Summer Fun

Summer is neither the time for heavy wines nor heavy reading, so instead of weighing you down with the vagaries of a varietal or some winemakers' secrets, we thought we'd offer some fun tidbits from the world of wine this month.

If you're a history buff, the U.S. has some interesting figures who prove that while our wine industry is young, it doesn't lack for history. Thomas Jefferson, for one, took a great interest in promoting native winemaking. He hired a Tuscan, Philip Mazzei, to grow winegrapes at Monticello, and while the imported vines they brought from Europe never succeeded in the East Coast's humidity, they did have some success with American grapes, which were already adapted to that climate.

For movie fans, there's Agoston Haraszthy - "The Father of Californian Viticulture" -was more successful. A Hungarian noble by birth, he was exiled for supporting their independence movement, and eventually came to California, where he worked as a sheriff, farmer, politician, and the head of the San Francisco mint (narrowly escaping conviction for embezzlement). Wine became his passion, though, and he imported over 100,000 vine cuttings of 300 different varietals from Europe - possibly including Zinfandel. Unfortunately Haraszthy ended his life when he went to Nicaragua, hoping to strike it rich with rum: he fell into an alligator-infested river, and was never heard from again.

Of course, Haraszthy could have tried at wine again if he had continued south. While the tropics generally aren't good for winemaking, there are a few wineries in Venezuela. Because of the climate, grapes ripen so quickly that they have two vintages each year, spring and autumn. Farther south still is the land of lost Bordeaux varietals. Winemakers in Chile recently discovered that much of their Merlot is not Merlot at all; it's Carmenere, a grape that was believed to have gone extinct when phylloxera (a louse that destroys vines) devastated Bordeaux's vineyards in the late 1800s. Fortunately some of the grape must have already made its way to Chile, and it's now undergoing a renaissance there. Argentina's Bordeaux grape, Malbec, is no secret these days, but Argentina kept it under wraps for some time; while the country is the world's fifth largest wine-producer, for a long time they consumed so much wine that there was no need to export it.

If Argentina's fifth, who's the top four? If you're only talking about volume, the answer's straightforward: France is number one, followed by Italy, Spain, and then the U.S. Spain actually leads the way for acreage of vineyards, though; because many of their vines grow in quite hot areas, they're spaced further apart than elsewhere, so the volume doesn't keep pace with the acreage. The country with the most variety - or at least varietals - seems to be Italy, with over 1000. Many are rare and only planted in a small area of the country, but there are a number of winegrowers there who are committed to maintaining the local grapes and resist replacing them with so-called "international varietals" like Merlot or Chardonnay.

So, if France makes the most wine, do they also make the best? Well, it's a matter of opinion, of course, but the American wine industry celebrated our nation's bicentennial in 1976 by beating the French in a blind tasting of international experts. California's best Chardonnays and Cabernet Sauvignons went up against some of the best of Burgundy and Bordeaux and came in first in both categories. This year a reprise of the competition resulted in the same decision for California, tasting newer wines and also aged bottles of the vintages featured in the original contest.

Aged bottles. so much is made of the importance of aging wine, but in fact, more than 90% of wine is intended to be drank within three years of the vintage. Especially fruity wines like Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, and Zinfandel are often meant to be drunk young; if you see two vintages available, opt for the more recent - it will probably be fresher and fruitier than its older brother. The exceptions will usually provide some idea of their aging potential on the back label. Most Americans generally don't care to age their wines anyhow; one survey found that 95% of us drink our wines within 48 hours of purchase.

Autumn's coming, and with it, harvest. Now's a good time to drink some wine so you'll be ready for the fresh new wines of the coming vintage.

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