Reign of Terroir » International Terroirs

South America In The Ascendance

Greybeard — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 05:20:36 +0000

Greybeard writes…

As South America is currently dominating the World Cup being played in South Africa (with all their teams clearing the group stages and Argentina looking good for the title) it is perfect timing to write up a recent tasting of Chilean and Argentinean wines I attended and highlight some of the excellent wines the region is producing in general.

As you may know I am a member of the North East Wine Tasting Society, or NEWTS as it is colloquially known. The format is simple; each month we sit down to critique 8-10 wines, typically following a theme and usually sourced and presented by one of the society members. Occasionally we have a trade presentation from one of the local retailers and this month it was from the UK national wine chain Oddbins on South America, given by Laura from the Newcastle branch. At the start Laura admitted she had been apprehensive about the wines to bring for the evening and had called in a few favours from other Oddbins stores around the country to pull together a selection of bottles not readily available in Newcastle, including one which only just arrived on the morning of the tasting.

The first wine was the 2009 Garuma single vineyard Sauvignon Blanc by Viña Leyda in the relatively new winemaking region of Leyda Valley, only 10 miles from the Pacific Ocean. Chile is starting to make a reputation for itself with good Sauvignon Blanc in a richer, smoother style compared to New Zealand – one of my favourites is the Terrunyo single vineyard by Concha y Toro – and the Garuma was in that vein. It had a smooth, rich nose with aspects of Sauvignon typicity (but not over the top) while in the mouth it had a very pleasant texture; dry, fruity with a lemon zing – although there was a touch of heat at the end from the 14% abv. For £9 a bottle this was a very well made wine, good value for money and didn’t change my opinion that Chile is worth looking at if you’re tired of all those carbon copy Marlborough Sauvignons.

The next white was from Argentina, although surprisingly not a Torrontes, which is fast becoming as synonymous with that nation as the Malbec grape is for its reds. Instead we were given Dona Paula’s “Naked Pulp” Viognier, made from the free-run juice – the grapes then used to co-ferment with the wineries “Olives road” Syrah-Viognier.
After 10 months in new French barrels the Viognier had an overtly oaked nose which masked any fruit, but an enjoyable texture and viscosity in the mouth, along with a touch of sweetness, brought out pineapple flavours. The viscosity, oak, alcohol (14.5%) and £14 price are likely to put off some but many more would enjoy this full bodied white.

The reds started with a confused offering from Italian producer Masi, taking some of their home-grown ideas into Mendoza’s Tupungato Valley to produce the 2008 Paso Doble. Malbec grapes were fermented first and then a second fermentation was started after the addition of 30% of semi-dried Corvina grapes, in the Passito style more commonly seen in Valpolicella. Considering the large Malbec component, the wine was relatively thin, with a menthol component on the nose but a green aspect I didn’t appreciate. Although smooth in the mouth it was dry with a short finish, a simple wine for its price (£13) and winemaking technique.
Thin and simple couldn’t be applied to the next wine, Norton’s 2006 Privada blend of Malbec, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Norton is rightly known as a consistent producer of quality wines and the Privada is made from old vines with very low yields of 4 tonnes per hectare (ton/ha) to justify the £20 price tag. This was a big, dense wine with a massive nose of black fruits and spice and an almost syrupy texture with tannins throughout, rich and fruity from the mid-palate but a disjointed herbal bitterness to the finish detracted a little.

After 2 Argentinean reds it was time to cross over the Andes into Chile and Cono Sur. The winery was founded as a subsidiary of Chilean giant Concha y Toro in 1993 and has developed a reputation for environmentally friendly winemaking under Chief winemaker Adolfo Hurtado (Tim Atkin has a good interview from last year on his site).
Initially building its reputation on reliable low to mid-priced wines it moved into the premium sector in 2003 with the launch of the “Ocio” Pinot Noir and it was the 2007 vintage that was next on the tasting list.

Some questioned tasting a Pinot Noir after a big Malbec blend but it soon became clear that this was no ordinary Pinot! Also produced from yields of 4ton/ha, mostly from the El Triangulo Estate in Casablanca, the concentration could be seen as the bottle was poured. There was some mushroom on the nose behind plenty of fruit and some cigar-box, while the taste was clean with overt acidity, but a savoury sort which carried a host of subtle flavours into a moderate finish. I can appreciate that the acidity would be seen as too much by many palates, but for me it made the wine with a sharp savouriness that I had not come across in a Pinot before, although at £32 a bottle the price is outside of my typical purchasing range so that may not be surprising!

We stayed on the Pacific side of the mountains with Neyen de Apalta in the Apalta Valley, part of the larger Colchagua region. This small winery only produces one label and the 2004 vintage was a blend of Chile’s signature red grape, Carmenère, with 30% Cabernet Sauvignon at 14% abv and £28 a bottle. The two grapes came together in a very dark wine with a thick, concentrated nose of liquorice and smoky fruit. This was extremely smooth and seamlessly integrated; fine grain tannins and subtle complexities resounded around the mouth with a strong chocolate component.

Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon went solo next for the 2005 Viñedo Chadwick, a wine with an impressive pedigree as part of Eduardo Chadwick’s blind-tasting roadshow first brought to the attention of the world after the 2004 “Judgement of Berlin”, when the Viñedo Chadwick and the Viña Errázuriz Seña were ranked ahead of Château Margaux, Château Lafite, Château Latour, Sassicaia and Tignanello. Tom Cannavan did a tongue in cheek re-enactment (The Judgement of Glasgow!) on his UK Wine Pages last year which included the 2006 Chadwick.

As for the 2005, this had an ethereal nose with little cherry wood, was also very smooth (more so than the Neyen) and was fresh with a touch of mint. Tannins came in on the mid-palate and carried on through the very long finish. I am not going to try and describe the various secondary flavours of this wine as I would undoubtedly fail to do it justice, but when someone shouted out “bargain” at its £35 bottle price (on Bin End at Oddbins) I had to agree – this was as close to a 5 star wine as I have come across, not trying to be anything else other than stunningly good.

A final hop back over the Andes for the last wine, the 2005 Finca Pedregal single vineyard Malbec (70%), Cabernet Sauvignon (30%) blend by Pascual Toso.
This had a strong savoury nose with some tar and maybe a little volatility and there were big tannins and a lot of blackberry in the mouth. I used the word seamless for the Neyen, but this was more so with a long plateau of flavour from start, thought the mid-palate and into the sweet and fruity finish. with. At £38.50 I wouldn’t put it ahead of the Chadwick, Neyen or even Ocio, but like the others this was an exceptional wine which gave a lot of enjoyment for a price far lower than some of the more established Old World equivalents.

I left the room at the end of the evening with a strong feeling of being privileged to have tasted some beautiful wines all on the same day. Of course the tasting was more of a Chile and Argentina tag team match – Brazil and Uruguay still have some way to go before they can lay claim to the same accolades – but if there’s anyone left who thinks South America is only for Supermarket wines then they need to think again.

Slainte!

Greybeard

Domaine Du Prince, AOC Cahors, Terroir And Quality

Admin, Ken Payton — Fri, 28 May 2010 06:03:11 +0000

Domaine du Prince is located in the south of the commune of Saint-Vincent-Rive-d’Olt. A few kilometers from the Lot River, just 15 minutes by car west of Cahors, all of its vineyards are situated atop a plateau; and as with all regional plateaux above the Lot, they share what are generally agreed to be the finest soils of AOC Cahors. Though the geochemistry is complex, a plateau’s high clay and calcareous, limestone soil blend helps maintain pH balance and improves water retention, so stabilizing a vine’s nutrient requirements, especially important in the warmer clime of these higher elevations. The wines from plateau vineyards tend to have higher acidity and, with proper canopy management, sugar and phenolic ripeness more often coincide with each harvest. The Malbec grape grown here will promise lower yields, richer aromas and firmer tannins. And should Merlot, an authorized blending grape, also be grown it, too, will share in this promise.

While in Cahors I was consistently told that the plateau terroir not only offers the greatest growing and slow ripening advantages, but that the finished wines are ‘classical’ expressions of the AOC. Though less than a third of all wine production comes from diverse plateaux vineyards, most sold under private labels, and though negociants typically buy from vineyards planted in alluvial soils, I cannot be certain that in a blind tasting I could always pick a wine from the plateau. But one wine that for me did emerge as a benchmark for what is meant by ‘classical’ is the beautiful wine Lou Prince from the Domaine du Prince.

First a bit about the family. Genealogy traces the Jouves name back to the 16th century, though a reader of old French could take it back much further. Domaine du Prince takes its name from an ancestor who while in Paris brought some wine to the King of France (another version has it the Tsar of Russia). Because he drew near the King this ancestor was nicknamed by his village the ‘Prince’. Even on official documents, on tax papers of the era, for example, the name reads Prince Jouves. The Jouves’ family has been in the wine business for generations, though they also grew cereals, vegetables and raised diverse farm livestock. It was only about 40 to 50 years ago that the vineyards of the Domaine began to be the main product; they still have cattle, sheep, and grow some cereals, but only for family use. Other farms in the area have also shifted solely to commercial wine production. This is not too surprising given that the soils are not suited for many agricultural products other than the vine, and that water for irrigation is scarce. It is to the fecund plains and valleys nearer the river that historically many farmers turned.

Domaine du Prince produces a number of different wines on their 27 hectares of which just 2 are used for Lou Prince. This chosen vineyard, roughly 38 years old, yields around 2,400 bottles, yes, bottles per year. Recent notice of this wine has led to the sober prediction that demand will far outstrip supply in the very near future. They already sell more than they produce, having to market increasingly scarce holdings of older vintages. Owners and winemakers Hélène and husband Didier Jouves, along with his brother Bruno, have limited land available to expand production that will reliably guarantee the same high quality. A small select block on the same terroir in the immediate area has been planted recently. These young vines should be productive in three to four years.

A wine producer working a single vineyard, Hélène explains to me, knows his land, knows individual vines by heart, when to harvest and, therefore, strongly senses what will be the quality of the finished wine. Drainage, cluster sensitivity to rain, disease pressures, weather patterns, all are part of the knowledge gained by experience. The continuity of historical memory becomes of decisive importance. And that is why the hectares of vineyard 30 yards away will not produce the same quality. The winemaker knows he will fool no one, he knows he will not be true to himself should he dilute the specific qualities of one vineyard with the grapes of another.

The Lou Prince vineyard yields about 30 to 35 hectoliters per hectare (roughly 730 to 950 gallons) from a maximum of 4 tons of grapes, all manually harvested. The clay soils are very deep here with among the deepest rooted vines on the property. The Lou Prince vines will suffer less during the hot summer months without rain owing to the clay’s superior retention and parsimonious release of water.
Then Didier gets at the heart of the matter with the observation that very few producers in AOC Cahors really know their own terroirs. They may have some on their property, but they don’t know how to identify or use them. The recent push by the local wine authorities for higher quality has everything to do with educating winegrowers on how to properly think their land. The Malbec Days celebration itself serves to bring into focus the importance of terroir. Hélène forcefully adds,

Hélèle Jouves “His father’s generation was just doing wine. They were not doing quality wine. They were planting vines anywhere and wherever there was room. That’s how the previous generations did things. Now the young generation is learning how to use the terroir, how to work the vineyards, in order to have good wine, even though they have been raised like the old ones. It is hard for the young to make the older generation understand what it is we are doing in the vineyard. When we are doing green harvesting, for the older generation it’s like we are throwing away wine. His father [Didier's] was sick when he saw him doing it! He didn’t even want to see the vineyards. He’d say ‘It’s impossible! How can they do that!’ Now? He’s happy to sell the Lou Prince. He knows. He can tell the difference. But most of the winemakers in the Cahors area are not at that point yet. They’re still thinking that the more wine there is, the better it is.”

And of the use of chemicals in their vineyards, Domaine du Prince pursues la lutte raisonnée approach. They grow in a windy, dry place so they don’t really need to use much. Near the river, anyplace where humidity and fog are issues, they would have to think differently. But not here. They do use sulphur, and bit of copper (cuivre) but only to save the crop. This, too, is a change from the older generation when chemicals of all stripes and strengths were used whether the vines needed it or not. They wanted to be sure and used chemicals all the time, including lots of copper. Now, if it is not needed, it is not used.

From the vineyard we drove to the winery built by the Jouves family, in recent years expanded in response to their growth. Though Lou Prince may be made in miniscule quantities, the winery as a whole produces 100,000 bottles from their combined acreage. Of these, 60,000 to 70,000 bottles are sold per year out of the winery itself. Quite good for a winery which, as Hélèle says, is in the middle of nowhere. She adds that locals know of Domaine du Prince’s reputation for high quality at competitive prices. But it is all word of mouth. They do not advertise. Their interest in the export market is to help sell the balance, some 30%. Should that prove successful, they have the capacity to produce 150,000 bottles. The extra 50,000 are virtual bottles, so to say, in that they currently sell the wine in bulk to negociants. They would prefer to put it under their own label. Should the export market show interest they most certainly will move in that direction.

Hélène Jouves “Many producers would prefer to put their wine under their own label rather than sell in bulk. Not long ago selling wine in bulk was still profitable. The price was good. Little work was required. They didn’t have to pay for the bottles. It was easy and easy to sell. You wouldn’t make a lot of money, but you could get a price for what it was worth. But now, the price is so low that you no longer earn money selling in bulk. So everybody tries to give more value to these wines by selling in bottle. Also the temptation is to overcrop which drives the prices down further. To increase the quality is the key to higher prices. But when selling in bulk it doesn’t matter the quality. The price is exactly the same for good and bad wines. One doesn’t help the other.”

I should add that their Lou Prince is what is known in the region as a Charte de Qualité wine about which I shall have more to say in a later post. Suffice to say it is a new, rigorous certification program that seeks to find the finest wines from the finest terroirs in AOC Cahors. The idea is to forcefully promote to winemakers the very real relation between quality and terroir. Each year rarely more than half the wines submitted, from the beginning a small number, meet its strict tasting protocols. Indeed, so daunting are the program’s standards that many producers decline to attempt it. Many, however, do make the attempt, thereby raising the international profile of the AOC as a whole.

In any event, Domaine du Prince offers a wide variety of wines, from a ‘bag in a box’, to the Charte de Qualité Lou Prince, and everything in between. And all but the ‘bag in a box’ are under cork. Lafite corks in the case of Lou Prince. (Cork closures are near universal in the AOC Cahors.) Though they have never had a tainted bottle of Lou Prince, TCA occasionally finds its way into other bottlings. More disturbing is the anti-cork attitude of some importers, Chinese and American principally. Some insist on screwcaps as a condition for doing business.
Back in the tasting/bottling room every effort is on display. A customer finishes his purchase. Off in one corner is a pallet of Lou Prince destined for New York. Outside I hear chickens. I am given a taste of the spectacular 2005 Lou Prince. Beautiful. Then a bottle. My spirits soar.

I met the youngest of their three children, a young boy already fascinated by the vineyard. Despite the sad fact of AOC Cahors vineyards being sold because the children refuse the patrimony, thankfully another generation of Domaine du Prince winegrowers is assured.

