Interesting Wine Info Archives - Wine Blog from The International Wine of the Month Club

Spain: Something New and Something Old

September 15, 2023 by Don Lahey

A wine trip to Spain brings great joy, a reunion with old friends, and more than a few new faces. Wine lovers and critics all agree on Spain’s acumen in fashioning full-bodied red wines from the country’s most celebrated wine regions: Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Montsant, and Priorato to name a few; yet Spain offers much more in quality and variety than just the robust red wines from the big four names. How easy is it to overlook the rest of Spain and the exciting wines of Galicia, Rueda, Jerez de la Frontera, and the plethora of exceptional sparkling, white, and red wines of Catalonia, including Cava and Costers del Segre, the latter being the source of Spain’s newest red wine stars.

Cava, Spain’s answer to Champagne, ranks among the world’s finest traditional method sparkling wines. It is made the same way as Champagne and although it can be made anywhere in Spain, Catalonia specializes in Cava. Producers such as Mont Marçal, Roger Goulart, and Raventos fashion beautiful Catalan Cavas from traditional Spanish varietals as well as Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and at a fraction of the cost of French Champagne.

If you are in search of new and exciting wines, make a beeline to Catalonia’s Costers del Segre where a plethora of polished, full-bodied red wines abound. Costers del Segre, meaning “Banks of the Segre” is a Denominación de Origen (DO) located in the heart of Catalonia in the valley of the Segre River. Founded in 1986, Costers del Segre is a relatively new DO by Spanish standards, but its wines are second to none. In fact, Costers del Segre has attracted many of the biggest and best names in Spanish wines, including Castell del Remei, Raimat, and Torres. Castell del Remei was the first Catalan winery to estate grow, bottle, and age its wines in the manner of Classified Bordeaux and its wines are not to be missed. Castell del Remei fashions superlative red Costers del Segre wines, including Gotim Bru and the estate’s flagship offering, 1780, an exceptional full-bodied red wine from Cabernet Sauvignon, Tempranillo, and Garnacha. Castell del Remei also produces a bevy of beautiful white wines from traditional Catalan and international grape varieties.

Whether you are in search of something old or something new, Spain has it all. And, there is no better time than now to enjoy Spanish wines. Today is El Siglo d’Oro, the Golden Age of Spanish wine, so why wait? Enjoy!

Australia: Home to Big Time Shiraz and More

June 15, 2023 by Don Lahey

An arid, mostly trackless land whose interior is known for its blistering heat and vast array of venomous creatures and noxious pests, Australia would seem largely unsuitable for the cultivation of the vine. However, Australia fashions some of the world’s most compelling wines and is presently the planet’s fifth largest producer of wine, lagging only Italy, France, Spain, and the United States in total wine production.

Viticulture thrives within the first one hundred and fifty miles of Australia’s temperate coastlines. The continent offers a multitude of microclimates and terroirs suitable for the successful production of Vitis vinifera (The Common Vine). Vitis vinifera, the indigenous European species of grapes that is responsible for most of the world’s wine, has been an important part of Australian history since the Union Jack first flapped over Jervis Bay. In 1788 the First Fleet sent by Britain to establish a penal colony in Australia carried Vitis vinifera as part of its cargo, and the colony’s first governor made wine in the environs of Sydney.

By the early 1820s viticulture was well established throughout New South Wales. However, it was not until the establishment of the Hunter Valley in the mid 19^th century that Australia would officially land on the world’s viticultural map. From New South Wales viticulture and wine production spread to Victoria and South Australia. The arrival of the first free settlers to South Australia in the 1840s quickly enhanced the cultivation of the vine to the point where Barossa, Clare, Coonawarra, Eden, McLaren Vale, Padthaway, and others attest to the importance of wine in South Australia and the impact wine has had on the economy and history of Australia. From South Australia flow some of the finest Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache, Riesling, and most especially Shiraz wines that the continent has to offer, many from old vines. Today, the names Barossa and McLaren Vale are nearly synonymous with glorious, old vine Shiraz. A tour through this bountiful wine country reveals countless tracts of dry farmed old Shiraz vines, many in excess of 100 years that now appear more like trees than vines.

