The Loire River winds its way through north-central France. From its start near the center of the country all the delta at the Atlantic, vines are grown on its banks. The climate in the area is right on the edge of being to cold for vines to grow, and the river provides just a little extra warmth, which makes winemaking in this area possible. Grapes have been grown here since the Romans invaded, and, at one point in time, wines from the Loire were considered the best in the world.

The modern Loire still makes excellent wines, from dozens of AOCs along the length of the river. Because the area is so big, it’s often though of in three regions: the lower, middle and upper Loire. Within the upper Loire are two very famous wine producing areas: Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé. Both regions lie at the far east end of the Loire, across the river from each other, with Sancerre on the west and Pouilly-Fumé on the east side.

Sancerre was one of the original areas of France to be awarded AOC status, which should be no surprise given its worldwide fame. The grapes of this region are the dominant Sauvignon Blanc and the lesser-used Pinot Noir. Though Pinot Noir is produced in this area, it’s almost always simple and light, Sancerre Rouge. The real star of the show here is the white Sauvignon Blanc. The grape takes well to the areas chalky soil and hillsides, which allow more light to penetrate the vineyards and allow cooler air to sink off the hillside vineyards into the valleys below. The wines produced in this classic French area were once seen only as easy-drinking bistro wines. However, a concerted effort to move toward quality wine production began in the 1970’s and the region re-positioned itself as a leader in high-quality white wine production. Today the wines are generally very dry, with intense aromas of nectarines and white berries.

Across the banks of the river from Sancerre lies Pouilly-Fumé. (If that name seems familiar it’s because Sauvignon Blanc from California has been re-billed as Fume Blanc) This AOC also grows Sauvignon Blanc and produces incredibly crisp, racy wines. The soil in the vineyards is noted for containing silex, a flint, which is said to give the wines a decidedly mineral-like aroma and flavor. The flint is also supposed to give the wine a certain “smoky” or “gunflint” aroma, which is thought to have christened the name of the region, as Fumé means “smoke” in French.

The French like to name their wine producing areas, so, thinking goes it’s easy to understand the style of wine in a bottle, because wines made in a certain area should be similar (in grape, style, etc.) This was of course before the age of printed reviews and Internet posts on what to expect from certain bottles. Back then the wines of the southern Rhône developed a reputation for being powerful red wines—to the point that strong southern Rhône wines used to be mixed with Bordeaux wine when Bordeaux had a bad year. That practice is of course long gone, but the powerful red wines of the southern Rhône are still enjoyed across the world.

The southern Rhône is segmented into several unique areas based on local climate and soils, which have been granted their own appellation. The most famous is Châteauneuf-du-Pape—which deserves its own post—but there are several other AOC areas in the southern Rhône that produce excellent charismatic wines that have a tendency to be overlooked in favor of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. We’re going to look at four of them: Gigondas, Vacqueyras, Lirac and Tavel.

Gigondas isn’t really about delicacy. The wines are all red and are crafted to be powerful, tannic and in the best cases worthy of cellar aging. The region is located northeast of Châteauneuf along a little set of mountains called the Dentelles de Montmirail. Gigondas is mostly made from Grenache and only produces red wines. Look for bottles to be in the $15 to $25 range.

Vacqueyras is situated between Gigondas and Châteauneuf, but stylistically it tends to be much more like Gigondas. Vacqueyras was granted AOC status in 1990, but has produced wines for centuries. The output is almost all red wines, similar to Gigondas, very powerful, with lots of structure and less finesse. Vacqueyras is produced from Grenache, but uses more Syrah than Gigondas.

Lirac lies across the river Rhone from the famous Châteauneuf and can produce wines in a similar style. Lirac wines are made in a more blended style than Gigondas and Vacqueyras, which result in wine that is more subtle than the power of the Gigondas and Vacqueyras.

The grapes for red and rose are Grenache with Syrah, Mourvèdre and Cinsault and for the whites are Clairette, Grenache Blanc and Bourboulenc.

Tavel is a very unique AOC in that permits only rosé wine to be made. The wine is made from Grenache and Cinsault, with some Syrah and Mourvèdre. Those are all red grapes, which are gently pressed and kept with the red skins for a brief period of time to dye the wine a light pink color. Tavel wines were a favorite of Kings of France and are still a favorite around the world today.

Sauternes producers were not always forthcoming about the real nature of their wines. The thinking was that people would not want to drink wine that they knew came from rotten grapes. That actually seems like a pretty reasonable assumption, nonetheless, no one in Sauternes these days is hiding their rotten grapes. At least not any which have been infected with the beneficial fungus, Botrytis Cinerea, otherwise known as noble rot. This particular little mold loves moist environments and attaches itself to the skin of the grape, then proceeds to remove the water from each grape. Thankfully the fungus leaves behind the sugars and acids in the grape, so, when the grapes are harvested and pressed, the resulting juice is very sweet and acidic.