Admin

A Vineyard With Soul, Laurent Rigal’s Prieure De Cenac

Admin, Ken Payton — Tue, 25 May 2010 12:39:12 +0000

It sometimes happens in life that you meet a person of such spiritual dedication that you think things differently, your world-view nudged in a new direction. Such was my encounter with Laurent Rigal, son of Franck Rigal, family winemakers for Château de Grezels and Prieuré de Cenac in Parnac, AOC Cahors. On the first night of Malbec Days here in Cahors, what was called the Pré-ouverture, a kind of sneak preview, I tasted only a small number of wines, a few of which immediately caught my attention, this despite the tremendous heat inside the venue (I was told air conditioning was too expensive to install, coming in at around €10,000). Of those wines, one stuck in my imagination, ‘La Vierge’, from the Prieuré de Cenac vineyard. By virtue of a personal meander appropriate to this region dominated, as it is, by the Lot River, and the generous assistance of Jean-Marie Sigaud, I was to meet father and son the following day. A winemaker discussing their work often presents two faces, one public, a visage of commercial, more formal utterances, and the other, private, far rarer. I was fortunate to listen to the latter.

The vineyard for La Vierge is situated within 39 hectares of gently sloping hills high above the Lot River. At the top of the very highest hill is a special terroir in that it contains a 50% concentration of the most desirable soil admixture in AOC Cahors, clays, principally red, and 50% limestone. Iron, a red clay element, gives minerality and adds balance and complex aromas in the wine. The vineyard was planted on Laurent’s birthday 30 years ago, in 1979, from which the first harvest was taken in 1983. That was a very good year owing to the modest yield. The vineyard for La Vierge sees no chemicals and is all hand-picked. It is, most importantly for Laurent, biodynamic, his passion.

He began working this vineyard 7 years ago after finishing school in Bordeaux. There he learned the principles of terroir, biodynamics, the influence of the ocean on weather, and especially a respect for the land and its biodiversity. For it is biodiversity that informs the success of the grape harvest. And it is the responsibility of the winemaker to give back to the land what he takes away. All of these principles represented the broader change taking place in the entirety of the AOC.

When purchased this vineyard was already planted to the vine, but owing to its great age it was replanted with new vines, so low had the yields become. (Currently around 8,000-10,000 bottles come from the site.) It was formerly owned by a monk. The monk grew a large variety of cereals and vegetables during and after the Second World War, as well as maintaining a vineyard. Many monks sustained the local appetites and economies during this difficult time all throughout France.

Of the vintages from Prieuré de Cenac, Laurent has been responsible for 6, from 2003 forward. Of the difference between his first vintage and most recent he explains:

Laurent Rigal For the first vintage I was very excited. And very stressed! My father and grandfather set very high quality standards I had to meet. My first vintage was very hard work. I tried to make it perfect. But I felt I worked for nothing because it was a passion that drove me. Then I worked every day from early morning to mid-night, as late as two in the morning. Now I work more efficiently because working too hard on the vine and wine brings a negativity to the wine. I give the whole process more liberty and approach the harvest and vinification with greater respect, letting it develop on its own. Before I was pumping-over [remontage] 6 times a day; now I keep it at 2. It is better.

On the property there stands the monastery that, as Franck Rigal explains, the family hopes to renovate into a rooms for visitors, perhaps room enough for six. This he tells me as he drives our small car onto the steep slope to the vineyard hilltop. There is no road, but it is wide enough(!) Under brilliant sun, expansive sight lines in all directions above the broad and gentle slopes, we stop and I take in what they call mamelom, the ‘tit’ of La Vierge. But there is more to this name than a mere description. For Le Vierge means ‘virgin’, and the monk had cleared a place of quiet contemplation in the trees just a stone’s throw away. A spiritual topography begins to come into focus.

Laurent Rigal I will show you his place of quiet repose in a moment. But I want to say that here there is energy, a strong cosmic force and a telluric force. There is a concentration at La Vierge, and all around the statue is a reseau [network] that helps keep the vines in good health. There is another concentration of energy in the prieuré which serves the entire vineyard. This is very important for biodynamic viticulture because we use this energy to develop good health, to infuse the earth and the vine with life. The winemaker must learn to develop this force in the plant, the vine, and to so help reduce the quantity of chemicals.

We have three products in biodynamics: We use cow manure, and we prepare it according to Maria Thun – she is the person who developed biodynamie in France and Germany – we also produce mineral sprays for application on the vines. Two products are for developing the telluric force and one is to develop the cosmic force, to attract the light onto the vine. It is very important that you develop and focus the energy of the universe, the light. But this is rare. It is not easy to do.

So it is that the mamelom, the name of the hill, La Vierge, that of the vineyard, are descriptive elements of a kind of immaculate nursing (if I may put it that way) with the cosmos.
We then, midst a riot of bird-song, walked down the mamelom to Laurent’s place of contemplation and one of the vineyard’s power points. It was here that I took the picture of Laurent and his father, Franck. The picture of Laurent above shows him sitting at the precise power site initially discovered by the monk.

Laurent Rigal I was up this morning at 3 o’clock preparing and spraying, according to the calendar, the constellations, preparations for this vineyard! So I am a little tired today. In biodynamics there are four days: A fruit day, a leaf day, a root day, and a seed day. Today was a fruit day.
Here, at this quiet place, there is a concentration of telluric and cosmic force. Some people who visit this place feel this energy coursing through their fingers. And when you sit down, not to pray but to think, and if you are energy-friendly, then you may receive the energy.
And of the wine made here, the aromas and the taste of La Vierge, you can say the moon and the sun are in harmony. The wine is the expression of this union. We will be bringing a horse and cow to the vineyard soon; they bring good astral properties. This is a very special terroir for biodynamie. You have iron and orange clay.

Next I will show you the cave of the prieuré, but just for you. It was built by the monk. I do not often talk about these things, but you have an ambience. I can see it in the eyes when people do not want to listen.

In moments we are in the cave, the property’s second power point located beneath the main structure, the house to be renovated for guests in the fullness of time. Though I am a bit uncomfortable in doing so, I must stress that Laurent did give me permission to post the accompanying photo.

Laurent Rigal This was built by the monk, and it is in the form of the cross of Christ. I put my biodynamic preparations down here to bring into them the energy of the cave and the cross. Here I make the two products, preparations, described by Maria Thun. This one I put on the earth for an energy of concentration and recuperation…. This is a special place for me.

We head back to Cahors, the bridge where Laurent still faced the balance of the day pouring his wines. I was again to see him in the evening when, now nearly sleep-walking, he poured wines into the night, still cheerful, composed, radiating a great inner peace. I shall treasure my time with the gentleman and his father, among the finest moments of my time in the Cahors region.

Admin

The Terroirs of Domaine Le Bout Du Lieu, Cahors AOC

Admin, Ken Payton — Thu, 20 May 2010 09:42:34 +0000

In the interests of economy here may be found a kind of hybrid narrative, a compilation of a series of voices, principally that of the young winemaker Lucien Dimani, the son of Arnaldo, and my editorial contribution. Direct quotes will, however, be properly attributed. The point of this exercise is to faithfully present the Domaine Le Bout du Lieu’s precise understanding of their terroirs within the broader Cahors AOC. As underlined in a previous post, the Cahors AOC is kaleidoscopic, an assemblage of shifting elements only informed, not defined, by the proximity to the profoundly ox-bowed Lot river, vineyard orientation and canopy management, elevation, soil type, northern or southern exposure, blending percentages – if done- of Malbec (70% minimum in any case), of Merlot and Tannat, the blind luck of microclimate variations during the growing season, the skill of the vigneron and, it must be said, politics. What adds to the complexity is that all these elements are intertwined in such a way as to render nearly impossible durable regional harvest predictions or even the success of any given grower. To be a winegrower in the Cahors AOC is to daily roll the dice. Terroir has no ornamental value here. Rather, it not only frames the conversation, but it has the last word.

Preliminaries

From Cahors to Saint-Vincent-Rive-d’Olt is about 13 miles due west; not far, but the winding road adds time. The village has a population of 183, and less than 400 including the surrounding villages of Douelle, Parnac and Luzech. All along the road may be seen vineyards, many in the yards of private residences. The first village we passed through was Douelle which translates as ’stave’, as in the stave of a barrel.
Many, many years ago this was home to a number of cooperages producing barrels for the regions’ winemakers. Nowadays there are none remaining in the Lot region. They went out of business because larger cooperages outside the region offered better prices, and the barrels were made of a different kind of oak than the one locally grown. Different flavors came from oak from other areas. Local oak was a bit ‘green’. Political tensions within the Lot followed upon the choice by regional winemakers for barrels from outside the local economy. But that was 70 years ago.
Concrete tanks became rather more popular for the small to average sized winery because of the differences in the time and labor required for racking. Spent barrels would continue to be used owing to their greater micro-oxygenation proficiency, but imagine one tank verses fifty barrels: racking one tank takes two hours; racking fifty barrels takes two days.

Upon entering Luzech, past a small, well-stocked open market, we drove up a hill to a magnificent vista. It was from there that one could easily observe the alluvial to terrace, hillside to plateau terroirs, and specifically nearly all of the holdings of Le Bout du Lieu, a small part of which are on the first terrace; their larger vineyards are found on the second and third. (To clearly photograph them from the vista is another matter! A layer of fog played havoc.)

A bit about Luzech situated on what was once an island in an extreme meander of the Lot river. Years ago, before the building of dams and other water control structures, this particular stretch of the Lot was quite wild and treacherous, a tumult of powerful currents. Those traveling by boat, merchants in the main, would begin at the foot of the village and by the end of the day would have only traveled the length of the ox-bow, again arriving at Luzech at night. What took one minute to walk, was a challenging one day journey by barge. Indeed, many sailors lost their lives, so many that a little commemorative chapel was built at the end of the ‘island’ opposite Luzech. Now, the river’s flow is regulated by dams, land loss by canals, the flood events, too, are therefrom diminished.

Incidentally, from the vista point it is estimated that 15% of the total acreage under vine cultivation in the whole of the Cahors AOC may be seen. It is obvious that this AOC ought to be one of the premier wine touring destinations in all of Europe. Plans are underway to more aggressively promote exactly this. Just 50 years ago a larger percentage of the land was dedicated to a wide range of agricultural activity. Farms formerly dominated the region. Vegetables, corn, wheat, walnuts, fruits, pig, cow and sheep husbandry were the mainstays of the local economy. The vine now plays a far greater role.

Frosts remain a great threat. Even as recently as last week the cloudless night sky sent temperatures plummeting. No young shoot can take such thing. Historically, in 1956, a very late frost killed 99% of the young growth. Even with global warming frosts are a perpetual danger. Interestingly, owing to the scattered distribution of vineyards and the attendant micro-climates, damaging frosts and hails do not necessarily effect the region as a whole. Hail storms, for example, are very focussed. One vineyard may be destroyed while the neighbor’s is spared. In any event, the closer the river, the deeper the valley, so increases the risk.

With headwaters in the Pyrenees, the Lot is the greatest meandering river in all of France, with this area around Luzech having the most extreme loop. It is a tributary of the Garonne. The explanatory tile pictured above provides useful illustration.

The Terroirs

First we visit their vineyard on an alluvial terrace. Limestone and the first hints of gravel may be seen. Some say this is not a good terroir to make quality wines. Lucien is not in agreement.

Lucien Dimani “As long as you work well, you control the crop and the yield, you shouldn’t have any problem. Of course, if you want to do 8 tons an acre then here it is possible. You are close to the river. But it is something you cannot do on the second or third terraces, never mind on the plateau. The yields decline naturally the higher you go. There will not be the same quality, but here you can produce something similar. I know this because of blind tastings. I am sure some people would not believe me I tell them the wine they are drinking is from the first terrace.
These vines are from 28 to 30 years old. And this is high density for here. The number of vines in a vineyard depends where you are. If I compare it to Bordeaux it is a low density. So let’s say it is from average to high density, closer to high. There is an AOC recommended ratio, a minimum density of a vineyard, about 3000 vines per hectare. Here we have about 4500 vines per hectare. We have good results from this vineyard as long as we manage the crop and the fruit is not clustered too close together.
Trellising remains the same in all our vineyards, the same kind of canopy management. The only thing we change is sometimes the vigor management, but this bears primarily on the age of the vine and not the soil; and what wine we plan to make of these grapes. We’ll drop clusters to concentrate the flavors in the remaining grape clusters.

A lot of people are organic here, but do not always pursue certification. We have a lot of new converts as well. It has become more common. Of diseases, we have mildew and odium; but we can control them. We don’t have too much pressure. It depends on the vintage. But normally it is not something that is hard to control as long as you do your job in the vineyard. If we have to spray, we spray. If it is dry there is no reason to spray. Lutte raisonnée.

My father [Arnoldo] is the vineyard manager. He started working in the vineyard with his father when he was 6 years old. I, too, started working when I was 6 or 7, to help. A long time ago it was school and work. Now, everywhere in France there is the problem of the next generation of winegrowers. And it is even more difficult these days to find people willing to work at harvest. It’s easier in Bordeaux, but it is starting to become harder every year for hand-picking. So, 90% of the harvest is by machine, machines shared among neighbors. Here there are four properties and us. We share the harvesting machine. If tomorrow there were a law that we had to do everything by hand, no one would do it. And hand-picking is a huge cost.”

We next travelled to a second terrace vineyard.

Lucien Dimani “Here there is more gravel. This is also alluvial but with gravel. Even higher up will be found more gravel. We went a bit higher in elevation to another terroir. The root stock here is SO4. This is the oldest vineyard that we have. It is a vineyard we bought that my father took care of for 20 years. He did not plant it. He first rented it. Another, younger block is beyond the trees. This vineyard is a second terroir. There is a bigger difference between red clay and alluvial soils than between graveled and alluvial-graveled soils. Again, in blind tastings it is confusing. But if you have red clay it cannot be mistaken. Nearer the river the soils are also deeper. And the vine depth varies. Here the vines are about 8 to 10 meters down. It also depends on the vineyard density. The lower the density the roots tend to grow more horizontally.”

Then comes a higher vineyard yet, their third terroir.

Lucien Dimani “Vineyard orientation catches the maximum sun. When we do the leaf removal for air circulation and exposure we do it only on the rising sun side. Otherwise the sun will burn the fruit. Later, mid-August, when the sun is not so intense, we do the other side, but only on special plots. We only remove the leaf on the fruit; not above or below. The idea is to limit the humidity in the bunches themselves. Botrytis likes humidity. By select leaf pull we limit it. And we do de-budding when we prune. But we also do a green harvest later in the year if we have too many bunches that might become a source of disease. The fruit cluster, how tightly packed, depends on the clone. Of course, without irrigation a higher crop means lower concentration and lower quality. There is a balance between the crop and the quality. But there are limits above which the quality is not necessarily enhanced by lower yields. You may have 2 tons an acre, but if you lower the crop to 1.5 tons an acre you will find the quality will be the same in a vineyard harvesting at 2 tons. You will have lost half a ton per acre for nothing. You will have worked for nothing. It is about balance. Here in this vineyard the harvest is around 2.3 tons per acre.

This vineyard, the third terroir, sits on a small plateau. It is not strictly speaking a plateau; but we call it such because it is a flat spot on the top of a hill. The red clay is very visible. You saw the digging coming up. The surface is lighter, but if you dig it is red. The vine are between 30 and 35 years old.”