As important as South Australia is to the production of fine wine in Australia, it hardly holds a monopoly on quality. Since the 1970s, Western Australia has enjoyed a proliferation of the vine and the establishment of one of the world’s great viticultural paradises. In the past four decades, the Margaret River area of Western Australia has established itself as a world-class wine producing region for Shiraz and Chardonnay as well as traditional Bordeaux varietals. A clean, green temperate corner of Western Australia that sits beside the sea, the Margaret River now accounts for more gold medals and trophies for wine per capita than any other region of Australia.

From sea to shining sea, Australia fashions outstanding wines for all seasons and tastes to the delight of thirsty consumers, which makes Australia one of the planet’s greatest and most prolific wine producing nations.

The Cape of South Africa: The Planet’s Hottest Wine Destination

May 15, 2023 by Don Lahey

With exceptional wines, stunning scenery, and excellent restaurants, South Africa’s Western Cape is not only stunningly beautiful, it is becoming the planet’s hottest wine destination. Add the relative strength of the US Dollar versus the South African Rand, the Western Cape’s proximity to stunning national parks, and Cape Town, arguably Africa’s most beautiful city, and it’s easy to see why South Africa’s Western Cape is a must taste and see wine destination.

Located on the Western Cape less than an hour’s drive north of Cape Town, the picture postcard town of Stellenbosch and the surrounding mountains form a dramatic backdrop for what is now being heralded as the planet’s most beautiful wine country. Although some may wish to debate that claim to tout the various picturesque merits of other world-renowned wine regions, what is not in question is the integral role that the Western Cape and Stellenbosch in particular have played for more than three centuries in the formation of South African wine. Stellenbosch, along with nearby Franschoek, Paarl and Swartland, dominate the wine production on South Africa’s Western Cape, and these viticultural regions are unquestionably South Africa’s oldest and most important wine producing areas. These wine lands are South Africa’s Napa, Sonoma, Santa Barbara, and Central Coast appellations. They contain a myriad of microclimates and are responsible for high quality red and white wines from a burgeoning number of premier grape varieties, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Viognier, and South Africa’s unique varietal Pinotage, a cross between Pinot Noir and Cinsault. From wineries in South Africa’s Western Cape flow an enormous variety of exciting wines, which are both world class and unique in character and style. It’s time to afford them their due.

Back to the Future: Re-discover Armenia, the Birthplace of Wine

April 15, 2023 by Don Lahey

Fine wines emanate from far and wide. No one country or wine region has a monopoly on quality wine, though only one country, Armenia, can rightly claim to be the birthplace of wine. Even more importantly, Armenia has consistently fashioned quality wine longer than anywhere else on earth. In spite of centuries of domination by larger neighbors and genocidal attempts to extinguish Armenia and its people, Armenia is alive and well and so are its wines. And, nowhere in this small mountainous country is wine more important and its land more suitable for the cultivation of the vine than Vayots Dzor.

Located in southeastern Armenia in the Caucasus Mountains between Asia and Europe, Vayots Dzor is Armenia’s crown jewel and the site of the Earth’s oldest winemaking facility, the Areni-1 cave complex. Recently unearthed, the 6,100-year-old caves contain definitive archaeological evidence of advanced winemaking, including the possible use of sulfur as a preservative. Moreover, archeological excavations carried out in the 1940s reveal that as early as the first millennium B.C., during the Kingdom of Van, Vayots Dzor was western Asia’s leading wine producing region. Longer than anywhere else on earth, Vayots Dzor has continuously produced fine wine from indigenous grape varieties, a practice that continues, and Armenia is once again attracting the world’s attention for its venerable wines.