Located in the Bordeaux area, the Sauternes AOC is about 25 miles from the city of Bordeaux, on the Garrone. The Sauternes region got a relatively late start in the sweet making game. There aren’t any recordings of anyone making sweet wine from botrytis affected grapes (otherwise known as botrytised grapes) until the 17^th century, well after the rest of Bordeaux had become an established wine area. Within the Sauternes AOC there are five sub regions, or communes: Barsac, Sauternes, Bommes, Fargues and Preignac, of which only Barsac is a separate AOC.

The magic happens where the Garrone meets a small tributary river called the Ciron. The little river Ciron happens to be cooler than the Garrone and the temperature difference creates a consistent mist in the autumn months. This mist promotes the growth of botrytis. Unfortunately, the conditions are not met every year, and in bad years Sauternes wine is not produced. Currently, about six out of every ten years give conditions that are favorable to botrytis and Sauternes production.

The fungus does very well on the thin skin of the Semillon grape. This grape is planted all over Bordeaux for dry white wine production, however it generally takes a back seat to Sauvignon Blanc in dry Bordeaux wines. The situation is reversed in Sauternes where the blend usually consists of about 80% Semillon, with the remainder filled out by Sauvignon Blanc and dash of Muscadelle occasionally thrown in for aroma. The wines of Sauternes are marked by many unique characteristics, one of which is the high viscosity caused by the fungus’ tendency to create glycerol in the finished wine. The aroma of Sauternes are generally described as peaches, apricots and honey; the wines have a full load of acid, which is necessary to balance the intense sweetness found in the wines. Sauternes can be an incredibly long-lived wine, with bottles showing the potential to age well for 100 years or more.

The Albariño grape is planted across Spain, but it reaches its most thrilling heights of flavor, acid and fruit in the northwestern corner of the country, in a region called Rias Baixas. Yes, that is an odd place to put an “x”…if you’re wondering; it’s pronounced ree-ass bye-shass. The language in this area is different from the rest of Spain because the region is located in the semi-autonomous region of Galicia, which uses an ancient language derived from the original Celtic peoples of Europe.

It is thought that the Albariño grape came to the region in the 1100’s along with Cistercian monks. Rias Baixas has certainly been a good fit for the grape. The regions gentle maritime influenced climate rarely gets below freezing or above 90. The region is relatively moist so the wine growers of the region grow their grapes on distinct trellised systems called pergolas, which allow the grapes plenty of ventilation.

The Albariño wines produced in this little corner of the country are some of the most sought after white wines in all of Spain. The wines are delicate but lively with a signature hint of residual sugar. Some producers intentionally inhibit malolactic fermentation, which produces a wine with a bit of bubble in the bottle and an amazing balance of sugar, bubbles and ripping acid.

The best sub-regions are Val do Salnes and O Rosal. You can find the names of the regions on the bottles, but don’t worry, just pick up any Rias Baixas—you won’t be disappointed. Rias Baixas doesn’t mean “ray of sunshine”…but it should.

Did you know that America saved the European wine industry from complete and udder devastation? It’s true. The French wine industry was brought to it’s knees in the late 1800’s by a mysterious disease that killed the noble grape vines that had thrived for millennia in all areas of France. And American grape vines provided the solution that saved the great wines of France.

Of course, America also caused the problems in the first place.

It all started with a nearly microscopic aphid-like creature. This little guy is called the Phylloxera louse and is native to North America. It has an incredible 18 stages in its life cycle, all of which occur on grape vines, in the leaves and the roots. The bug kills grape vines through a complex cycle that effectively deals a one-two punch; stages of which poison the vine and suck out the sap. To this day, there has been no proven way to interrupt the complex life cycle of the Phylloxera louse.

The invention of steam engines shortened the journey across the Atlantic to a small enough time frame that Phylloxera was able to survive the ride. Curious botanist brought American vines over to Europe in the 1850’s, and sealed the fate of the native European vines. Historical estimates of vineyard destruction range from 70-90% across the whole of Europe. In due time, the Phylloxera louse was discovered in Europe and in the vines of American grapes and the link was made.

Remember, the louse is native to North America. And we certainly had and have grapes that thrive everywhere here. How was this possible? The trick is, the native vines developed resistance to the louse over the eons that they evolved together.

The solution was a tough sell to the proud French: graft their noble grapes onto the roots of the humble American vines. It worked. And it is still being practiced to this day. When you hear wine people talk about “grafting” or “grafted vines” this is what they are talking about.