The significance of the respective soils, the terroirs overall, on the resulting wine will be explicated in a later post. For now we drove to the winery itself where I was to meet the formidable Arnaldo and his wife Monique, equal partners in all the winemaking labors. They had prepared a deep tasting of vintages and bottlings from respective terrace terroirs. A full account of this part of the visit will be written at a later date. Suffice to say for now that their hospitality and generosity was very well regarded by this traveler. I thank them. To their son, Lucien, rugby player, my narrator and teacher, and to his lovely American friend, Eileen, I, too, offer my humblest thanks for the nearly three hours they sacrificed for me.

Admin

The Terroirs Of Cahors, A Brief Primer

Admin, Ken Payton — Tue, 18 May 2010 08:05:35 +0000

A city and its people offer to the traveler the opportunity to learn as much or as little as they wish. However, for the wine writer there is much less latitude. Cahors is a demanding AOC. There can be little true understanding without the writer’s submersion into its dizzying terroirs. As noted in an earlier post, the wines of Cahors have long been welcomed at my table. Yet choice of her wines in America has long been seriously limited. So it was that I attended a Cahors tasting in San Francisco and was spiritually transported by the rich variety. Yet even then, despite my many conversations with the patient producers attending, I could not begin to guess at the terroirs expressed, the real source of the differences. Now that I am in Cahors for the Malbec Days festival, I can begin to get answers to the new questions the San Francisco tasting awakened in me. Little could I have guessed the extraordinary lesson waiting around the next turn.

Wandering the streets of old Cahors in a jet-lagged fog early Monday morning, I saw a sign pointing to the Maison du Vins de Cahors. Just across from the train station, I walked in, barged in, if you like, and began to explore the sober working space. I was directed to the main office where I was introduced to the remarkable Jean-Marie Sigaud, President of the Union Interprofessionelle du Vin de Cahors (UIVC). With the assistance translating offered by Juliette and Maxim, I enjoyed a conversation that essentially threw me into the deep end of the pool, no more so than when I was introduced to The Map, the graphic depiction of the terroirs of Cahors. The work product of many days and hands by the Geographic Institute of the University of Toulouse, The Map, pictured below, is the non-plus-ultra of a terroirist’s education.

I shall leave the explication of its complexities for a later post. But I will say that there are 9 different terroirs classified. From the four alluvial zones, also known as the terraces, to the two different types of limestone covered slopes, up to the plateau, itself of three soil varieties. Even a cursory glance at The Map below reveals the enormous combinations afforded the winemaker, all given by the Lot’s graceful meander. Much more to come…

Admin Just how many producers are expected for the event?

Jean-Marie Sigaud We expect around 400 producers.

And of those producers, will small ones be present as well?

J-M Sigaud Not all of them. Those producing under 500 hectoliters will not be present. There are about 150 producers in the AOC making below that amount.

And where are Cahors wines sold?

J-M Sigaud You have three different markets: Export, around 20%; supermarkets make up 60%; 20% direct including tasting rooms, to tourists who come directly to the Domaine, private sellers, open markets, salons in different cities…

Why is it so difficult to find Cahors’ wines in America?

J-M Sigaud (laughs) Until 4 or 5 years ago production and consumption were balanced in the local market. Now, it is that the French drink less, not only of Cahors wine but of all wines. French people are drinking less wine. So we decided to go and begin greater exports the the United States and China.

Has there been any negative feedback from the use of the word ‘Malbec’? Traditionally the grape was called Côt or Auxerrois regionally. Some traditionalists, even in the US, think that this may be principally for marketing purposes.

J-M Sigaud There are three names. Auxerrois used to be the most used name of the grape. Traditionally it was Auxerrois. And technically it is called Côt, but more generally it is now called Malbec. So if you go to Bordeaux we will talk about Malbec because they don’t know the word ‘Auxerrois’. They don’t know what it is. We use the word Malbec because it is more internationally known. Auxerrois is only known here.

Those of us who love Cahors wines get a little bit worried that the closer one steps toward the general name most closely associated with Argentina, maybe the closer will become the winemaking techniques. We worry that the wines of Cahors will get softer, easier to drink when young. We like the purity of the Cahors expression.

J-M Sigaud The Malbec of Cahors will always reflect the difference of terroir. It will never be like the Argentine. Here we have enough rain. In Argentina they have to irrigate. We have six different terroirs in the Cahors appellation. You therefore have differences in quality.

You have the river, the first terrace, second and third. Each time you go into a deep bend in the river then you have this configuration. But you don’t have this configuration on both sides. Each time the river bends you will have a cliff on one side of the river and you will have terracing on the other.

Well, that is very helpful!

J-M Sigaud The best terroir is the third terrace and the plateau, between 200 and 300 meters high. The river itself is 120 meters above sea level. Would you like to know the nature of the terroir? Where the river flows you have this rich alluvial soil, a flood plain. That’s why it’s not very good for the Cahors vines; it is too rich. And you have the terraces which are the slopes of exposed earth over time. So, you have on one side of the river a cliff and plateau; on the other, the hillside slopes, the terraces exposed by erosion, all of which are of a different soil type and composition. In addition you have the North and the South. The North receives less sun than the South, so the South is preferred.

And there is the plateau; it is of clay, red clay. There are two types, red and white. The best terroir is red clay. We have a press document, but you are here before it is ready! The AOC is 50 kilometers long; the river makes it longer! It is about 4 or 5 kilometers wide.

And that is what you came here for; to find the difference between Argentina and Cahors?

Yes and no. I want to deepen my readers’ understanding of Cahors wines because Argentina is so much more present in the marketplace. I would like to move that in another direction, to get people to taste Cahors wines. People just don’t know Cahors. And I fear, which is to say, I know, that the Cahors style, its powerful terroir expression, and wines of similar strengths, are not well represented in America. I think Robert Parker, Coca Cola, fast food, and sweets have a lot to do with it. There are many who feel as I do. We’re looking for wines of greater finesse and character, terroir wines. We’re looking for difference. The wine of Cahors, certainly for me, and I think for others, is very much that wine.

J-M Sigaud Merci. The production of good Cahors wine is between 40 and 50 hectoliters per hectare. And the vine density is about 4,500 per hectare. About 80% is Malbec, 15% Merlot, and 5% Tannat.

And the rootstock of the vines?

J-M Sigaud In the ’70s the rootstock was SO4, and in the ’80s we had a lot of Riparia, 3309 and 41B, with a little bit of Richter [110]. And since the year 2000 we’ve used Fercal on the limestone soils of the plateau. Each producer had to take the good rootstock depending on where he was situated. It really depends on each parcel.

The harvest is around October 1st. And the harvesting degree will be between 12.5% to more than 14% of alcohol. Of course, you’ll have higher alcohol on the south side. Then you have the savoir-faire of the winemaker. The grapes will be mature, more or less, between the 1st and the 15th of October. Each producer has to decide when he wants to harvest. The more he waits, the greater the alcohol. In Cahors, despite the alcohol level, the biggest difference is the terroir in which the vines grow. Machine harvesting is done over 90% of the area with the best wines harvested by hand. Some of the producers even select individual grapes. At least one of them!

Does the Merlot mature at the same time as the Malbec?

J-M Sigaud Tannat after, Merlot a little bit before; three passes through the vineyard. The rootstock has an influence on the ripening.

I was then generously invited to lunch, but not before I laid eyes on an extraordinary map pictured above. The product of the Geographic Institute of the University of Toulouse, it is an extremely fine hand-painted representation of Cahors’ diversity. It is clear to see, once the geological principles are grasped, that Cahors AOC wines have an infinite number of expressive possibilities.
And while at lunch Jean-Marie Sigaud selected three wines from the restaurant menu, each to show how these elements bear upon the black wine in the glass, in this instance the terraces to plateau. Each of the wines, grown very near one another as the crow flies , was from an increasingly high elevation: Chateau Gaudou, Chateau Nozières, and Clos Troteligotte respectively. Though all three were very good, it was the last, Clos Troteligotte, made by the Christian Rybinski, that possessed the greatest electricity and finesse. It is from a plateau terroir, and continues a family tradition.

The conversation continued over lunch:

Do you enjoy your work as president of UIVC?

J-M Sigaud (laughs) It is a passion. The wine makes me crazy because it is such a passion, such a love for the wine. I don’t want to leave.

Are you elected to your position?

J-M Sigaud I’ve been president for 23 years, elected by the winemakers. In 2013 I will likely be leaving my position. But I am really not sure.

Well, it’s a very important time for Cahors wine. Surely they need a steady, experienced hand.

J-M Sigaud The most important thing is to meet a lot of winemakers because they all have a lot of differences between themselves. My politics is based on difference; it is difference that makes exemplary the culture of Cahors wine. Eighty percent of our winemakers are independent and 20% are in the cooperative. That is why we can have such different wines. One thing to remember is that when speaking to winemakers be sure to get your terroirs straight! (laughs) Especially for me.

Nowadays viticultural consultants speak only about the facts as they see them. To speak about terroir is not important to them. Nobody is interested in that! You are the first one to come here and ask to learn about our terroirs. (laughs)

The world has gone crazy!

J-M Sigaud Yes! You can’t speak about wine if you can’t speak about terroir. For many a wine is only a cépage and not a terroir. But here there is a new trend. Producers in Cahors want to underline the point that terroir is very important. Until now it was considered only a second thing, not the most important. Now it is both a cépage and a terroir.

Are négociants as interested in terroir here?

J-M Sigaud Yes, completely. The négociant makes a selection of different wines considering their terroirs. And they put the individual terroir on the label of the bottle. It’s a part of their communication with the public. Here it is very important.
A last word about these wines, [the ones we were drinking at lunch]. The basic principle is this: The further we leave the river, the better the terroir.

To make wine is a very personal thing. Each wine is like a portrait of a producer and his vineyard. The winemakers you want to meet here are those who while doing their job live for their passion.

END

Specific details of the multiple terroirs to come. But first I must enjoy my dessert.

Admin

Pathogenic Fungi, The Search For A Green Solution

Admin, Ken Payton — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 06:27:46 +0000

Pathogenic fungi are among agriculture’s most durable and destructive pests. Botrytis Bunch Rot (Botrytis cinerea) in grape and strawaberry, Early Blight in tomato and potato, Powdery Mildew in grape, cucurbit, lettuce, Downy mildew, Late Blight (Phytophthora infestans), to name but a very few, have led to the development of an equally vast array of fungicides. Many are toxic, in varying degrees, to a broad spectrum of aquatic life, beneficial insects including honey bees and wasps, beneficial soil microbes, non-targeted crops and flora biodiversity in general, not to mention farm workers, their children, those with compromised immune systems, and eventually the consumer at large. Over the years the fungicide industry has become increasingly regulated with the resulting ban of a long list of formerly promising products. Hence, the search goes on for new and innovative bio-chemical fungicidal interventions to meet the ever-pressing demand for sustainable crop yields to feed a hungry world.

Indeed, it is not too much to say that the modern history of fungicidal products well outnumber the targeted fungi by factors of ten. The reason is at once both simple and bewilderingly complex. All agricultural pests, whether virus, bacteria, insect or fungi, have multiple growth stages, multiple defenses and weaknesses at each of these stages, all have a local agri-cultural ecosystems where their pestilential fortunes may rise or fall; they frequently require vectors and all have various and specific adaptive responses, importantly, genetic responses. Take a look at the University of California’s Integrated Pest Management list of fungicides for wine grapes alone (partially reproduced here). Note the variety of Chemical Classes and of Modes of Action. Each responds to some aspect or combination of aspects of the targeted fungi’s life cycle, whether systemic or by contact.

Now, to go a bit deeper into just one fungal pathogen, Botrytis cinerea, the causal agent of Bunch Rot, I turn to a truly magnificent scientific paper, Alternatives to synthetic fungicides for Botrytis cinerea management in vineyards found in a recent issue of the Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research. The paper exhaustively recounts multi-dimensional, non-synthetic approaches to this single pathogen. To begin with, there is biological control, itself subdivided into ‘classical, inundative and conservation’. To define each in turn, I quote (pg.187):

Classical: “The intentional introduction of an exotic, usually co-evolved biological control agent for permanent establishment and long term pest control.”

Inundative: “The use of living organisms to control pests when control is achieved exclusively by the released organisms themselves.”

Conservation: “Modification of the environment or existing practices to protect and enhance specific natural enemies or other organisms to reduce the effect of pests.”

We may then read about Essential and Mineral Oils, Plant Hormones, Abiotic Stimulants, and Plant Extracts, Compost Extracts, Microbial Induction, Canopy Management, and Local Environment Manipulations. The paper concludes,

“A change from current viticultural practices, heavily dependent on synthetic fungicides, is inevitable. Fungicide resistance, market and regulatory pressure regarding residues and concerns of environmental and human health are increasing, so new management techniques will need to be adopted.”

As is abundantly evident, the matter of fungus control properly becomes a creative, open-ended agricultural project of applying as many relevant biological parameters and mechanisms as possible at once. And this project is by no means limited to Botrytis. The concept of fungicide resistance is a case in point. Whether through misapplication, overuse, or the absence of an integrated pest management program, resistance is, to be sure, given a helping hand. But even under more responsible agricultural pest management regimes, resistance to fungicides is a constant threat. From the paper (though slightly outdated) Understanding fungicide resistance, by Robert Beresford

“The change in the pathogen from being sensitive to a fungicide to being resistant involves a genetic change which is passed on to successive generations of the fungus. To understand how resistance arises we must think of the pathogen in a crop as a population consisting of a mixture of strains which differ in their sensitivity to the fungicide. Some strains in the population may be so resistant that they cannot be controlled by normal application rates of the fungicide. Use of the fungicide therefore kills the sensitive strains but not the resistant ones, and over a period of time the resistant ones come to dominate.”

So, in light of all the above, and on this, the eve of Earth Day, I would like to bring to readers attention a novel research invention currently undergoing field trials. The inventors: DE SEIXAS BOAVIDA FERREIRA, Ricardo Manuel [PT/PT]; Rua Professor Reinaldo Dos Santos 12-2º D (PT). VALADAS DA SILVA MONTEIRO, Sara Alexandra [PT/PT]; Rua Professor Moisés Amzalan 16-5º B (PT). NASCIMENTO TEIXEIRA, Artur Ricardo [PT/PT]; Rua João De Barros 5-4º B (PT). BORGES LOUREIRO, Virgílio [PT/PT]. From the patent,

“This invention is related to the extraction of a protein from the seeds, cotyledons or plantlets of Lupinus genus, as well as to the way of producing it in recombinant form and of expressing it in genetically modified plants. Due to the exceptional characteristics exhibited by this protein in what concerns: its potent antifungal and anti-Oomycete activity, which confers great potential to the protein as a fungicide, (2) its strong plant growth promoter activity, particularly notorious on unhealthy or naturally weakened plants, (3) its extreme resistance to denaturation, which allows the use of the protein under field conditions, (4) its great susceptibility to proteolytic attack, which makes it harmless to the environment and nontoxic for man, and (5) its well balanced amino acid composition. It is claimed its use, or of any modification of the protein that maintains its biological properties, as a supplement in human or animal nutrition and as a fungicide, insecticide, growth promoter, fertilizer or in the preparation of genetically modified organisms.”