Vayots Dzor is home to many of Armenia’s ancient traditional grape varieties, including Areni, Khatoun Kharj, Tozot, and Voskehat. These are grapes whose names are difficult for outsiders to pronounce and, unfortunately, they are relatively unknown outside of Armenia. Areni, also known as Areni-Noir, is the region’s most prized red grape. It takes its name from the Vayots Dzor village of Areni where the oldest winemaking facility was recently discovered. Areni is a hardy, thick-skinned grape with excellent disease resistance and a proven adaptability to Vayots Dzor’s extreme growing conditions. It is produced in a myriad of styles, all worth seeking out. Equally impressive is the region’s leading white grape variety, Voskehat. Although quite hearty, it produces a highly aromatic white wine of surprising delicacy and elegance. We invite you to explore the fine wines of Armenia’s Vayots Dzor as there is much to enjoy. Moreover, Armenian wines rightly deserve recognition beyond their native land. Taste and enjoy!

Zinfandel: America’s Own Grape

March 15, 2023 by Don Lahey

Zinfandel has been dubbed “America’s own grape” despite, or perhaps on account of, its obscure heritage and its immigrant status. Like the vast majority of Americans, Zinfandel’s ancestry and roots hail from lands far away. Zinfandel’s DNA points to Eastern Europe and the Primitivo grape variety whose origins lay in Croatia and more recently Italy, which may in part account for its popularity among the Italian immigrant population that began flocking to America’s shores, both east and west, in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Finding favor in California among a welcoming immigrant tide in search of a grape capable of producing wine with both a body and a soul in a climate conducive to its production should come as no surprise.

In many ways, Zinfandel mirrors the American immigrant experience. It arrived in America in the hull of a ship, without any assurance of survival or the ability to adapt to its New World environment. To survive, it had to be resilient, adapt, and re-invent itself countless times. It also had to be practical, productive, and perform a useful function. Zinfandel is one of the few grape varieties that comes closest to being all things to all people. However, in recent years Americans seem to have forgotten their roots, turning to Cabernet Sauvignon as their red wine of choice despite the outstanding quality, variety, and value that Zinfandel offers.

Versatility remains Zinfandel’s greatest attribute. Zinfandel can take on the role of chameleon, equally capable of becoming a light pink quaffable wine such as White Zinfandel, or a deep, dark intense potion of incredible proportion, or something altogether different in the refined style of classic claret. And, not only is California Zinfandel quite different from Primitivo and its Croatian and Italian forebears, each California viticultural area produces a distinctly different style of Zinfandel.

In Dry Creek Valley and along the banks of Sonoma County’s Russian River, Zinfandel relishes the cooling Pacific breezes that funnel up the appellation’s canyons and valleys, resulting in a wide variety of exciting, yet, stylistically different, wines. Meanwhile, Amador County and Lodi also lay claim to America’s quintessential varietal. Lodi, in particular, is known for its distinctive style of Zinfandel, producing wines with deep rich colors, intense berry, bramble, and herb flavors, high alcohol, and lush tannins. These are wines that fill the mouth and satisfy all of the senses, yet there is still more to Zinfandel than plenty of fruit, strength, and vigor.

One of Zinfandel’s other keys to success is its extraordinary lifespan, enabling it to produce quality fruit well into old age. In fact, the oldest Zinfandel vineyards (many in California are in excess of 100 years of age) are the most prized.

As an immigrant to our shores, Zinfandel embodies the American experience and what has been dubbed the American dream. It has survived and prospered. It is a grape that has transformed itself over the last century and a half and honed its own unique identity, an identity that is continually evolving and infinitely open to interpretation. In the eyes of its many admirers, Zinfandel has become a bigger, better, more complex grape since its arrival in America with “a can-do attitude” and an identity all of its own. In 2023, why not take a tour of America and discover America’s own grape. There is more to fine American wine than Cabernet Sauvignon. Enjoy!