Some growers feel that “self-rooted” vines produce superior grapes and wines than do the vines that have grafted rootstock. That debate will likely never be solved because there is still no other way to stop an infestation of a grape vine by the Phylloxera louse, and so, the vast, vast majority of vines that are planted to this day are grafted.

Vines first came to New Zealand in the 1850’s via the importation of Europeans to the far-flung island in the Pacific. However, it took a century for Kiwi’s to embrace their soils’ potential for fine wine production. Fortunately for all of us, New Zealand got on the wine train in the 1970’s and has been moving forward since then.

When speaking of wine in NZ it’s helpful to break the country into the North and South—which is basically to say the North Island and the South Island. Wine growing areas have been designated in both islands and experimentation has proven grapes that do well in each area.

The north is made up of six regions: Northland, Auckland, Waikato/Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, Hawke’s Bay and Wellington. The Northland and Auckland are the northernmost (and therefore warmest, because NZ is south of the equator) regions of the north island. The regions produce wine but the climate doesn’t allow the regions to produce as much high quality wine as the more southern areas of the north island. Hawke’s Bay and Wellington are the major areas of fine wine production in the north island of New Zealand.

Wellington is the name of the region, but Wairapara and Martinborough are the names to remember from the south end of the North Island. Wairapara is the only district in the Wellington region that produces wine, and its focus is quality wine production. Within the Wairapara district is the small wine-centric town of Martinborough. The production from these areas in low in comparison the overall output New Zealand, but it accounts for a high percentage of the quality wine made in the country. The focus of the area is on Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc. Climatic studies in the early days of New Zealand wine highlighted the region as being prime for Pinot Noir cultivation. And they proved to be dead-on. Pinot Noir, from Martinborough in particular, are one of the most celebrated wines of New Zealand. The wines show intense aromas, bright fruit and excellent structure and acidity.

Hawke’s Bay is a region in the eastern side of the North Island and is one of the largest and most respected areas in New Zealand for fine wine. The regions latitude, farther north than Wellington, means the climate is warmer and the focus of wine making here is on Chardonnay and Bordeaux grapes. Chardonnay makes up half of the planted vines in the region and producers here create a variety of styles, from un-oaked and straightforward to heavily-oaked new world style wines. The quality is generally very good and is continually increasing as world demand for the grape grows. The Bordeaux grapes—particularly Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot—do very well in the Hawke’s Bay area. Some producers bottle straight varietal wines and some take the traditional Bordeaux approach and blend the grapes—with an increasingly heavier dose of Merlot. Waiheke Island in the region is especially well known for its Bordeaux blends, particularly Larose, one of the most expense NZ wines, which practically put the area on the map.

Quick, what are the top 5 wine producing countries in the world? You know France, Italy and Spain all duke it out for 1^st place every year, but after that…the ‘ole U.S.A. actually takes fourth, and 5^th place may surprise you: Argentina. The vast nation in the southern tip of South America produces more wine than you may have thought. The amount that gets exported isn’t quite as high as other nations, on account of the Argentineans drink quite a lot of their own wine. Wine in Argentina is produced in numerous regions from international grapes and local varieties. In the past, focus has been on quantity, however quality wine production is the new standard in many vineyards

The largest producing region in Argentina is called Mendoza, which lies in the foothill area of the Andes on the western side of the nation. Two-thirds of all the wine in Argentina comes from this region at about the north-south center of the country. The vineyards here are some of the highest in the world averaging around 2,500 feet above sea level. Close proximity to the Andes are a double-edge sword for Mendoza. They provide the area with a sheltered, continental climate that doesn’t experience extremes in temperatures; but they also cast the region in a rain shadow which results in semi-desert like conditions. (Very similar to the vineyards in eastern Washington State) Fortunately the mountains provide a snowmelt every spring, which can be harnessed for irrigation.

You’ve probably had the most popular export from Mendoza by now: Malbec. This old world French grape came to Argentina with immigrants in the 1800’s and has settled to the Argentine environment very nicely. These days, Malbec production in Argentina vastly outnumbers French production. Malbec from Mendoza is generally a dark red wine, with smooth tannins and generous fruit flavors.

It’s been said that Malbec is the new Merlot because it appeals to consumers in many of the same ways: it’s not terribly challenging, it’s generally softer and less acidic and tannic and it’s a little exotic—but not too wild. There’s a lot of bulk production out there that can be had for less than $10. Fortunately, there’s been a strong movement to producing much higher quality Malbec, with smaller barrel aging, vineyard designation and improved vine maintenance. This has amazingly been offered without a substantial markup. So now it’s possible to find many high-quality bottles of Malbec in the $15-20 range, which are usually worth the price.