Currently labeled Problad, how then does this invention differ from chemical fungicides? Absent is toxicity to animals and the environment; no safety intervals are required, neither is protective clothing required; there is little likelihood of the development of fungal resistance; and it is active against a wide range of fungal pathogens. Indeed, of its wide spectrum in vitro tests reveal “It exhibits a potent anti-fungal activity towards all fungal species tested so far (>40)”. (Unpublished broadside) In vivo trials are underway on eight fungal pathogens with, I am told, great success. Fungi and plants are as follows:

Vitis vinifera (grapevine):
- Powdery mildew (Eryshiphe necator)
- Botrytis bunch rot (Botrytis cinerea)

Almond
- Brown rot/Blossum blight (Monilinia laxa)
- Shot Hole (Stigmina carpophila)

Tomato
- Powdery mildew (Leveillula taurica)
- Botrytis cinerea
- Early blight of tomatoes (Alternaria solani)
- Alternaria blight (A. alternata)

Strawberry
- Botrytis Fruit Rot (Botrytis cinerea)
- Powdery mildew (Sphaerotheca macularis)

Cucumber
- Powdery mildew (Erysiphe cichoracearum)

Olive
- Colletotrichum gloeosporioides
- Colletotrichum acutatum

Without getting overly technical, let me add that the Lupinus albus polypeptide isolate, with respect to its anti-fungal properties, binds strongly to chitin and displays chitosanase catalytic activity. Normally associated with the exoskeletons of insects and crustaceans, chitin is also the main structural component of the cell walls of fungi. The product works, therefore, by breaking down this cellular structure and destroying the fungus.

Of its other activity as a growth promoter, its in vivo success rate via field trials, details of its precise recombinant expression in selected crops, and its ability to extend the life of harvested produce, cereal grains, legumes etc., both in storage and in the market, these subjects will have to wait for elaboration in the fullness of time. I am promised, however, that I shall be provided such information. I will be sure to pass it along to my readers.

For further reading on up-to-the-minute research on resistance please visit Fungicide Resistance Action Committee (FRAC).

For an entertaining gloss on Lupins see this.

Admin

Dr. Richard Smart On Viticultural Adaptation and Climate Change

Admin, Ken Payton — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 05:29:28 +0000

Dr. Richard Smart, the ‘flying vine doctor’, is among the top viticulturalists and vineyard consultants in the world. His list of intellectual accomplishments over the 45 years of professional work include numerous publications, including the industry standard Sunlight Into Wine, innovations in trellising and canopy management, (Smart-Dyson), a wall of awards and the enduring respect of colleagues world-wide. His appropriately named vineyard consulting business, Smart Viticulture, focusses on where to situate a vineyard and what grape varieties are suitable to grow.

The basic questions he answers for prospective wine growers are: “Which viticultural region in the world most closely matches your vineyard’s climate? Which varieties can you expect to do well in your vineyard? What are the risks of botrytis? What is the risk of frost?”

It an approach heavily dependent on homoclime analysis. From his website:

A homoclime is a place with a climate similar to your region. Imagine how it could guide you in your variety choice if you knew the closest homoclimes to your property around Australia and indeed, around the world. Our homoclime analysis concentrates on temperature and rainfall. We have a massive data base of climate data available from all around the world. As well we can access information showing which varieties grow in which regions. We have developed statistical methods to search out the closest homoclimes to your region.

A final note. This interview, conducted some time ago, suffered a technical obstacle only recently overcome. I have only recently been able to recover the audio file. The resulting text, though well over 90% complete, is nevertheless missing small passages I was unable to reconstruct with complete confidence. However, owing to the importance of Dr. Smart to viticultural practice, a subject dear to my heart, and his important reflections on climate change, I felt it necessary to insist the interview finally appear. Enjoy.

Admin Good afternoon, Dr. Smart. Thank you for agreeing to speak with me.

Richard Smart Tell me a bit about yourself.

Oh. Well, I’ve worked in a small winery for a few years. I’m primarily a fiction writer. But fiction is hard to write. So I started a wine industry blog to keep my hand in the game. So I’ve gone from one form of obscurity to another!

RS To one form of fiction to another, I’d say, since wine writing is largely fictional. But don’t let my cynicism get in the way of a good conversation! (laughs) Do you make any money out of your blog?

No, I don’t monetize, as is said. It is an entirely personal love of mine. And as I’ve often wanted to speak with many important people in the wine world, I have found a wine blog to be a credible pretext. Sharing with readers is a no-brainer. But I would like to ask you a question!

RS Well, I’m pleased to help you. You might be able to help by including my contact data.

Of course. I’ve just returned from Portugal. I read on your website that you have worked there. May I ask what you think of some of the traditions of Portuguese winemaking?

RS I think they’re interesting. I don’t normally involve myself in winemaking, but I have spent a bit of time in the Douro and have seen some of the old techniques, if that’s what your thinking of.

How do you understand the concept of ‘tradition’? Does it figure into your viticultural analysis of a region?

RS Yes, very much, particularly in Europe. One of the important things in Europe is the regional use of varieties and how it differs from place to place. I think what we can learn of that is that the ones selected will do well in those regions, particularly in those climates. What we don’t know is how well those same varieties might do in different regions or climates. I’ll give the example of Albariño, which, as you know, is in northern Portugal and northwestern Spain, Galicia. It is an outstanding and exciting variety, very aromatic. One would assume it would do best in similar climates, and that they were rather cool and wet. But, in fact, I’ve seen several examples around the world where it has done well in quite hot, dry climates, which is unusual for varieties that have Terpenes, like Albariño.

Speaking of hot climates, about the matter of climate change in, for example, Spain and Australia. You have a very expansive homoclime analysis database on your website. Could you tell me generally what climatic trends or shifts you have discovered over recent years?

RS Let’s be quite clear. I do not study climate change. The data base that I have was primarily derived world-wide from the period 1971 to 2000. Climate data is normally 30 year averages. And I do not study changes. I just use that database to seek homoclimes. However, other people who have studied such databases do find evidence of shifts over the last 30 years or so. Greg Jones in Oregon talks quite a bit about that. I suppose you know about him?

Yes. [Though conducted after this interview, please see my interview series with Greg Jones here.] Casual conversations with experienced vineyard managers and hands-on winemakers here in California make it clear that they are noticing climate change, assuming they’ve been in the business for a while. And equally I know of winegrowers in Montana who report bud break and harvest up to 2 weeks earlier.

RS Yes. I am surprised by that magnitude, but changes have been detected in many places. The study of temperatures has shown that they are going up. And, indeed, it stands to be a major issue. One of the things that the California wine business should be doing is looking for cooler wine regions. They exist. And I know where they are. Many people do who have access to the data.

Places like the Napa Valley will become less suitable for growing premium wine. One advantage that California has is to have that enormous refrigerator in the form of the sea, which is a very cold current. So, as well as a move to more northern latitudes and to higher elevations, you move toward the coast.

Have you been contacted by winegrowers in cooler weather climates further North? Jancis Robinson recently said there are vineyards now in Norway. Do you have a special expertise in cooler climates?

RS No. But I do consult in Denmark.

I’m trying to grasp your understanding of climate change. *Dan Berger, who I interviewed some months ago, is a bit of sceptic….

RS Climatologist, Dan Berger. (laughs)

If you talk to farmers, whether of wheat, vegetables or grapes, they often have stories, though anecdotal by scientific standards, of their personal experience of climate change. What accounts for this strange disconnect between what the practical grower of any agricultural product knows and what some wine critics believe?

RS Well, I compare most wine journalists to fiction writers, as I told you before. If it was a crime to purvey myths they’d all be writing from inside jails. I mean, what the hell would Dan know about climate change? There are people who are skeptical about it, and good luck to them if that’s what they want to believe. But there are many others that are convinced by it. The fact that the doubt exists I put down to the one side being uninformed, and optimistic.

Australia is a special case. Many dire scenarios have been spun about the very survival of the wine industry, that it may collapse at some future date…

RS Well, it won’t collapse. Collapse is not a term I would use. The question is whether they will adapt. In my opinion the Australian mind set is currently doing a rather poor job informing itself about what it should do. My job today is to write an article on that, to say how misdirected the research is. We’ve got decades to get these things right. And we know what to do!

You can say it very simply: Present cool-to-warm regions will be OK, but they will lose their reputations for certain varieties; and in time they may develop new reputations for varieties currently grown in regions warmer than theirs at present. For example, the Napa Valley might become known for Grenache. It most certainly will struggle to hold its reputation as a quality Cabernet producer. That much is clear. There is no doubt about that.

So it’s not just what’s happening to cool-to-warm regions; we need to find new cool regions, as I said before. But that’s alright. We can find them. The problem is the present hot regions. As you know, when you drive down the San Jaochin Valley there comes to be a point when you don’t grow wine grapes anymore. You grow table grapes and raisins. That point is going to move up the valley.

One thing we can do, and we should do, is to breed new varieties that suit hot climates. That’s my suggestion about what we should be doing. There should be an international effort involving South Africa, Australia, Spain, Portugal, France, all those countries that have hot climates so that will become untenable for wine production unless we get new varieties. And I have no doubt that we can breed them. I also have no doubt that it would be a waste of money if we look to the molecular biologists to produce them. They will promise them, of course, but they are long on promises and short on delivery. And then we need some imaginative names, and these various regions will be fine.

Like Pinotage, for example. It was bred for a warm climate.

RS Pinotage is an example of a variety that is bred with classical techniques, like Ruby Cabernet that Olmo bred. There are many examples. The Germans have been doing this very well for the last 50 years to produce varieties suitable for cool climates There are not many people doing it for warm climates. We can do it. And that’s what we should be doing.

I also have to say that some go on about clones and rootstocks; I personally don’t believe they have much impact. There is not much we can do with irrigation; there is not much we can do with canopy management. It will boil down to using varieties adapted to the new climate.

Yes. And do you think the industry is capable of making rapid progress? For example, after the fires broke out in Australia earlier this decade the scientific research on smoke taint accelerated. In a matter of a few years great progress had been made in the treatment of tainted grapes.

RS True. We certainly have the scientific means to do it. With all the other political and social problems to follow, developing wine grapes adapted to hot climates might be the least of our worries in the eyes of governments.

Genetic engineering, a very sexy science currently, has made considerable inroads into universities…

RS Yes, I know. They have all around the world. And as I’ve said, they’re long on promises, short on delivery.

But that’s where so many research dollars go. Simpler, more basic approaches don’t seem to have the same ’star power’ as genetic engineering.

RS People have been crossing plants for hundreds of years. That’s what we should be doing. I have a joke about molecular biologists breeding a new Chardonnay suitable for hot climates. So they put the genes into a cactus which is adapted to hot climates. But the Chardonnay wine tasted like Tequila! (laughs)

Thank you very much, Dr. Smart.

RS Thank you.

—–

For further reading: —Terroir Unmasked

* An important clarification from Dan Berger: “I have definite opinions about climate change (not ‘warming’), which come directly from scientists on climate change and reflect their research into this phenomenon. They have convinced me that climate change is real and a major threat to the world. I am not a scientist. I am a reporter. As such I report, and my opinions (for instance on climate change) are based more on what scientists I have interviewed say about it.”

My characterization of Mr. Berger as a ‘bit of a skeptic’ was based on a misunderstanding, since clarified, of remarks he made in the course of our March, 09 interview, which may be found here.

Admin

A Wine With No Name, Brief Notes on Pico Viticulture

Admin, Ken Payton — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 06:40:13 +0000

We met home winemaker Augusto Silva just as he had returned from the day-long labor of planting a single vine. He had carried heavy bags of soil and a cutting to his vineyard on the North coast of Pico Island, nearly a mile’s walk from his home. There, with an iron pick, he repeatedly struck the boot-shredding volcanic stone until he had pulverized a hole deep enough for the cutting. After tossing in handfuls of dirt, the vine followed, an Azores Verdehlo, for on Pico white grapes, including Arinto and Terrantez, are king. This is Azorean viticulture. And it has been done this way for more than 500 years.

There are no rivers on Pico, and so what weathering of the basalt that has occurred over the island’s geo-history is the direct result of wind and sand transport, rain, changes in temperature, and, most spectacularly, the hand of man. Two types of ’soil’ are generally recognized: chão de lajido, essentially fractured rock with a bit of finer, sandy grit, and bagacina, with just a little bit more unconsolidated material. And that’s it.

From the photos immediately above and below you’ll note the complex network (to the outsider, a maze) of walls of varying heights. The walls serve a triple purpose: to protect the vines from the wind, to warm them, and to demarcate ownership. With the exception of small experimental plots of Cabernet, Merlot and one or two other red varieties, there is no trellising. The vines sprawl across the surface of the rock, the grape bunches, later in the season, propped up by special sticks after the manner of Colares’ Ramisco vineyards.

The typical traditional vineyard architecture may be broken down as follows. First there is the vineyard block, often, but not always, containing plots owned by multiple individuals. These are the highest walls, typically 6 feet and of double thickness, enclosing a series of shorter walled Jarão, themselves subdivisions made up of Canadas, specific groupings of plots. The last division of note here are the Currais, individual plots.

To illustrate this approximately, imagine a checkerboard. That would be the vineyard. The Jarão would be the board halved; a Canada, the rows; and the Curral (singular), the individual checker squares.

However confusing at first glance, the ingenuity of this sheltering geometry is immediately evident when a cold Atlantic wind blows at 25 mph, a common occurrence throughout the Portuguese archipelago.

It is somewhere within this lattice that Augusto Silva toiled this stormy February morning. Upon entering his small adega (I would estimate it capable of producing maybe 400 cases), he told us the story of his economic life. Among the most telling confessions was this:

“In the old days, whoever had an adega like mine would be a very wealthy person, nowadays I make barely enough to pay for the vineyard upkeep.”

Of course, there are numerous winegrowers with marginally better chances to advance their brilliant wines. And the Cooperativa Vitivinícola da Ilha do Pico, the local cooperative, has made great strides in marketing Pico’s award winning wines, this despite the generational gap, a gap which rudely asks what young person would be willing to assume this labor. But of Augusto Silva’s future I cannot guess. I can only wish him well. And to gather friends to celebrate his beautiful wine, a bottle of which he gave me upon our departure. The very bottle he holds in his hand.

Admin

VITIOUREM, The Struggle To Save A Medieval Wine

Admin, Ken Payton — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 06:10:41 +0000

“It’s a crazy world.” Such is the concluding sentiment of André Gomes Pereira, winemaker, businessman and President of VITIOURÉM. He is, too, a bit of a philosopher. I have met many people in preparation for the documentary I will be a part of later this year. And in many of the regions we have visited, Virgilio Loureiro, Nuno Sequeira and yours truly, we have come away with the question unsettled as to whether we are filming the beginning of a renaissance or catching the last light, the sundown of multiple Portuguese (viti)cultures. André Gomes Pereira is exactly the right soul to talk with in moments of doubt. He is a young man who has taken the proper measure of the Ourém wine region’s opportunities. A man of refreshing candor, tireless, his eyes wide open, he is just the fighter for this battle. It is an honor to know him.

Admin Hello, André. This is Ken calling from California.

Andre Gomes Pereira Hi, Ken. It’s good to speak with you again.

Shall we get right to it? So tell me about the organization VITIOUREM.

