Category Archives: Wines

France, Wines

Wine Notes: The Cahors Appellation

 

What I Learned

The Appellation Cahors Controlee is a small appellation in the Lot Department, in southwest France.  Specifically, it is in the Lot River Valley, a sinuous river valley leading to the Garonne River further west. Located mostly west of the small town of Cahors, the vineyards, like Cahors, are located on peninsulas created by the Lot’s often extreme bends, which over the millennia, deposited alluvial soils. Amounting to less than 5000 hectares in total, the vineyards are devoted to only three varietals.

This is a red varietal only appellation.  The main varietal is a grape of many names. Its most well-known name nowadays (thanks in part to its Argentinian success) is Malbec. In several regions of France, it may be known as Cot (with slight spelling variations), especially in the middle Loire, and in and around the Entre-Deux-Mers area of the Bordeaux wine region. In its home region, Quercy, it is also known as Auxerrois. (Not to be confused with the white varietal known as Auxerrois.)

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Italy, Wines

Wine Notes: Piedmont’s Monferrato Reds

 

What I Learned

The Monferrato region in northern Italy has a long tradition of wine-making, pre-dating even the Romans. As the famous Roman naturalist, Pliny the Elder noted, the Romans greatly appreciated the wine coming from the Muscat grape cultivated in the Monferrato as a varietal more resistant to cold weather.

Today, the Monferrato is one of Piedmont’s wine production districts. The DOC system recognizes various unique varietals and some interesting wine production techniques. The wines from here are not only high quality overall, but also indigenous to this area in some cases. I think it one of Italy’s more unknown and underrated wine districts.

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Germany, Wines

Wine Notes: Markgraeflerland North

 

What I Learned

The Markgraeflerland district is along the southern-most section of the Rhine as it borders France, in the region of Baden, in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany. It is the southern-most wine producing district in Germany. It begins in Weil am Rhein, just outside the Swiss city of Basel, and continues almost to Freiburg. The vineyards lie on the foothills between the river valley floor, and the Black Forest mountains to the east. About 3000 hectares, and 90 cooperatives, cellars and wine estates are dedicated to the production of this region’s wine, carried out the in villages and small towns that dot this area.

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France, Wines

Wine Notes: Middle Cote de Nuits

 

What I Learned:

The Cote de Nuits refers to the northern half of Burgundy’s famous Cote D’Or (Golden Slope). (Whereas the southern half is known as the Cote de Beaune.) The northern, Cote de Nuits, section runs from south of Dijon to just south of Corgoloin in Burgundy.

There are eight villages/towns that fall within the Cote de Nuits growing area. The Grands Crus, the most prestigious vineyards, are well known because the most renowned have their names attached to the village they lie in. The village of Chambolle cites one of its most prestigious vineyards, Musigny, in its name – hence the village has become known as Chambolle-Musigny. Another nearby village-vineyard combination includes Morey-Saint Denis. But perhaps the most famous village, Vougeot, has no such hyphenated name. Its Grand-Cru is called Clos de Vougeot, in reference to the famous monastery vineyard. The wines from these Grands Crus are usually highly esteemed.

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Germany, Hiking, Wines

Wines Notes: Franconian Steigerwald

 

What I Learned:

The Franconian Wine Region in Germany has three distinct wine districts: the famous Maindreieck passing Wuerzburg, the Mainviereck, and the Steigerwald. Unlike the first two, the Steigerwald wine district is not located along the Main River. This means that the climate-moderating effects of a river do not apply here. And since here is in south-central Germany, winter weather can last for longer, with spring weather arriving later, and fall weather arriving earlier, than elsewhere in this region.

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France, Wines

Wine Notes: Alsace’s Middle Bas Rhin

 

What I Learned

Rosheim and Ottrott are small, but significant wine villages. Both these communes lie in the Bas Rhin department, in the Molsheim canton, in the northern part of Alsace.

Northern Alsace has a great viticultural and vinicultural tradition. Six main white varietals grow throughout Alsace: Riesling, Silvaner, Gewuerztraminer, Muscat, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, and the only red varietal: Pinot Noir.

Alsatian Pinot Noir wines tend to be lighter, but very fruit-forward Pinot Noir wines. They are, of course, different from Burgundian Pinot Noir wines, from which tradition they derive. Early in the 12th century monks from Burgundy headed into Alsace, bringing vine plantings with them.

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Germany, Wines

Wine Notes: Ortenau’s Kappelrodeck

 

What I Learned:

Certainly one of the most fascinating vineyard areas in Baden’s Ortenau wine district, the area around Kappelrodeck and Waldulm stands out as topographically impressive for growing grapes in a never-to-be-forgotten mixture of hill and dale.

Slopes are steep. Hills cluster close together. The profile of the hills resembles a grape cluster lying on the ground: round mounds intersected by narrow dales. This topography is ideal as far as the vines’ exposition to the sun goes. Being steep, rainwater drains well away from the vines. Additionally, the area lies in a valley sheltered by higher ridgelines to the north, south, and east. As a result, even though this area of Germany has its share of foggy or overcast, even rainy, days, when the sun shines, each grape stands a good chance of getting some decent exposure to its warming and ripening rays.

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Italy, Wines

Wine Notes: Italy’s Valtellina II

 

What I Learned

While the Valtellina wine region is not the northernmost wine producing area in Italy, its grapes grow at altitudes of over 760 meters (2500 feet). The terrain here is dominated by mountains: rocky, incredibly steep, subject to sudden changes in weather from the north.

The classification system in Valtellina, like the appellation controlee system in France, is based on geography. In Valtellina, there are five recognized areas of cultivation of the Chiavennasca grape (known as Nebbiolo in the Piedmont). These five areas are distinct micro zones of terroirs and traditions, each with its own history, and each with its own Chiavennasca wine.  Visiting each area, and sampling their wines, provides an excellent opportunity to explore the different expressions of Chiavennasca as vinified in Valtellina.

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Italy, Wines

Wine Notes: Italy’s Valtellina I

 

What I Learned

Italy is famous for its for wines, especially powerful, refined reds such as Tuscany’s Brunello, Valpolicella’s Amarones, and Piedmont’s Barolo and Barbaresco wines. The Valtellina region of Lombardy, Italy, also produces well-regarded, powerfully flavorful, red wines, and made from the same varietal that produces Barolo and Barbaresco. It also produces wine in a process similar to Valpolicella’s Amarones. Lovers of such powerful reds will find Valtellina’s DOCG red wines delicious and a good value for the money.

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Germany, Wines

Wine Notes: Mittelhaardt

 

What I Learned

Germany’s Pfalz wine region is divided into two parts, the northern district of Mittelhaardt/Deutsche Weinstrasse, and the Suedliche Weinstrasse which is located south of Neustadt an der Weinstrasse. This entire region produces both red and white wines, with white wines making up approximately two-thirds of the overall annual production.

The Mittelhaardt/Deutsche Weinstrasse district runs along the Haardt mountains, facing east on gentle slopes in the optimal rain and wind shadow formed by the mountains covered by the majestic trees of the Pfaelzer Wald forest. This district, which begins in Bockenheim and continues to south of Neustadt, is in one of the warmest and sunniest regions of Germany. It contains towns and villages famous for their wines, as well as their lively wine festivals. Bad Duerkheim, with its Wurstmarkt in September, Neustadt with its Weinlese festival, in October, are two of the most famous wine festivals in Germany.

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