The World of Wine
It's a Matter of Geography

Wine! It’s the nectar of the gods and it’s older than recorded history. We can trace wine back some 10,000 years to its geographic origins between the Black and Caspian Seas. Early wine was a natural gift, needing no intervention from man. Ripen grapes fell from wild vines, broke open on the ground and natural airborne yeasts turned the oozing grape juice into wine - much to the enjoyment of many roaming animals including man!

The vine (vitis vinifera) has thousands of varieties, but only a small percentage of these are used to make the world’s fine wines. For hundreds of years wine growers around the Mediterranean studied their land and its geography, becoming experts in the marriage of vine and terroir and most still prefer to identify their wines by geographic origin.

 

The Californias coined the term “varietal wine” and made it easier to identify wines based upon the grape variety from which they were made. In the new world, wines are labeled as such and it makes for a good place to start learning about the world of wine.

If, however, our selection of wine were based solely upon grape variety, we would be choosing from only a dozen or so international wines! Thankfully this is not the case. Wine lovers of today have at their fingertips thousands of wines from many wine regions, distinct in their own special way. Why? It’s a matter of geography!

So the next time you plan to pick up that same old bottle of wine you know well, consider what you may be missing! Expand your palate and explore all that the world of wine has to offer, but don’t forget your tasting notes, for you will surely need them as your taste buds evolve!

Our wine resources can help with identifying grape varieties, and demystify wine tasting and wine pairing.

 

 

Join us on tour as we explore the wine regions and the vintage treasures found within.