AGP VITIOUREM is an association that was put together in 2000 with the objective to promote, protect, and to legalize the Medieval wine that has been produced in our region for 800 years. It had become illegal, the winemaking method of the Cistercian monks. We felt it was necessary to create strict rules to preserve the method; but also to preserve our culture as winegrowers, to maintain a unique wine that was disappearing. The work with the politicians through 2000 to 2005 finally got the law changed. We are now allowed to produce that wine.

So the law or exemption was finally passed.

AGP Yes. In 2005 it was approved after five years of fighting against the big lobbies and the politicians that didn’t understand this wine. When the wine goes out to all the markets it is seen as something completely different. But when we talked to the Agricultural Ministry they told us that our wine was not good because it would not have had a productive enough economical impact for grow! But we thought the opposite. It is not necessary to sell one million bottles to make a profit. But this wine is not just about profits. It is also about maintaining our culture and preserving the historical heritage of our ancestors.

What exactly was illegal about the winemaking method?

AGP We couldn’t mix white grapes and red grapes in the percentage the method requires. In Europe we can mix up to 50% white grapes in reds. But we do a different percentage. We mix 80% of white with 20% of red. But before 2005 we were prevented by law from doing that, even though we have been doing it this way for more than 800 years. It was when we as a country entered what was called the European Community at the time, now the European Union (EU), that in one moment, with one stroke of the pen, a once legal wine became illegal. This was because nobody knew of or understood our wine. The moment we were forced to follow the rules out of Brussels, our wine became illegal.

Everyone in our region laughed at the regulation. And when the government said, from the beginning of the 90s, that we were doing a wine that was illegal, my uncle said they had better build a very big prison because you will have to arrest us all. For this is how we have been making wine all of our lives. We are going to do it this way until we die. The region does not know how to produce another wine.

How many growers are we talking about in the region? And where exactly is the region located?

AGP The region is in Ourém; it is very near Fatima, in the center of Portugal. It is about 100 to 150 kilometers from Lisbon, the capitol of Portugal. We are talking about 2,000 to 2,500 winegrowers in the region, all very, very small wine producers. Every family has a small estate where they grow a few vines or have small vineyard. The biggest percentage of what they make is for family consumption, to drink in their houses. So we have a very large number of very small wineries. Making Medieval wine and following all the rules, at the present moment we (Vitiourem) have about 15 producers signed up, with vineyards certified by us. It is through the rule-based certification that the wines may then be labeled and put into the market as Medieval wine.

Do the winegrowers work within a cooperative or are many of them under private labels?

AGP It is private labels. Unfortunately, the cooperative of our region went bankrupt two years ago. Right now it is all the small producers, mainly small producers from the region, except for Quinta do Montalto, my estate, we are one of the biggest. We believe that this wine must prevail in order for the region develop.

How much wine is produced by the average grower? And just how large are their properties, their vineyards?

AGP The average vineyard properties are about a few hundred square meters of land. For Medieval vineyards, we are talking about a maximum of 40,000 square meters, so, 4 hectares at the most per producer. And as far as volume in liters per year for all Medieval wines, right now we are talking about from 100,000 to 200,000 liters. It depends a lot on the year, but it is usually closer to 100,000 than 200,000 liters.

When I was there I saw some growers selling their wines in bulk, I guess you could call it. Folks would come by with various containers and fill up directly from the barrels. And there are others who actually bottle. Can you tell us the economic and cultural differences between those two approaches, and also where in Portugal these Medieval wines may be found?

AGP The wines from the region were traditionally sold in five liter glass containers. But that market is becoming more and more competitive in Portugal. So one of our marketing strategies is to stop selling like that, and start bottling. That will be a huge step forward for the small wineries. They are not use to doing that. They don’t know how to sell the wine in bottles. They have problems with labeling, following all the rules; it is a difficult process, one that VITIOURÉM is helping the small producers with.

In Portugal we find Medieval wines mainly in the immediate region. There are a few shops in Lisbon that carry our wines, but it is mainly in restaurants and hotels, again, mainly in the Fatima and Ourém region, in the center of the country. Because we have small quantities to sell, we haven’t yet made the jump to sell outside Portugal. However, in a year or two, maybe three at the maximum, we will have the need to find new markets outside of Portugal.

For the small producer it would be very expensive to purchase their own bottling equipment, bottles, labels and labelers, and all the rest. How does VITIOURÉM propose to approach this matter? Are bottling machines shared, for example?

AGP That is one way to solve the problem. At the present moment we do the bottling by hand; not the best situation, but it is working. In the future we will have to get organized and have bottling equipment so that everyone can use it. It will always be a small machine we’d use, to minimize the risk. To get organized is the best way; we could then do the investment together.

One of the most important factors to save and sustain your regional wine culture is to receive fair prices. Bottling is a step in this direction. What are the up-front costs for many of the growers? And how much profit do you think is necessary to provide sustainability?

AGP The costs of production are very different from producer to producer. It is difficult to answer that question because the majority or winemakers don’t include the cost of their labor, or that of their families and friends during harvest. Just to calculate costs on what they do to manage the vineyards mainly in the Spring is very difficult as well, because some growers have to pay someone to do the pruning of the vineyards, and there are variable fuel costs and vineyard treatment costs, whether they create their own label, and so on.

And normally producing wine in our region is almost always a second income for the family. It is not their main economic activity. They work in the vineyard or on finishing wines only after the end of their main job, at the end of the day or on the weekends. They can be farmers, but they cannot make a living just from wine. They grow other things, but mainly they are outside agriculture. Agriculture is mainly done for their family’s consumption. So, normally they don’t have their costs calculated. It is very difficult to answer your question.

Of course, we know from experience that we can sell a single bottle of Medieval wine for more than they are use to getting for 5 liters of their wine. It can be as much as five times the usual price. I think this is the only way to have a fair price for their work. It is the only way to survive. Otherwise we cannot compete, not even within Portugal. And then when you look at the low prices of wines in the New World, it is absurd. The price of wines in Chile, for example, is unbelievable. So we cannot sell our wines at those same prices, not even within Portugal.

In Portugal we have high costs of production because often the vineyards are densely planted. Because of this the majority of work done within our vineyards must be done by hand. That alone enormously increases the price.

Yes. I well remember passing through the extraordinarily beautiful Espite Valley just how steep were those hills, how difficult was the terrain to work. We also saw many very old vines, along with many vineyards that appeared to have been simply abandoned. How much has been lost recently, or has your region reached a kind of equilibrium?

AGP The loss of vineyards has not stabilized. In the last 15 years we have lost an enormous number of vineyards in our region. The majority of the people were disappointed with the failure of the cooperative. They did not know where to sell the grapes. I have known that valley when it was almost full of vineyards. Right now if we look to that valley, it is a shame. We don’t see many new vineyards. The process of renovation is not happening. So I hope that we are in time to save that valley, that heritage, that magnificent landscape, with the forests on top, the vineyards in the middle, and the river and vegetable gardens at the base. It would be a tragedy, a pity to lose that landscape. Every year vineyards are being abandoned.

It is also the risk of losing an important part of Portuguese culture itself.

AGP More than 800 years of history, of a tradition, of a technique we may lose just because of economical factors. The wine is unique, it is good, the method is more than good, if I may say, but we are witnessing all over the world the massification of the winemaking process and the styles. To me the world of wine is going in the wrong direction, toward standardization, toward wines without soul, without history. Like Coca Cola or Pepsi, it is becoming always and everywhere the same, every year. To me, as a wine lover, I am becoming more and more tired of those wines, wines that don’t give us anything. Those are the wines prevailing throughout the world. It would be a shame to lose this Medieval wine in Portugal; it would be a great loss to our culture.

I am fighting very hard to stop that process. I would very much like to see again the Espite Valley covered with vineyards. To me, even if it would be in 50 years, I would very much like to see that happen. We will not give up. We will always be fighting against everything and everyone. Even this week [3/28/10] we had some difficulty with the bureaucracy, some paperwork. That is one of our major problems here, the bureaucracy and paperwork.
But I think this year we will have some nice wines to show the world. We are working hard on it.

Getting back to agricultural matters for a moment, can you give us a rundown of the grape varieties of the region, especially those used in Medieval wine?

AGP In Medieval wine we can only use Ferñao Pires, 80% of this white, and for the red, only Trincadeira, 20%. First we crop the white grapes from the vineyards. We take them to the cellar; they are crushed, and the juice is put into a wooden tank to 80% of its capacity. The fermentation starts. We then crop the red, and once back in the cellar, we de-stem and crushed two to three times a day by foot so that they are well macerated. We need to do this so that the grape juice grabs as much of the color and complexity from the skins of the grapes as we can. Then, almost at the end of the fermentation the red juice, with the skins, is put on top of the white juice still finishing its fermentation. The fermentation therefore completely ends with the mixture already made. Now that it is wine, the grape skins sink which is a kind of natural fining process. The wine will not then be good for drinking, but at the end of the year, January, February at the latest, it is ready to be served. In fact, for this year we have begun the bottling process.

And the crushing is still done in lagares?

AGP Yes. And the grapes are still crushed by foot two to three times a day.

And how is the wine aged?

AGP The wine stays in the wooden barrel until late February and shortly thereafter bottled. It should be consumed in the same year of its production and bottling. The 2009 vintage should be consumed by the end of 2010. We have some experience with wines aged in bottle. Things go well for one or two years. But after that wine begins to lose some of its important characteristics that we like. So the wine is meant to be drunk very, very young.

I remember very well the wine from one adega where we also ate figs. A better combination of flavors I have never enjoyed! It was strangely exalting. I’m quite serious. Never have I better experienced a more sublime pairing. And I get around!

AGP Yes, with dry figs and dry raisins it is fantastic. We have a traditional sweet here in the region that has some dry raisins in it. The combination is magnificent. The ranges of dishes that go well with Medieval wine is stunning. From fish to meats, even game meats, it is unbelievable. Dishes very strong with olive oils, sometimes difficult to pair with other wines, with our wine it goes very, very well. As we used to say in Portugal, it is an ‘all roads wine’, it goes everywhere.

Now, about farming practices. Are they ‘green’, as we say here in America? What kinds of herbicides or pesticides are used, if any?

AGP The great majority of producers practice organic viticulture. Some are certified while others could be certified if they applied. We work with the rich equilibrium in Nature so we don’t need to use strong agro-toxics. We are small estates mixed with other varieties of agriculture. A patch with various vegetables along with the promotion of regional biodiversity is there among the vines. For diseases or plagues, biodiversity is the best way to end that kind of problem; to have a mixture of plant life is best, and we have that naturally. So we don’t need to use agro-toxics. This is true of the big majority of our farmers. They could be certified organic if they sought it.

Just growing one product is not a good idea. We would lose the natural cleverness of ecosystems, and then we would have to do things that should not be allowed. We have to be in sympathy with Nature. We then don’t have to overcome what Nature is telling us to do. It is working with Nature, not against it. Having and encouraging diversity is fundamental.

I couldn’t agree with you more. How about a few words about Quinta do Montalto?

AGP Quinta do Montalto is a small family estate. At the present time, I am the 5th generation to be producing wine over there. We became organic producers in 1997. We don’t do just wines. We organically farm vegetables: potatoes, onions, carrots, everything. We do sun dried tomatoes and make jams. We use everything from the farm. As far as wines, we do normal reds and whites. But after talking with the family we have decided to invest a lot in Medieval wine. All of my ancestors did it that way. We never stopped doing that wine. I have an uncle who used to make the wine before me. He always did that wine for his family. So we knew how to do it. In fact, we are planting more vineyards to make that wine. We believe that this is the only way to survive in the wine world and wine industry. We are playing a major role in this process.

I am also the president of VITIOURÉM, and as so when we see positive things happening, when more and more winegrowers want to go back in time and return to practices they have always known, that is very, very rewarding, to me and to the families. I want to continue to invest in Medieval wine. I strongly believe that this is the only way forward for the agricultural sector of that region to survive. The agriculture of Portugal has developed so rapidly in the last 10 to 15 years that right now its only agro-industrial. That is not a process that remembers history. If the small farmer does not prevail then in a few years we will no longer have farmers in our region. We will have only big supermarkets where we will buy products from China, Brazil, or even Argentina. At the present moment it is a crazy world. It is a crazy world.

Thank you, André.

AGP Thank you, Ken. We look forward to the filming.

Admin

California Dept. of Corrections: A Celebration of Artisanal Prison Wines

Admin, Ken Payton — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 04:39:28 +0000

April 1st, 2010

In what it hopes will become an annual event, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has announced the first Cells Of Hope: A Celebration of Artisanal Prison Wines. The press release, posted just hours ago, calls upon ‘home’ winemakers currently residing in medium security penitentiaries throughout California to submit samples of their wines. A distinguished international panel of celebrity experts will then convene later this month on Alcatraz Island for an informal Lecture Series and Grand Tasting, capped by an Awards ceremony and raffle. The public is invited.

Award Categories include:

Best Fruit Wine
Best Non-Fruit Wine
Most Wine-Like Wine

Additional Technical Awards will be handed out for:

Best Label
Best Use of Clothing
Best Hiding Place
Most Creative Commissary Smuggle
Best Yeast Source

Award Winners will receive a year’s subscription to the Wine Advocate.

Lecturers will include Pancho Campo (subject to availability) on The Prison Wines of Iberia ; Gary Vaynerchuk on I KNOW Why the Caged Bird Tweets! Using Social Media To WIN Early Parole, Michel Rolland on Multi-Flush Toilet Micro-Oxygenation, and Robert Parker will close the evening with a talk on Boosting Alcohol Levels With Popular Candies.

From the official press release:

“Formerly hidden from view, ‘Pruno’, as it is affectionately known within our prison system, represents an untapped spirit of excellence that flows through the veins of nearly everyone within our walls. Cells of Hope: A Celebration of Artisanal Prison Wines aspires to promote the creativity of what may be accomplished with the simplest tools, food scraps, and lots of time.

In keeping with California’s long tradition of home winemaking, it seems only right to tap into a great and endlessly renewed pool of talent residing within our walls.”

Believed to be the first of its kind in United States history, well-known wine industry booster and program supporter Gov. Arnold Schwarzeneggar said today,

“Cells of Hope will not only reaffirm California’s special place in the wine world, but it will also highlight our state’s continued commitment to innovation. If it is not being done here, it is not worth doing.”

Asked of potential criticism of the event, Gov. Schwarzenegger said,

“Have you seen my poll numbers?”

At a hastily called news conference, California Dept. of Corrections spokesperson Dusty Dubois responded to the swarm of stinging state Republican tweets that the program would cost too much.

“Not a single dollar of taxpayer money will be spent on Cells of Hope. I am pleased to announce that the entire operational budget has been underwritten by none other than California’s own Fred Franzia of the Bronco Wine Company.”

Ms. Dubois added that Mr. Franzia had also assumed the responsibilities for the writing and free distribution of a bi-lingual handbook with the amateur winemaker/inmate in mind. Copies were provided to the assembled press corps, and among the many lavishly illustrated chapters there may be found,

— Don’t Throw That Away! Harnessing the Power of Wild Yeasts
— Moisture Is My Friend
— What’s With All the Bubbles?
— Common Juice Toxins and How to Detect Them
— Paper or Plastic? The Pros and Cons of Filtration Media
— I Don’t Want to Wait! The Beneficial Effects of Aging
— Trojans Or Aluminum Foil? The Closure Debate
— How To Be Greener In the Big House
— Happy Endings. Why Parker Points Matter
— Exercise Yard Terroirs

Late Breaking Development

Perhaps still smarting from the 1976 Paris Tasting smack down, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has late today announced a tentative agreement with California to participate in the Artisanal Prison Wines’ competition next year. Said Mr. Sarkozy, “We have many more winemakers in prison than does California. Victory will be ours!”

