Posts Tagged ‘history of wine’

The world of wine is often discussed as though there are hard lines of demarcation in the wine producing regions. This is not even remotely the case as is seen by the fact that French winemakers developed much of the wine producing vineyards in the Rioja region of Spain.

A gathering of wine drinkers is often a place to hear some of the more humorously spouted verbal garbage ever. There is always that one person who pronounces wines from Bordeaux are superior to North American wines or some such thing. This is, of course, do to the superior grapes used in the “fill in the blank” region. Such statements are the sign of a person who knows little of what they are talking about. Why? The history of wine gives us the answer.

Wine was obviously the drink of choice after water in Europe for a very long time. In the 1800s, the various explorers of North America brought vines with them. Most failed to grow given the different climate and indigenous pests. That was okay because North America had a unique form of vine that could take the climate and pests on. This vine was known as labrusca.

Import-export is a concept that usually is a good thing, but not always. With vines, it was a bad thing. The labrusca vine was imported into Europe. With it came the pests. One particular form was brutal – phylloxera. How so? The European vines had no defense against it. By the mid-1860s, all major vineyards in Europe had been destroyed by phylloxera.

Wine was big business in Europe. Phylloxera was not only a wine disaster – it was an economic one. Lots of money and effort was thrown at the problem. No method for defeating phylloxera was found. So, what did the Europeans do? They cross bread the European vintages with labrusca. The wines produce today from Europe are part classic European vintage and part North American. While every vine has distinct merits, the French grape is better than North American grape argument is moot because the French grape is partially North American!

So, what does any of this have to do with French winemakers and Spain? During the death of the vineyards in Europe, the vintage winemakers spread out across the region to far flung vineyards. Remember, there were no cars or planes then. The Rioja region of Spain was once such area. It was remote enough that phylloxera was not a problem. The French set to work and the wine from the region has been excellent every since then.

Author: Thomas Ajava
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The history of wine production is interesting. Every type of wine comes from France. From the cheapest grapes in 3 litre boxes all the way across Appellations Controlles to Vin de Pays down to Vin de Table. If you think price is the determining factor in finding the best wines, you are easily proven wrong.

White wines
Many will already be familiar with German wines. The Alsace-Lorraine area is inspired by some of that tradition. There are some very well-known grapes that give excellent white wines:

* Chardonnay

* Pinot Blanc

* Sauvignon Blanc

Just as I mentioned the German impact upon some white wines from France, the Riesling grape is very popular. There are many low-price wines (rather sweet), but certainly also some very fine Rieslings. Served chilled while the sun is baking is a lovely thing. Something you may want to remember for summer next year.

Red wines
There are quite a few grapes that provide interesting red wines:

* Cabernet Sauvignon

* Syrah

* Grenache

One of my personal favourites among pricey wines are either the Chinon wines from the Loire Valley or the especially the wine from 2004 entitled “Chteauneuf-du-Pape Cuve Grande Garde Saint-Benoit”. It’s a wine priced at roughly 12 here in Denmark, but truly fantastic. Amazing, however, that you can get wines in the Loire Valley at one third this price (ranging from 3,60-4,50 that will be just as good), but “Chteauneuf-du-Pape” signifies papal wine, and truly one can say that the papacy has had good taste in wine.

Facetiously one could say that since they can’t concentrate as much on lovely ladies, at least an interest in wine can be a very enjoyable experience.

Ross
There are many grapes that give ros wines you will want to taste:

* Grenache Gris

* Clairette

* Cinsault

Ross truly surprised me when we took our first vacation to France in 2006. In Denmark we might have ten-fifteen types of ros from mainly Spain and California – and later we began to see French ross also. But I was truly amazed when one of my very best friends, Cyril showed me a local supermarket called Gant. They had several rows of ross. You can imagine that for a couple like ours, where I have always preferred mature red wines and my wife previously liked semi-sweet white wines, then ross have taken both of us by storm. Previously I only knew of the Zinfandel ros wines from California, but I have taken both Greek and French ross very much to heart.

Voltaire’s philosophy
Notice this: there is no doubt that many abuse alcohol. In our society it is very easy to fall prey for that, but in moderation it is a true enjoyment. Voltaire once declared that “there was more philosophy in a bottle of wine than in many books”. He is truly right, but one needs to be mindful never to overdo that passion.

Good luck in discovering the same beauty as we have. When you visit France you owe it to yourself to take home many different bottles so you can experience some of the variety the French have truly implemented in many even smaller supermarkets. They don’t drink much of the wines that are exported, and guess what? I think they are wise enough even to export some of it so they can avoid digesting it themselves.

Author: Henrik Blunck
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