Mendoza is a big region and there are several sub-areas that have begun to specialize in specific grapes and quality production. Valle de Uco is a region planted very high in the hills, around 4,000 feet, the dominant grapes here is Chardonnay. Maipú is a region known for gravel in the vineyards and excellent Cabernet Sauvignon. Finally, Lujan de Coyo needs to be mentioned as the first area in Argentina to be given appellation designation. The Lujan de Coyo area is known for the consistent high quality of its Malbec.

In the north of Italy lies a region with a sixth of all Italy’s people and a healthy portion of its vines. The region is home to the best sparkling wine produced in Italy as well as some of the funkiest cheeses around—try Tellagio sometime, it’s actually very good. Here they call the Nebbiolo grape Chiavennasca and will sometimes dry them to raisins before making a strong, off-dry red. If you haven’t googled it already, the area in question is the Lombardy region, in north-central Italy, along the Swiss border.

The wine market of Lombardy in inextricably linked to its cultural center—Milan. The wines of the region have historically gone to quench the thirst of the cities citizenry. Over time, the region and the city seem to have worked out a deal were the vineyards grow what the city wants to drink—or perhaps the city just like to drink its local vino. In any case, there’s a lot of sparkling wine coming out of Lombardy as well as some excellent red wine called Valtellina.

Franciacorta is a DOCG wine zone (the highest quality level a region in Italy can receive), which grows grapes exclusively for use in sparkling wine. The region uses the Champagne process to make their wines and even uses the Champagne grapes Chardonnay and Pinot Noir—with a little Pinot Bianco thrown in for local flavor. The wines are aged for 18 months to 30 months for non-vintage and vintage wines, respectively. Franciacorta sparkling wines can be expected to have a little more sugar than Champagne, but they won’t be sweet. Any wine that is produced in the area that isn’t sparkling is called Terre di Franciacorta. Still wines from the region include blends of red Bordeaux grapes and aged Chardonnay in the style of Burgundy.

Outside of Piedmont—the ancestral home of Nebbiolo—the only area to grow the grape is Valtellina in Lombardy. Nebbiolo is famous for making Barolo and Barbaresco in neighboring Piedmont. In Lombardy the grape makes a more delicate wine, with less acid and tannin than the world famous Nebbiolos of Piedmont. Though lighter in style, Valtellina makes excellent red wines capable of aging for up to 10 years. A very unique wine is made here from the Nebbiolo grape, it’s called Sforzato and is made from grapes semi-dried grapes and results in a strong, rich wine, similar to Amarone.

Another region producing wine in Lombardy is the Oltrepò Pavese—literally “across the Po river.” Oltrepò Pavese is responsible for half the wine coming out of Lombardy, but most of it is simple wines that won’t get outside of Italy. The quality wines are made from Pinot Noir, both in sparkling white and still red wines.

In Europe, the wine makers have had a good thousand years or so to figure out which grapes grow best in which locations. In America, we’re still figuring that out. There’s been some noteworthy progress on this front, especially given our relatively late start. There’s Cabernet Sauvignon in Napa, there’s Pinot Noir in Willamette, and, there’s Zinfandel in Dry Creek.

Zinfandel is grown all over the state of California, however, it seems the best Zin comes from the Dry Creek Valley. Dry Creek Valley is an American Viticulture Area (AVA), located just west of the northern end of Napa Valley, in Sonoma County, California.

What makes this valley the chosen site for Zinfandel? The short answer is climate and geography.

All the vines in the AVA are clustered around the creek and the hillside slopes that slope down to the creek. The gentle slopes help to maximize the sunlight to the vines. The soil allows rapid drainage—the soil even has a name: Dry Creek Conglomerate—because it’s composed of loose gravel.

When the Italian immigrants moved here in the 1870’s they selected the valley’s hillsides for the Zinfandel grape. The grapes tight bunches and thin skins lend to rot if the moisture it too high. That was great for Dry Creek because the area received little rain and the rain that did come moved through the loose soils quickly. Zinfandel is a very vigorous vine and will produce excess fruit and foliage if there is significant rainfall. Dry Creek was a great fit for this because of its low rainfall.

Finally, Zinfandel ripens relatively early than other grapes. This is key in Dry Creek because the fall storms come from the Pacific every year. Zin ripens early enough that the grapes have time to be picked before the storms come through.

It seems Dry Creek was made for the Zinfandel grape. And the proof is in the bottle. Dry Creek Zinfandels from producers like Rafanelli, Lytton Springs and Dry Creek Vineyard are complex, lean, powerful and rich on the nose and palette. A well-made Dry Creek Zin will banish any thoughts and conceptions you may have about the grapes capacity to produce quality wine.