Admin

Last year’s effort: Robert Parker Accused of Wine Boarding.

Gregory V. Jones On Pests, Pathogens, and Parker

Admin, Ken Payton — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 05:38:44 +0000

This is the third and final part of my sterling interview with Climatologist Gregory V. Jones. Here he discusses many of the practical agricultural effects climate change ushers in. Behind general, global headlines, the noisy political debates, there are very real changes taking place that simply escape our immediate, everyday notice. However attractive as a spiritual philosophy, ‘living in the moment’ has a clear downside. For like the sailing stones of Death Valley, despite no one having seen the phenomenon, surely they do move.

On a different note, man is a pest and pathogen vector, of course. During the course of our talk the spotted wing drosophila (SWD) fly came up, one of the most recent destructive insects to invade the United States, in this instance in refrigerated containers from Asia. It is a pest about which I have written a number of times. Today an AP story crossed my desk about the wherefores and the whys of yet another invasive pest, the European Grapevine Moth. In this instance it is strongly suspected the bug was brought to Napa by a winegrower smuggling cane cuttings from France. What goes around, comes around.

Part 1 On Wine and Climate Change

Part 2 The Science and Politics of Climate Change

Admin Perhaps you could speak more about insects and new pathogens…

Gregory V. Jones This is all about environmental thresholds, but it is also tied to people. The environmental thresholds that we know basically say that a given vector or a given bacterium or disease, whatever it may be, has some kind of environmental component. It can’t exist where it is either too hot or too cold. Or where there is not enough moisture. And so, as temperature and moisture conditions change from place to place, what that does is it changes the environmental geographical patterns that any of these vectors, pests, bacterium, diseases can exist in. So it is a natural kind of consequence of changing climates. The compounding factor is when you throw in the human component, the fact that we move things around very efficiently through our vehicles and transport of material and goods. So while there might be some great geographical barriers to the movement of material, and I’ll Oregon as an example, the mountains of Northern California have been very good at keeping certain things out of our state. Some people would laugh and say it doesn’t fully keep the Californians out (laughs)…

Yeah. My family nearly moved to Oregon. We were not given a warm reception!

GJ So the idea would be that the geographical barrier there, the mountains and the cooler conditions, would keep out or hinder a lot of pest and/or diseases from potentially coming to Oregon. But because humans travel, and we carry things around with us, whether they be plant material or fruits or soils, we can take things with us and cause an issue that might not have been there otherwise. There are a lot of examples. Oregon right now is concerned about mealy bugs. Mealy bugs are known to be hitting California vineyards pretty hard right now in terms of carrying leaf-roll virus that is in some cases necessitating large re-plantings of vineyards. So Oregon is all about quarantining material. What happens when a grower goes down to visit his cousin in Lodi and grabs a bundle of cuttings and brings them up, and they’re infected, and plants them? That infected material gets moved around. And we have an issue.

This has happened very recently with the spotted wing drosophila (SWD) about which I’ve written. What began as an infestation in Washington cherries quickly spread through out the United States. Actually, it had already spread, having initially been imported from Asia to Florida. The speed of the fruit fly’s life cycle is subject to temperature. So if you import a fruit in refrigerated containers and distribute it to markets around the country, the degree to which the damaging effects of the new pest are unknown, the ruined fruit is simply discarded into dumpsters and landfills. Now you have SWD everywhere. So widespread has the pest become in so short time, that the USDA has decided that a quarantine would be of no practical use.

GJ Exactly. People are talking about it big time in Oregon right now as an issue for many of the berry crops we have up here. So if you think about it, people are part of the problem. But yet there are these environmental limits: if the climate becomes warmer, dryer, moister, whatever those requirements are, and it meets that insect’s or disease’s needs, it is going proliferate. We shouldn’t expect it to be this ideal world, that we’re never going to see movement and change of that kind of thing. It’s going to happen.

Many of these other consequences when one discusses climate change, insects, disease vectors, new epidemiological patterns, these don’t often enter into the debate. Talk centers on temperature almost exclusively.

GJ And you’re right. This goes back the perception based thing as I told you. The idea that we’re in the immediate here and now, human-based mental framework. If you say to somebody temperature have warmed 2 degrees over the last 20 years they’ll say ‘Well, that’s great! I’m really enjoying it!’ What they don’t understand are the underlying things that happen to us within our environment, with things like insects and/or pests, and/or water availability, soil erosion, soil salinity, all that kind of stuff. I think that there is a real issue there: The magnitude of that number [2 degrees], I’ve even been quoted about saying this, we have a number problem. We all talk about how temperatures have gone up by whatever it is, 1, 2, 3 degrees regionally, but it is that number that humans take to mean it’s no big deal. But they don’t understand the entire environmental ramifications of it.

Yes. In one of your co-authored articles there is an interesting detail mentioned in passing about wine styles. The Parker palate has often been cited as driving winemakers to produce higher alcohol, more fruit forward wines. But in one of your papers you refer to an author who states that as much a 50% of the high alcohol wines could potentially be attributed to climate change. Could you talk about this?

GJ This is kind of a statistical relationship. If you throw data variables into a pot and you try to find out what describes what amount of variability, that’s pretty much what falls out. But let me tell you what I think is the background, and I would tell Parker to his face the same thing. I’ve even seen him write somewhere that climate change hasn’t changed these styles, so to speak, but the issue comes down to this, and it’s pretty damn straight forward: In 1960, 1970, you couldn’t produce the same styles of wines in Napa that you produce today. Period. End of sentence. You just couldn’t do it! The climate was too cool, you couldn’t have extended hang time because the climate wouldn’t let you. Period. So, while Parker, the Parker palate has driven wine styles to be different today than they were in the ’70s, you can’t say that the climate and maybe some other factors didn’t come into play with it. If you tried to do the hang time that they’re doing today back in 1970, it would not happen. You look at the issue of methoxypyrozines [See pgs.87-88 of R. Jackson's Wine Science Admin], well, we’ve been able to kind of manage that, the green flavors, through a lot of different characteristics, but the reason methoxypyrozines were also more prevalent back in the ’70s and ’80s is because the climate didn’t ripen the damn fruit! I can’t believe that there are that many people out there that think that climate doesn’t mean anything in this puzzle. But yet they are willing to say that climate is very important for how they produce this delicate style, or whatever it may be.

On a slightly different tack, for many wine drinkers just to become acquainted with the broad strokes of a concept like terroir passes for a kind of knowledge. They are comfortable with knowing just that, and going no deeper. Most people believe that terroir is the agricultural equivalent of some horrid neo-romantic landscape, terroir as painted by Thomas Kinkade. That is as far as perception is willing to go.

GJ Here’s another thing I think about the nature of climate in parts of California, and I’ll use Napa as an example because I think it’s really played out there. So the fruit is being left out on the vine for a long time. What people are trying to do is get this ideal flavor profile relative to it. Well, the issue there is that if the grape was being grown in its ideal climate then sugar ripeness and flavor ripeness would happen at the same time. Arguably, most people would agree that would be the case. Most years sugar and flavor ripeness would happen at the same time. In some years a little variability might cause it to be a bit disconnected, but not disconnected to the point that you’ve got to ripen something to 28 degree brix while you’re waiting for this ideal flavor profile. That’s just overdone!
And part of what I think is producing some of this is the fact that the growing seasons are just quite different today than they were before. Minimum temperature have gone up tremendously. This causes a major difference in respiration and metabolism in the vine and in the fruit. I think that because minimum temperatures have gone up we’re seeing less and less green flavors than we ever have. But I also think what that does is that when nighttime temperatures… put it this way, when the diurnal temperature range is sufficient, cool nighttime temperatures sets in flavor development. That is the final cue for the vine and the berries to do their thing. And if you have a place where you’re growing grapes and the nighttime temperatures are elevated, and that cue to get sugar and flavor in line, if it doesn’t happen? Then you have to hang the fruit. You have to hang it for a long time.

I really think that is part of the puzzle. It’s probably a bigger issue for some varieties than for others. For example, Pinot Noir and Tempranillo are two varieties that just would not do very well in a high nighttime temperature environment, while Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot do a little bit better.

Yes. As I move toward a kind of finish, I was curious about your own drinking preferences.

GJ Honestly, I try everything. I don’t necessarily have the best palate in the world. Maybe I just haven’t figured out yet how to train it. But I think it’s pretty good. What I really, truly enjoy is the marriage of wine and food. I enjoy the fact that there many different styles and varieties of wine that contribute to that enjoyment. What I don’t like is wine that doesn’t go with food, that doesn’t have some kind of balance of alcohol relative to acidity. It just doesn’t work.

Of course, that is one of the difficulties with tasting notes and certainly scoring wines. It is just plain silly when one Cabernet after another requires that you essentially have a burned charcoaled steak every night. Wine is today often understood as a free-standing food in its own right. Many tasting notes would seem to suggest you’re eating bacon, raspberries…

GJ I buy a lot of local wine. I support the Oregon wine industry where I can. But when I go to the store I love playing the varietal game, finding something I’ve never seen; or maybe it’s a variety I have seen before, but from a different area. So I play that varietal game to try and get a broader palate and to understand the variety. I don’t specifically look at the alcohol content and say I’m not going to buy that. However, there are some varieties that a higher alcohol content typically means that I just won’t buy it. And Cabernet Sauvignon is one, Zinfandel is another. They just don’t work for me. So, even though I’m not looking specifically for a high alcohol level on a wine, there are some varieties that I do.

But the bigger thing is that I just love to try different varieties. I had a bottle of wine the other night, I don’t even know how to say the variety, B-o-n-a-r-d-a. It’s grown in Argentina. I’ve never had this variety before. It wasn’t necessarily the cleanest and best wine I’ve ever had, but it was unique, it was different. That’s what I appreciated about it.

Yeah, I understand. I’m baffled by folks who stick to the same variety. I don’t get it. The point is to drink as widely as is possible, not only for understanding but for pleasure. The obsession with variety labeling as well has always been puzzling to me.

GJ Yes, appreciate the surprise and anticipation component of it. If I buy a wine that is something I have never seen or had before and it’s not good, if I have to use it to cook with (or dump it out if it’s really not good), that’s OK. That’s part of the experience. But, boy, it is the gems that stand out that make you say, “Yeah, this is what it’s all about!”

Exactly right. That’s one of the reasons I’m doing the film on Portuguese wines with Virgilio. There are so many flavors completely unknown to most folks here in the states. Perhaps people can be persuaded to ask for them.
Well, it has been an extraordinary pleasure to speak with you. Is there anything you’d care to add? What about your father’s wines? How is his work coming along?

GJ In my personal opinion? His wines are very good. We came to Oregon wanting to grow Iberian varietals and so we produce mostly Tempranillo, Grenache, Albariño, Tinta Cão, and Tinta Amarela. We make some very traditional Iberian wines from them. And I think one of the interesting things is that across everything we make I don’t know that I’ve ever seen one place able to produce that wide of a range of wines with that kind of typicity. Maybe I should chalk it up to my dad, how he grows the grapes, his attention to winemaking, but I’ve had other people say the same thing. I’ve heard them out of context that they were just amazed.

And to do that in Oregon, a place that’s known for Pinot Noir, is something special. I tasted our 2009 Albariño last night. It had only been in bottle for few hours, but it is liquid gold. That’s the best thing I can say. It’s liquid gold.
END

For further reading

Oregon Wine Press

Climate and Wine: Quality Issues in a Warmer World

Admin

The Science and Politics of Climate Change, part 2

Admin, Ken Payton — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 00:32:41 +0000

Here presented is part two of my conversation with Climatologist Gregory V. Jones, America’s most rigorous voice in the science as it relates to climate change and viticulture. As the reader learned in part one, Professor Jones of Southern Oregon University, has written extensively on the interlinked disciplines. In part one he spoke of his intriguing background and of his international perspective and expertise. Also discussed was ethno-climatological observations of how we experience climate changes over time, or, more to the point, how we don’t. In this section he further reflects upon that psychologically cross-cultural fixture, but more importantly, Professor Jones here explores climate change through the double registers of science and politics. How do we hear a message above the noise? What are we to make of the recent ‘Climate Gate’ debacle involving the University of East Anglia and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)? Enjoy.

Admin Excuse me for tipping my political hand, but in the bad old days of the Bush Administration everything issue was thoroughly politicized. Climate change was one of the topics about which you could not effectively speak. Have you noticed a significant loosening of tongues and any increase in research programs since the beginning of the Obama Administration?

Gregory Jones Well, a little bit. There are actually a lot of stories behind the scenes. I really don’t think this is a Republican/Democrat kind of thing. I think it is more tied to variations of conservative Big Business versus environmental. And that is not purely Democrat/Republican. And the reason I get back to this is that I think that there have been scenarios that have played out in other administrations, for example, that of Clinton/Gore, that were very interesting. One of the most recognized hurricane researchers in the world, out of Colorado State University, from every story I’ve heard on it, he had his funding pulled out from under him because he wouldn’t say what Al Gore wanted him to say. That in and of itself tells you that yeah, the Bush Administration muted some things around the science of climate change, but the Clinton/Gore Administration did the same thing. And I am sure it goes on behind the scenes of virtually every administration with every issue. They are going to pander to what they’re being paid to pander to.

So I don’t know… I’m very anti-two party system government here in America. They don’t represent me whatsoever! Obama doesn’t represent me. Neither did Bush. Why should I even be associated with them? So I’m telling you my political leanings! (laughs) Bit I do think it is a little bit more open right now. I think that there are still issues that the business lobbyists are controlling what’s happening relative to the Republican and the Democratic moderate side of things. It may get better, but in this economic climate the first very thing that went away is the climate change issue. So again, that gets to the idea of the urgency and the perception. The urgency is right now dealing with lack of jobs and other issues, the economic climate, and not so much about cap and trade and being good stewards of our atmosphere.

Yes. You know things are changing in however a quiet and subterranean way, off the political radar, as it were, when some of the most radicalized environmentalists, many Republican, are emerging these days from out of Dick Cheney’s Wyoming! There it is environmental degradation, sub-surface water displacement etc., owing to various mining operations and technologies. It is rather ironic that conservative minds are being changed in such in-your-face ways. Sportsmen and the NRA, as well, have aligned themselves with water conservation activists.

GJ That’s going on in my neck of the woods, too. In Northern California and Southern Oregon, Klamath River issues have created the same kind of thing, where now tribes, farmers, business and environmental groups have pretty much all come together and realized that the dams have to come off the rivers. The problem is that it doesn’t play itself out in a year or two. They’re talking about 20 to 25 years before it will ever happen. In the meantime, the salmon in the Klamath River system could go extinct.

There is something about official news organizations that repeat certain framing devices around debates when in fact, behind the scenes, in very quiet ways, opinions are being changed and folks are coming to shared understandings through very novel issue combinations. Half the time I wonder why do I even read or watch this or that particular debate when I know full well that it doesn’t accurately reflect the reality on the ground.

