Grape of the Day

This morning, we flew into Gibraltar and headed northwest to Jerez de la Frontera, often simply known as Jerez, the burgeoning economic and social capital of Cadiz in the Andalusian section of southwestern Spain. While Jerez has its own airport, we thought it would be nice to look out over the Strait of Gibraltar where we had an excellent view of Morocco in northern Africa before starting our 90 minute drive. The climate in Jerez could best be described as subtropical. While winters can get quite cold, occasionally with low temperatures in the range of -18C/0F, summers remind one of the American southeast -- humid with daytime highs typically around 35C/95F and even having the potential to hit 45C/113F. Despite the humidity, however, it rarely rains in the summer; instead it just can make someone feel like they've been in the rain. What makes the Jerez area ideal for growing Palomino Fino is the albariza (the z is pronounced like a th) soil -- a very chalky textured dirt that treat...

Continuing our exploration of terroir and not wanting to leave Napa Valley just yet, we decided to visit one fairly small winery today that simply on its property has multiple microclimates. Of course, this is not a forum to advertise individual wineries (we do occasionally mention one by name, but it's more to make a particular point than it is to showcase that winery). Here, we head north on Highway 29 into St Helena where it meets up with and becomes Highway 128. After leaving somewhat quaint St Helena, we continue north until the road veers to the west just before entering Calistoga. And, where 128 heads back to the north a bit, we continue west and climb the steep slopes. We've entered a Cabernet Sauvignon zone. While they do plant other grapes here, they are predominantly used for blending into wines that are generally at least 95% Cabernet. Just off the Diamond Mountain Road, the main thoroughfare of the Diamond Mountain American Viticultural Area (AVA), we find a somewh...

While we're in Napa, let's stay there and explore a bit more. Back in 1981, Napa Valley became the first American Viticultural Area in California and the second in the United States (the first was the Augusta AVA in the Missouri Ozarks -- seemingly not quite as famous as Napa Valley). Within Napa Valley, there are 16 separate AVAs (and growing), as well as a number of areas such as Pritchard Hill that are not part of their own AVA within Napa Valley. We're going to explore a few of the less known ones today to see what makes them special. Let's start with the newest of the AVAs -- Coombsville. Coombsville received its designation in 2011. Located on the Napa River just north of the point where it dumps in San Pablo Bay, its proximity to the bay provides for much cooler weather than we find up valley. It also sits in the shadows of Mount George slightly to its east from which volcanic ash was deposited in the soils of the area. What we get from this is an ability to prod...

Today, we're headed to the place where I first experienced the magical mysteries of terroir in wine. But, before I get you there, what is terroir? Roughly speaking, terroir is the environment in which the grapes grow. It's soil, it's climate, it's water flow, it's elevation, it's undulations in the ground, it's the direction in which sunlight hits the grapes. It's everything. Silverado Trail and its very close surroundings are home to some of the finest wines in Napa and one could argue in the world. As many roads did, it started out as s dirt road for wagons, largely out of necessity. At the time, what is now Highway 29 (the other major north-south wine road in Napa Valley) was flooded. Needing a way to traverse north and south during those 1852 floods, the early settlers who had come west for the Gold Rush made themselves a road essentially to get from St Helena to San Pablo Bay and with that the Silverado Trail was born. It wasn't until about 20 y...

Today is a special day. We are making two trips as we explored both eastern European oak and oak from the Iberian Peninsula of Spain and Portugal. And, to be clear, particularly on the Iberian Peninsula, the home of the finest Cork Oak trees in the world, we are talking about the oak used to make wine barrels. We begin in the Zemplen Forest in Hungary. While there are many countries and regions in Europe that produce excellent oak for wine barrels, the Zemplen Forest is probably the most notable. It sits in the Carpathian Mountains roughly between Eperjes and Tokaji. This is northeastern Hungary. The soil here is rocky and volcanic in nature. The weather is cool and dry with winters getting particularly cold. And, we're up at altitude here. We're actually in the Zemplen Mountains, a small part of the larger Carpathian Range.  Why do we care about all this? The combination of factors produces oak with a dense grain -- particularly tight striations. From the producer's standp...

We got a late start today as the approach into Dijon-Bourgogne Airport was fogged in (actually, I had computer problems after a Windows 10 automatic "upgrade," but a fogged in airport sounds like a more interesting story). Upon deplaning, we drove south and slightly west for about 50km/31mi to Meursault. We haven't been here since we tasted the local white wine made of Chardonnay , but we're back today for a different reason -- to explore the wine barrels made in the area. Just as with wines in France, barrelmaking, or cooperage as it is known in trade, is a highly regulated artform. The highest quality cooperages, in fact, have nearly enough certifications to paper their walls. And, while they are willing to make barrels from any of French, American, Hungarian, Slovenian, Slovakian, or Russian oak, as well as from acacia, our focus today is on French oak, mostly from the forests in the central and eastern parts of the country.  One of the major keys to choosing oak i...

For the first time in our journey, we're breaking two rules. To begin with, we're not drinking a single wine today -- call it liver preservation. And, second, we're going to not just one, but two places.  We're going to start the day in little Millersville, Missouri, home to some of the largest white oak trees in the US, if not the world. There's not much in Millersville, situated roughly halfway between St Louis and Memphis, besides oak. In fact, it's an unincorporated community bordering Cape Girardeau. And, Cape Girardeau, in and of itself, has an interesting naming history. It's neither a cape, nor part of a cape, and while it is named after somebody, it's not named after anybody named Girardeau. In the 18th century, there was a rock formation overlooking the Mississippi that looked to some as they envisioned a cape. And, the largest trading post in the area was owned by a French soldier named Girardot. There you have it -- Cape Girardeau. Missouri, ...