Tunisia

Let's go to Tunisia today. The northeast corner of the country is not far from Sicily and long-time readers will recall that we have featured some grapes very specific to Sicily. 

Despite the proximity, however, Tunisia has a french influence, rather than Italian. So, the grapes that are grown there tend to be far more French in nature than Italian. And, the weather in Tunisia can be flat out hot. Not warm, but hot. Even in the northeast corner just to the east of the capital city of Tunis and right on the Mediterranean Sea, remember that we are not that far from the Sahara Desert. If the Sahara is known for anything, it has brutally hot daytimes with intense sunshine reflecting off the sand, incredibly arid conditions, and large diurnal temperature swings as the nights cool significantly.

Of all the grapes grown in France, this screams for the reds of the southern part of the country, in particular Cabernet and the traditional southern Rhone grapes of Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvedre. Even for this grapes, however, the climate is often too dry. So, irrigation is necessary and that is always a problem near the Sahara. This is why it is critially important that the grapes and virtually all other agriculture in the country is grown in the north where the country borders the Mediterranean.

The problem comes when the sirocco winds blowing off the Desert head north and overheat the vineyards. This can scorch the grapes and ruin the entire vintage if the vignerons are not careful. Even so, the grapes here are highly stressed.

Expect these wines to be very dark, high in alcohol due to the extreme stress on the grapes, quite tannic and loaded up with earth tones and leather. The sandy soil combined with the heat do allow for some fruit, but the earthiness does often overpower the fruit almost out of existence unless the winemaker is particularly careful.

The good news, however, is that despite all of these difficulties, wine from Tunisia, especially given the grapes being deployed, is remarkably inexpesnive and if you catch a good vintage, it is quite a good substitute for the far more pricey wines on the north side of the Mediterranean.