Alsace: France’s Sleeping Beauty

February 15, 2023 by Don Lahey

Alsace is quite possibly the most picturesque wine region in all France. This fairy tale land of beautifully restored half-timbered houses, flower bedecked balconies and window boxes, and of course vineyards has served as the setting for many a movie, including Sleepy Beauty. On account of its flavorful position bounded by the Vosges Mountains to the west, which block out the dreary maritime weather that plagues so much of the rest of northern France, and the Rhine River and Germany to the east, Alsace also ranks as the sunniest province in northern France. This extra sunshine makes Alsace an ideal spot for the cultivation of the vine and the production of premium wines. Alsace is also a leader in organic viticulture with the highest percentage of organic grape growers of any wine region in France.

In Alsace, white wine reigns supreme. This is a matter of local preference and tradition, in spite of the province’s growing production of very noteworthy Pinot Noir wines and the contemporary clamor for red wine. Pinot Blanc is the staple of Alsace, where it makes a dry, fresh, flavorful wine of considerable merit. Nonetheless, Alsace’s reputation lies more typically in the crafting of some of the world’s finest Riesling, Gewürztraminer, and Pinot Gris – the vast majority of which are made dry rather than sweet. The relative dryness of most Alsatian wines may come as a surprise to many, especially those for whom German sounding names and tall thin green bottles are synonymous with sweetness. However, Alsatian wines are unique unto themselves and rarely do they resemble their German counterparts in style, flavor, or level of residual sugar. Robert Parker Jr. has called the wines of Alsace “some of the greatest white wines produced on the planet,” and some of the most pleasurable and hedonistic, so isn’t it time the world discovered this sleeping beauty and its treasure trove of undiscovered wines?

Tuscany: The Crown Jewel of Italian Wine

January 24, 2023 by Don Lahey

Tuscany enjoys a unique position in Italy. Located in the center of the Italian peninsula, its cities, culture, and people have existed for thousands of years. Drawing strength from its ancient Etruscan origin, which lent Rome its ability to build and engineer feats of unparalleled proportion, the inhabitants of Tuscany have shaped an austere, mystifyingly beautiful countryside into a rich, fecund land. In harmony with a singularly beautiful land that has been inexorably shaped throughout the centuries by the finest human artistry, Tuscans have created a nearly ideal world in which agriculture, architecture, art, thought, and of course wine continue to form one seamless vital union.

Moreover, during no time in its thousands of years of existence have the wines of Tuscany been better than they are today. Whether one enters Tuscany from the south, driving north from Rome, or discovers Tuscany from any number of small country roads that head south from Emilia-Romagna, it is almost impossible not to know that one has entered a special land. Wooded mountains and valleys, full of oak and pine, and a sea of vines that traverse the hills greet the fortunate traveler to Tuscany. From the sight of the land, it is easy to understand why Tuscany is one of the most important wine producing regions in the world. Likewise, it is equally difficult to comprehend the simple truth – that Tuscany, with its multitude of great wines and illustrious place names, is not one of Italy’s most prolific wine producing regions. In Tuscany, quality, not quantity, holds sway. The great wines of Tuscany are by and large artisanal affairs, produced by families, visionaries, and small groups of very dedicated men and women.

The most expensive and renowned names in Tuscan wine are Brunello di Montalcino – a complex, garnet colored wine from the hills surrounding the precipitous town of Montalcino – and the extraordinary Super Tuscan blends of Tuscany’s Bolgheri. Carmignano and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano are two other ancient names whose fame dates conclusively from the early Middle Ages. And, nowhere in Tuscany or anywhere else in Italy for that matter is better wine being made at prices that one can still afford than in Carmignano and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. Chianti and Chianti Classico, the two most recognizable names in Italian wine, provide a trove of exciting wines, too. Equally important, Tuscany fashions wonderful Vernaccia di San Gimignano, Vin Santo, and a plethora of delicious IGT Rosso and Bianco wines, which Tuscany bestows upon a thirsty world.

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