin had, in the 1990s,  adapted the overripe, over-oaked style called “the New School,” by which new viticultural techniques were covering up the character of the regional terroirs. With Germain as winemaker of Maison Girardin as of 2007, the winery shifted back to older pre-1990s methods. “We even tamp down the grapes with our feet for some of our red wines,” said Caschera, who noted that his reds are transparent, not translucent nor murky, indicating they had not been over-extracted.

    Of vintages from the last dozen years Caschera says 2007, 2014 and 2017 are the best. Over dinner and back at home I was able to taste through an array of Maison Vincent Girardin wines, which are known for their elegance rather than their brawn.

    A good, nicely priced introduction to Girardin’s wines is their Chardonnay Cuvée Saint-Vincent 2017 ($25), which has lovely fruit and minerality. The Rully 2017 from “old vines” ($43) is from small village in the Côte Chalonnaise that gives the wine its name, made from 100% Chardonnay. It is aged 12 months with wild yeasts and placed in stainless steel to make the blend. Rully is a wine to be enjoyed fresh and not for aging.

    Unlike so many mediocre Pouilly-Fuissés in the market, Girardin’s 2016 ($43) shows that age is in its favor, with complexity and flavors of toasted nuts, which makes it excellent with roast or fried chicken.

    Meursault Les Vielles Vignes 2017 ($82) is a luxurious white wine based on three principal vineyards south of the Côte de Beaune. It spends 14 months in French oak (only 15% new barrels) and now has layers of floral flavors with buttery undertones but none of the sweetness that mars lesser Burgundies or New World Burgundies.

    Santenay is a Pinot Noir from the Côte de Beaune based on clay and a lot of limestone, so you get a fine minerality. Girardin’s Santenay Terre D’Enfance 2016 ($39) is a moderately big style, very easy to like and very adaptable to all kinds of foods, including salmon and even salads with a vinegar dressing.

    Volnay and Pommard are two of my favorite Burgundy wines that don’t get the attention they deserve. Girardin’s Volnay Les Vielles Vignes 2016 ($64) is a fine example of a wine often described as “feminine” (in the nicest way)  while the Pommard 2015 ($76) is more “masculine.” The former is what good Burgundy vines want to grow up to be, with all the finesse and velvety virtues of the Pinot Noir. Pommard, which is grown between Beaune and Volnay (we are speaking of small parcels and distances), is a bigger bodied, more tannic wine and benefits from a few years of aging in the bottle. The estate’s tech notes explain the wine’s biodynamic tender-loving-care, saying, “Pommard is bottled when the moon is down” according to the lunar year’s “fruit day.”

    Whatever. But if it works, who am I to judge. I’ll just drink the wines with enormous pleasure, happy that the “old” is new again at Girardin and cautiously optimistic that they can preserve their ancient and revered terroir.