GJ Sure, sure. Just going back to conversations you’ve had with people in the wine industry, and I have them as well. There are two different viewpoints. You have to look at the winemaker’s side of things. You know, anybody who owns a winery and is producing wine they are never going to stand at the front door of their cellar and say, “Yeah, climate change is impacting me” and then have it look, have people look, differently on their product. I can go to the back door of the cellar and they will tell me, “Yeah, climate is a real issue for me. I’ve had to change not only how I manage my vineyards but how the fruit comes in, and how I’m processing it.” But they are not going to stand at the front door and say that! Unless they’re proactive and trying to show that they’re trying to be better stewards through adaptation and mitigation. So I think there’s a lot of that out there. And I respect it. Completely.

But I also really respect people that have stood up and have really talked about it. A great example of is that of Paul Dolan of the Mendocino Wine Company. I think Parducci is part of their ownership, but Paul Dolan has been very out-going, talking about how this is a significant issue that all of us need to be concerned with. He’s been very proactive, and he’s a producer; it affects his bottom line. But for every one of Paul that is out there talking about this kind of thing, there are hundreds and thousands who really don’t say very much. And even get to the denial stage.

And the nature of marketing, they simply haven’t figured out a way to use the issue profitably. Wine marketing is often about removing the threat to the consumer of actually having to learn anything, certainly with respect to purchasing decisions. That dumbing down of the public from within the marketing strategies of the wine industry itself I find particularly hard to grasp.

GJ I think there have been some people who have been successful at this. The Kiwis and a few of the Aussies; probably the Kiwis have been on the forefront of it by really developing great strategies showing carbon neutrality, or at least some level of mitigation/adaptation and proactive strategies, because the British market really almost demanded it. So there was a very strong play by some of the Kiwi producers to work that market, playing the game very well, I think. But in the mean time they’ve also become more energy efficient, more sustainable, because they looked at themselves critically in terms of water, carbon and chemical usage. I think that there are some out there that are doing some really good things.

Then on the other side of the coin, I was just mentioning winemakers and people who own wine-making production facilities, but you can also go to the vineyards. You can’t talk to somebody who has been growing grapes for 30 years and have them tell you things are exactly the same. They are just not. They are just absolutely not. They [growers] don’t make wholesale changes. You don’t all of a sudden one day say “It’s just too hot. I’ll do something different”. They are making strategic changes year in, year out that reflect the overall environmental conditions that they are producing in. If they didn’t, their vineyards wouldn’t be alive and producing today. They just wouldn’t.

So I think that part of what is going on when you talk to somebody, a grower, and you ask have they noticed climate change, well, they hem and haw, and say “Well, yeah, but I haven’t really been doing anything”. But if you ask them what have they been doing for 20 years? Have they changed anything in their operation? Then, all of a sudden, it will all come out. “Well, yeah, you know, I do a different strategy of leaf-pulling; I maintain my canopy a little bit different; we planted a new block over here and we changed the row orientation; we put in a slightly different type of irrigation system to manage water more efficiently….” So all of a sudden they start talking about all the things that they have done to adapt to their environmental changes. But if you asked him at one fell swoop about climate change? They’d say, “Nah” Haven’t done much.”

Excellent. A quick question. What is your take on the email scandal out of the University of East Anglia, the so-called ‘Climate Gate’?

GJ I think it was a crime. I think the people who stole them should be prosecuted.

The authorities are trying to find out who hacked the computers. I have heard mention of some Russian organization, the Russian Mafia, perhaps. Do you have any information?

GJ I don’t really have any information, but I am going to give you what my feeling is. I think Big Oil and Gas funded some right-wing, skeptical group to hire the Russian mafia, or some arm of the mafia, to go in and hack the emails. They’ll never be traced back to where they really came from. That is unfortunate. I think it was clearly a crime. I think the real downside to the whole thing is that if I had been involved in that scandal, I’m sure I would have written things that would have been misconstrued, and that I would be at the center of it, too. You and I could send emails for the next sixth months and then somebody hacks them and uses them against us in one way, shape or form. I would expect that to happen because that is the way the press and blood-thirsty people want it.

I know virtually everybody who was at the center of that scandal. I know Phil Jones well, I know [Keith] Briffa, I know Michael Mann [Penn State], I know all those guys. There may have been a little bit of this or that which showed up as being not quite copacetic all the way through. But, in general, I don’t see it as a real issue. What I do see is that every scientific operation going on out there has some room for error and failings. This just probably brought that to the forefront.

It means the IPCC will get tighter, they’ll get better and I think they’ll correct a lot of the issues that are out there. But did they do things that were wrong? Maybe. Maybe they didn’t want to be around some of the barking skeptics; and maybe they did say things that weren’t flattering to that side, maybe limiting them from debate. That’s not right. But, in general, did they massage the data, did they hide things? No.

We know that very few of the emails show the slightest traces of data massaging or distortion. But what is most amusing is that the email data base was preserved intact, this according to the information-sharing protocols of the scientific community in general. Which is to say the material was just sitting there, subject to internal review by any number of supervising authorities at any time!

GJ Sure. I think it was all very unfortunate. I kind of saddens me in one respect, that our culture has to stoop to these kinds of ways; but it also, I think, may produce a better outcome in the long run because it forces those scientists and other scientists within that same discipline, and the IPCC, to look at itself little harder.

Climate change can be centrally about temperature change, but as you’ve pointed out in your scientific essays it is also very importantly about variability. Variability would include elements such as rainfall patterns, opportunistic pathogens and insect species, new epidemiological patterns. Can you speak about these other dimensions?

GJ I think that probably the biggest thing about the variability piece is that it all has to do with the shape of the distribution looks like. When we typically talk about climate change, this idea that temperatures go up X, that’s all about a shift of the distribution. The distribution moves so many units to the positive side depending if it is warming or cooling. But the problem with that is that climates are not expected to just change in their average, they are also expected to change in terms of the shape of the distribution, or, in other words, its variability. And so if we have changes in the mean and changes in the variability, what that does is produce more extremes on the warm side, but it also continues: It doesn’t mean that frosts and freezes go away. It means that cold weather still exists, and it could still be very problematic in many places. But yet the variability on the high end could be even more problematic.

And so that variability component is so critical for people to understand because evidence from not only just wine region analyses, both in the past and in the future, but from other things, too, are showing that our climate is appearing to be more variable in a warmer world. When the atmosphere on average is cooler, it tends to be a little less variable; warmer, more variable. But it is not a perfect one-to-one everywhere in every location; but that is kind of what the evidence is showing us.

I’ll give you a great example here in my region. The past two Octobers, well, really October 2008, we had the coldest temperatures ever recorded in October, the middle of October, preceded two weeks prior by the warmest temperatures ever recorded in September! Those kinds of things have been cropping up little by little, in temperature, but also in precipitation. Heavy rain events are more frequent in many places, which is causing slightly greater soil erosion issues.
Germany has always been having to deal with this because they have a lot of steep-slope viticulture. But it really didn’t strike me until I was a meeting one time there and we were doing some touring. We just happened to tour by a place where I say a bulldozer down at the bottom of a vineyard bulldozing dirt, putting it in a truck, the truck drove around along the slope up to the top of the vineyard, and they redistributed the dirt down the row. What they were telling me is that they had been seeing so much more rain coming in heavy, single events than being spread out over the year. Their erosion events were becoming more problematic.

I’ve heard and read studies that get to the same issue in different places in the world that we’re seeing heavier rain events than we are seeing more spread out rain kind of thing. That right there is a variability extreme kind of issue. The act of singular events like winter freezes are a little less extreme of late, but they still occur. Walla Walla this past December got down to 10 degrees; that’s at the damaging point for grape vines. Those kinds of things still happen. They just don’t go away. These extreme issues, whether they be with rainfall, hail even, of Winter freezes or Spring frosts, they are still risks to the industry depending on where you are.

END OF PART 2

Pt. 1 On Wine and Climate Change

Pt. 3 Gregory V. Jones On Pests, Pathogens, and Parker

Admin

The Malbec of Cahors, Vive La Difference!

Admin, Ken Payton — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 08:17:46 +0000

The Malbec wines of AOC Cahors are not like those of Argentina. Neither do the region’s winemakers wish them to be. Let’s get that out of the way right from the start. But that the distinctions between the two expressions are obvious from the first sip has not stopped pundits from weighing in on their respective merits. Which is better? Such a question is worse than useless; it is intellectually misguided. It would be better to ask: How may the Malbec grape be best understood, how may its many qualities be properly, respectfully explored? Given careful attention to terroir, sound viticultural practice, minimal technological intervention, this combined with an enlightened public alive to difference, there is no doubt soulful expressions of Malbec may be found beyond any single border. End of story.

Until recently called Côt in widely read wine texts, Malbec’s provenance, its 800 year history in and around the ancient town of Cahors in South-West France, is at long last being brought to the attention of American drinkers and critical influencers. Through the good offices of the Union Interprofessionelle du Vin de Cahors (UIVC), an organization representing the AOC’s negociants and wine growers, they are just now finishing up a creative campaign to reassert Cahors’ deep wine growing patrimony by hosting a series of tastings across the United States. Now using the globally recognized name of Malbec, they hope not only to strengthen commercial and intellectual connections with established drinkers, but also to encourage those less familiar with French expressions to give their unique wines a try. Seems simple enough.

But the historical trajectory of Cahors’ winegrowing, like the Lot River meandering through its heart, has never known straight, simple lines. Informing UIVC’s fresh marketing push is the collapse, twice in successive centuries, of nearly the whole of the viticultural sector: phylloxera in the 19th followed by a great frost in 1956. Conflicts over prices and quality standards between négociant and grape grower on one hand and winemakers on the other further retarded post-war recovery. It was not until 1971, with the establishment of AOC Cahors, that the broad outline of a potential renaissance was drawn. The point of this all-too-brief sketch is to insist that the easy cynicism greeting marketing campaigns generally would be profoundly unfair here.

In any event, I was very fortunate to have been invited by Vintank to attend UIVC’s San Francisco stop. Now let me be perfectly honest. I have been drinking Cahors wines for years. On a trip to Southern France and Spain a couple of years ago, while passing through the South West all-too-briefly I greedily (and responsibly) drank every label of the ‘black wine’ I could lay my hands on. For it is a sad fact of a Cahors lover’s life here in the United States that very few examples of the more than 250 producers may be found. So it was with great joy upon entering the tasting room in the Ritz-Carlton last Thursday that I did not recognize but two out of twenty-two labels present that day.

The reason for the comparative absence of producers already widely distributed in the US should be obvious. Indeed, those winemakers assembled were not chosen but were all volunteers looking for either their first opportunity to export to the states or to expand their existing marginal distribution, now principally in the New York City and Florida markets. The number of wineries allowed to participate was limited to 25; and the not insignificant costs associated with such a tasting were split down the middle: 50% by the wineries and 50% by the European Union.

Before I get to the wines, let me mention a few of the marketing innovations brought to the table. Apart from the excellent literature, the comprehensive, individual backstories provided by virtually all the wineries (many written in a charming style entirely free of marketing b.s. and buzz words), there were the official publications of the UIVC itself. From one, essentially a ‘hard copy’ reproduction of their sister website, I was to learn of the three main styles of Cahors wines, each based upon an informed consideration of elevation and drainage, hence of the quality of the harvested grapes, the length of maceration, whether the wine sees stainless steel, is aged in new or older oak barrels, or a specific ratio of the two, whether blended and by how much with the two other permitted grapes, Merlot and Tannat. (A minimum of 70% Malbec is required to use the name ‘Cahors’ on the label, 85% to use ‘Malbec’ for which a special raised-letter bottle was introduced in 2009.) For the Cahors winemaker, especially the new generation well represented Thursday, these are very real distinctions bearing upon price point, of course, but also directly upon reputation. Marketing rhetoric is one thing; making a lasting contribution to a vinous patrimony is quite another.

From the booklet:

Tender and fruity Cahors (generally 70-85%) “Wine lovers appreciate the fruity characteristics of these Cahors. They pair well with white meat, roast poultry or grilled meat. Their light tannins and their vivacity let them accompany mixed salads or fresh and crisp Mediterranean fare. They can also readily be served as an aperitif.”

Feisty and powerful Cahors (generally 85-100%) “More vinous, with more structure than the first group, these Cahors boast complex fruit. Farm raised Quercy lamb or duck breasts are their perfect partners, all the while not forgetting cassoulet or stuffed cabbage. They go well with cepes, walnuts and chestnuts, food evoking the terroir. With age, once their tannins are melted, they go well with Cantal cheese.”

Intense and complex Cahors (generally 100%) “These are the most refined Cahors. In their youth, they are bursting with fruit and their dense and velvety tannins fill the senses. Their richness and ripe acidity are signs of graceful ageing. With a bit of age, they become wonderful partners for many festive table favourites: game, foie gras, truffles, and wild mushrooms. They go well with refined dishes such as tournedos or suckling lamb and autumn cuisine calls for them: rabbit with prunes, foie gras with quince, deer with cranberries, pears cooked in wine. Even a mere dried fig brings their qualities to the fore.”

About the dried fig mentioned above, the forty-some guests at the tasting were provided a good variety of high quality cheeses to cleanse our palates. Alas, no figs! And to refresh the palate became very important as I worked my way down the tables. Cahors Malbec has finesse, often delicacy, but they are also famously dense and tannic. Their great aging potential, too, flows from both viticulture and terroir. Unlike their softer, easier drinking Agentinean brothers, more Merlot in character, Cahors Malbec is something like a cross between the Ramisco of Colares and the finest muscular 100% Touriga Nacionals from the Dão, both from Portugal and much loved by yours truly.

And I quite convinced that drawing a parallel between these two haunting yet bold Portuguese varieties and Malbec’s expression when from Cahors gets at a larger truth, once again, that of difference. Many critics and wine writers have said contradictory things about the distinctiveness of Cahors wines. Oz Clarke in the latest edition of his New Wine Atlas writes,

“The Cahors AC concentrates on one single wine – a fascinating, tobacco-scented, green apple-streaked, yet plum and prune-rich red made largely from the Malbec grape [....] Cahors is producing some of the most individual wines in the South-West.

One may be forgiven thinking this is in any way a positive appraisal, for he writes in the section on Argentina,

“Malbec is undoubtedly the grape best suited to the hot continental climate, producing wines which are packed with blackcurrents, damsons and spice – vastly superior to its French counterpart.”

This is but one of the many examples I have found of just how out of touch even respected wine writers may be. Of Mr. Clarke’s comments, why would it have not been enough to say each country’s Malbec tells its own story, in its own way? Frankly, I do not know. A wine writer ought to, in my view, encourage his readership to explore the world of wine as far and as wide as their pocketbook and curiosity may take them.

Cahors Malbec, like many indigenous Portuguese varieties, offers flavors and a drinking experience unlike anything the vast majority of American drinkers have ever known. This is in itself sufficient reason to try one. And yet there are but a handful of producers here in the US, most trending toward a New World easy drinking style. Very unwise. To imitate Argentina will cost Cahors her soul. Market share is only to be found in distinction. It is, therefore, critically important that the Louis/Dressners and the Neal Rosenthals of America to give a wide variety of Cahors producers a fighting chance in the marketplace.

Of the wines I enjoyed that luxurious Thursday afternoon, 20 out of 22 would be most welcome in my home. Special mention must be made of Chateau Vincens, Chateau Pineraie, the elegant Lou Prince from Domaine Du Prince, the very unique Chateau Haute Borie (found in New York), Domaine Le Bout Du Lieu Les Roques De Cana, and Mas Del Perie (the last two have no website I could find).

What a tasting! A glorious range of wines, a glorious future is predicted for Cahors.

Helpful links: the catalogue of participants, the official website, and the UIVC website. And coming in May, the Third International Malbec Days in Cahors.

My special thanks to Vintank for their generosity.

Admin

Prof. Gregory V. Jones on Wine and Climate Change

Admin, Ken Payton — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 04:08:25 +0000

Professor Gregory V. Jones, from the of Southern Oregon University, is America’s foremost wine and climate change specialist. Owing to serendipitous turns of fate, a few details of which you may read below, he found his niche, the intellectual space where he was finally able to exercise his considerable gifts. His bio reads,

Gregory V. Jones is a professor and research climatologist in the Geography Department at Southern Oregon University who specializes in the study of how climate variability and change impact natural ecosystems and agriculture. He holds a BA and Ph.D. from the University of Virginia in Environmental Sciences with a concentration in the Atmospheric Sciences. His research interests include climatology, hydrology, and agriculture; phenology of plant systems; biosphere and atmosphere interactions; climate change; and quantitative methods in spatial and temporal analysis. His dissertation was on the climatology of viticulture in Bordeaux, France with a focus on the spatial differences in grapevine phenology, grape composition and yield, and the resulting wine quality. He conducts applied research for the grape and wine industry in Oregon, has given hundreds of international, national, and region presentations on wine-related research, and is the author of numerous book chapters, reports, and articles on wine economics, grapevine phenology, site assessment methods for viticulture, climatological assessments of viticultural potential, and climate change.

His Curriculum Vitae adds flesh to the bio above. For a good summation of his current thinking please see his paper Climate change and the global wine industry.

I shall not dwell on a prolonged introduction. In what will be a three part series, the best introduction to Prof. Jones may be found in how he describes and amplifies his project here. I can promise you an enlightening and, at times, a controversial read. Enjoy.

Admin It is a great pleasure to meet you. You and I have a mutual friend in Portugal, Virgilio Loureiro. What were you presenting at his most recent conference?

Gregory Jones I was there at what they call the 1st Iberian Viticulture and Oenology Conference. It was a Spanish and Portuguese combination. Of course, the Spanish did not fully cooperate, which is typically the case. But it was a very, very, good meeting.

In what sense didn’t the Spanish cooperate?

GJ I think what happened was that they originally started communicating with the Spanish to put together a conference they could hold every year, and then the Portuguese chose a date, but it didn’t work for some of the Spanish contingent, you know how that goes; I’m sure it happens across countries in Europe. So they ended up holding the meeting anyway. It just didn’t get quite as much participation from the Spanish as they would have liked. But all in all, it was a very good meeting. I know a few people there that I’ve been doing either research or travel with over the years: Jorge Ricardo Silva and Carlos Lopes, and also Antonio Graca from the Douro region. I know a lot of them from different areas; so I went there on the invite to come and give a talk on the global perspective of climate and climate change in wine production. And the conference was good and very well attended. I really enjoyed it. It was a good group of people. It was nice to see Lisbon again.

Yes, it is a beautiful city. Who are the parties responsible for tracking climate change in Portugal? And are there groups specifically dedicated to researching its impact on Portuguese viticulture?

GJ Well, it’s a little bit scattered. There have been some results published from different pieces of research from people down in Lisbon and the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), up north. There is a group from up there that have been doing some interesting things. A recent publication I saw was looking at the response of the vine and fruit composition to elevated CO2. There are some folks down in the Lisbon area aligned with the meteorological service there. They have been collecting a large amount of phenology data. They have been examining phenological changes over time. The other group is out of the Douro and is run by Antonio Graca. It is a group called ADVID. They have received some funding from the European Union [EU] to do a climate change assessment in Portugal. So, it’s a little bit scattered throughout the country, but there are some good things being done.

About the EU, I know that there are some very sticky relations between Portuguese growers and the EU ever since Portugal became a participating member. I know that it is being recommended that many indigenous Portuguese varieties in certain regions be grubbed up, for economic reasons largely I suppose….

GJ That is happening in a lot of different locations. There are some really unfortunate characteristics that are happening here. It is putting downward pressure on indigenous varieties not grown in too many locations. For example, in parts of Portugal or in Greece, or even in Italy, you have tremendous indigenous diversity; but yet they don’t have the same marketplace position as the mainstream varieties. So there is the downward pressure from the EU to clean that up, so to speak. I think there is some short-sightedness there.

I most certainly do, too. I am currently working on a documentary with Virgilio not only on the endangered historical wines of Portugal, but also to celebrate the distinctiveness of their many indigenous varieties, some grown nowhere else on earth. I was told by growers that at a recent tasting of Dão wines by Mark Squires, who has inexplicably been given the Portugal ‘beat’ by Robert Parker, Squires suggested they grub up their Touriga Nacional and plant Cabernet! The growers were suitably incensed, as you might imagine.

GJ I agree, too. My experience in Portugal, Greece, Italy, and other places in the world is that those indigenous varieties provide, you could say, the spice of life! Who wants to have the 5000th Cabernet Sauvignon produced? I just don’t get it.

It is increasing evident that in blind tastings of Cabernets from around the world it is becoming very difficult to distinguish terroir characteristics.

GJ Sure. There are also some other issues that I think are tied to this. Much of our ability to adapt to different environmental conditions is really likely tied into those indigenous varieties, in there genetics. If we don’t preserve that then we will have less adaptive ability as time goes on. It is extremely important. For example, Xynomavro from Greece, a red variety, how does it retain such good acidity in an extremely hot climate? That genetic trait likely could be very useful for many other varieties that are being grown in quite hot climates.

Indeed. I was in the Azores recently and on Pico Island I met a winegrower who insisted that he had discovered a wild yeast that could finish a wine up to 19% alc. This suggests, along with your example, that there are genetic reserves as yet unexplored.

GJ Sure. And realize that there is a lot of resistance to genetic modification. It is not well accepted. But traditional plant breeding is a form of genetic modification. We need to look at that. It might prove useful instead of stopping all genetic work.

In my experience in talking with growers and environmentally-minded citizens, their opposition to GMOs, banned in organic agriculture here in the states, is typically when a bit of the DNA of one life form is inserted into another, a bacterial bit inserted into a plant, for example, to supposedly provide better pest resistance. It is the cross-species exchange that is of greater interest.

GJ That’s a splicing issue. I can see their point of view. But we really need to look at traditional plant breeding to try and understand how we can utilize some of that genetic diversity. I think it will be important as time goes on and all kinds of environmental issues become more challenging.

Background

Could you tell a little of your background and how you came to explore climate change with respect to viticulture?

GJ It was basically my pursuit of a college education. I didn’t go to college. As a matter of fact, I didn’t even graduate high school when I should have. I went an alternative path. I ended up being a sous-chef at the age of 17. I spent a lot of time working as a sous-chef and running restaurants for quite a few years. I came out of that arena and went into retail for a while. I owned and operated some large golf stores, selling and repairing golf equipment. It took the economic downturn of 1987 to kind of open my eyes. I got tired of working for everybody else, so to speak. And then when the economy got a little tight in ‘87 I just didn’t want to do it anymore.
My dad kept saying it was time to go back to school. So I sold everything I had, took a GED, got a bachelors and a PhD, all in 7 1/2 years. That’s the path I took.

When I was doing my bachelor’s degree I really had every intent and purpose to be a hydrologist. I felt that studying water would prove important in the future. I was somewhere in my third or fourth year of my undergraduate work when I took a class in Meteorology and Climatology, and I just fell in love with it. I realized that the air is a fluid just like water is a fluid; but it was more dynamic. I began to study Climatology.

About the time that I was trained to pick what I wanted to do from a climate scientist’s standpoint, my father was looking to get out of medicine to grow grapes and make wine. He had studied it enough to know exactly what the scenarios were about why grapes grew where they did and what controlled quality. So here I am, a budding climate scientist and my father is interested in grapes, so we’d talk on the phone and he’d ask me all these questions. So I’d go back and try to find the answers. Most of the time the questions that he was asking were not fully answered. I kept finding that there were no climate scientists studying viticulture in any great way. Viticulturists typically knew the climate was important, but none of them were looking at it in ways that I thought were answering the questions. So having a business background, I thought, hmm, there’s a niche. So I said to myself somebody’s got to be a wine climatologist; that’s what I started doing.

I did my dissertation work in Bordeaux, looking at phenological production and quality metrics related to the climate in Bordeaux; I helped my dad through his process. That has led me to where I me today.

Climate and the Winegrower

Winegrowers can be a pretty conservative bunch. I’ve had interviews with many, and I have broached the issue of climate change, about changes they’ve detected in their vineyards. There is a certain percentage who, though aware of changes, will nevertheless make it known, largely in political terms it must be said, that they are opposed to the broad outlines of the reality of climate change. There is this curious discordance between what you might call the ‘anecdotal’ and the ‘programatic’. What do you suppose accounts for this?

GJ I think it largely has to do with our short term memory and immediate gratification. (laughs) I’m being a little facetious, but I really think there is something tied into that. We are such a ‘here and now’ kind of culture, society. It has been widely proven in what is known as Ethno-Climatology studies that we really can’t remember the past very well; we are clearly focussed on the present. You ask the average person what the weather was like a week ago, they can’t tell you. So ask them what the climate was like five years ago. They really can’t. Now, agriculturalists are a little bit better than that. But the average person is very poor. I really think it is a perception-based issue that is fundamentally tied to the immediacy of what we are doing.

I’ll give you a great example. I know you would have a sense for this. I travel all over speaking about all aspects of wine production issues, but when I talk about climate change I know, good and well, that if I show up to a place to give a talk and it’s just been the coldest winter, the coldest day, the coldest week, that people will look at me as though I were not very bright. I’m more or less an idiot; I don’t know what I’m talking about. But if I go somewhere and it has just been the hottest day, week, month, year, then I am brilliant! This holds virtually everywhere.

That scenario has been playing itself out nationally with respect to the snow storms in New York.

GJ I was just at the New York Wine Symposium two weeks ago. I was there during all this snow, and there I am talking about climate change! One of our perceptions is that it is snowy there. Well, yeah! It’s supposed to be snowy there; of course, it’s been a little bit more than normal, but if you look at the temperature data, the North East has actually been warmer than average this winter. What has been colder than average is that broad swath down through the Carolinas and Georgia and Florida. But do they recognize that? No. There’s been a lot of snow they’ve had to shovel, so they’re all saying ‘climate change is bullshit’.

It’s one of those things. Variability is in the climate system. I think when you start talking about temperature changes people always think that it’s always linear. This year has got to be this much warmer than last year and next year is going to be this much warmer than the year before… that’s not the way it works! It can never be expected to work like that. History has told us that it doesn’t work like that. Even during the Little Ice Age there were warm years.

Yes. Recently I had a conversation with Richard Smart, the viticulturist…

GJ Richard and I are good friends. We’ve worked together on quite a few things.

He’s a cool dude. He said of certain climate change denying wine writers, in his characteristic drawl, “They don’t know what the bloody hell they’re talking about”.

GJ Put it this way. I give every scientist their due because that is what science is about. We need to have debate to further science. For me the whole issue about trying to understand climate change is that I need to be a part of the climate science community that is debating and furthering our knowledge; not the skeptics and the ‘doom and gloomers’. Because they are not doing anybody any justice. The skeptics are doing nothing more than calling names at people, and hacking emails, and being paid by Big Oil and Big Coal. The doom and gloomers, on the other side, are so pro-environmental that they can’t listen to anybody. What good does that do us? It just makes us all look bad.

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End of Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

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Examples of Private Label Art, Terceira Island, Azores

Admin, Ken Payton — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:52:42 +0000

The volcanic islands of Graciosa, Pico, and Terceira, specifically the parish of Biscoitos, are the demarcated wine regions of the Azores, a Portuguese archipelago just over 900 miles from the mainland. Legally recognized in 1994, each area has, nevertheless, been producing wine for hundreds of years. The vines are grown in the near complete absence of soil and sheltered from the wind and salt water by walls of broken basalt painstakingly built over the centuries. The ’soils’, slowly in the process of creation (globally, depending upon a series of site-specific geo-physical processes, the generation of an inch of soil requires many thousands of years), may be broadly divided into two types: shattered, heavily fissured basalt and a slightly looser, sandy version, its additional material largely water runoff and wind transported. This is most strikingly revealed on Pico where the vineyards come within yards of the open Atlantic. Coaxing vines into healthy production in either matrix is nothing short of miraculous.

I will have much to say on another occasion about all of the above. For now I want only to touch on the narrow dimension of Biscoitos’ private bottle label art, this after a few preliminaries.

The agricultural center of Terceira, this small town is home to S.D.A.T., the Adega do Servico de Desenvolvimento Agrario de Terceira (the cellar of Agrarian Development Service), the wine-making cooperative where, upon deplaning at Lajes Airport, we were taken by winery representative, António Espínola.
Producing over 40,000 liters of wine per annum off of 60 hectares, the local economy of Biscoitos, the wine sector, took a severe hit in the aftermath of the terrorist attack of 9/11. All the islands did. With new international airline regulations banning all liquid containers with volumes in excess of 4 oz. from being carried onto airplanes, the many thousands of tourists visiting Terceira each year went from purchasing multiple bottles of wine to buying just one now secured in checked baggage. Wine sales plummeted 50% throughout the archipelago and the sector has still not recovered. And it has absolutely nothing to do with the wines’ price points, as our soulless business language puts it. Indeed, given the extraordinary labor required to work with all the elements of the archipelago’s harsh terroir, it is stunning to see any Azores wine sold locally for as little as €10. With sinew and muscle, the farmer’s near indestructible will to go on restores to respectability the idea of hand-crafted, a notion rather limply exploited in American wine marketing, for example. Further, the oft-repeated promotional concept of how inexpensive are Portugal’s wines in general, fails miserably to grasp that it is rather a question of a sustainable price. No better example of this critical distinction may be found than on the Azores.

It has become more urgent than ever, especially in light of reduced tourist numbers in these sour economic times, to find a way to lessen the great downward pricing pressure and get the many fascinating wines of the Azores into the international market at a fair, sustainable price.

Like all the demarcated regions of the Azores, grape growing on Biscoitos is suffering from a generational shift. No longer willing to struggle for a living in the same way as their parents and grandparents have, the young are increasingly drawn to cities. To be sure, it is a pattern repeated in all agricultural sectors throughout the world. But in the Azores it is painfully evident, the abandoned vineyards immediately visible as overrun thatches of tangled flora. The disruption of traditional family practice is a very real threat to the long-term survival of this viticulture unique in all the world.

While at the cooperative, we were given precious insight into Biscoitos’ recent vinous history. Located within an older portion of the adega, António showed us what qualifies as their ‘wine library, a wall of honeycombed masonry (situated at the right in the photo). From the rough, abrasive chambers, an echo of the vineyards’ basaltic walls just outside, he pulled bottle after intriguing bottle of private wines, some made before the existence of the cooperative. As a tribute to the farmers and vintners of these mysterious verdelhos, the dominant white grape throughout the Azores, I will close this post with their simple, mute images.

(File size varies.)

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