Mount Aconcagua and Her Namesakes

Aconcagua 1It’s higher than Mount Kilamangaro and Mount McKinley. It could easily lose Europe’s highest mountain – Mont Blanc – in its shadow. It provides irrigation and (of course) elevation for some of the finest wine regions in Chile and Argentina.

If that isn’t enough to impress you, consider this: it is the highest mountain in all of the Americas, the Western Hemisphere, and the Southern Hemisphere. It touches the sky at 22,837 feet above sea level, and one has to travel over 10,270 miles – to Asia – to find a higher mountain.

We’re talking about the highest mountain in the Andes – Mount Aconcagua. It is a dream destination for mountain climbers, especially if you consider that the mountain’s northern approach is considered by mountaineering standards to be an “easy route.” It’s considered a “non-technical” mountain climb, meaning that one can make it to the summit without ropes, axes, or pins. Be careful, though – with an atmospheric pressure of only 40% that of sea level, strong winds, electrical storms, and a potential low temperature of -13°F (-25°C), you are advised to be careful.

Mount Aconcagua is located in Argentina’s Mendoza province, very close to the border between Mendoza and San Juan. The mountain and its surroundings on the Argentine side are part Aconcagua 2of the Aconcagua Provincial Park. The summit is about 70 miles west and a bit north of the city – and vineyards – of Mendoza.

To the west, the summit of Mount Aconcagua is located about 5 miles from the international border with Chile. The Aconcagua wine region on the Chilean side of the border is actually named for the river that flows from the summit of the mountain to the Pacific Ocean. The Aconcagua viticultural region has three sub-regions: The Aconcagua Valley, the Casablanca Valley, and San Antonio Valley.

The Aconcagua Valley is located about 40 miles north of the city of Santiago and forms a narrow east-west valley along the path of the river. The area is classified as an “Entre Cordilleras” (between the mountains) climate area. The area receives only about 8 inches of rain a year, so irrigation from the river is essential. Mount Aconcagua towers over the region, which has a long history of red wine production. Cabernet Sauvignon is the widely planted grape, followed by Merlot and Carmenère.

The Casablanca Valley is located about 7 miles north and to the west of the Aconcagua Valley. The Casablanca Valley is well-known as a “costa” (coastal) climate region, and enjoys the cool, foggy mornings and maritime influence of the Pacific Ocean. Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc are by far the most widely planted grape varieties here, accompanied by plantings of white aromatics such as Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris, and Riesling. Small amounts of red grapes, particularly Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Pinot Noir, are planted as Aconcagua 3well.

Located south of the Casablanca Valley and, at points, as close as 2.5 miles from the ocean, the San Antonio Valley is also a “costa” climate region. The San Antonio Valley is a relatively new wine region known for crisp, mineral-driven Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, as well as cool-climate expressions of Pinot Noir and Syrah.

Click here to view  SWE’s 2015 Wine Map of Chile

The Goddess and the Roasted Grape

ErbaluceThe goddess Albaluce – the love child of the Sun and the Dawn – was not happy. It seemed many of her followers in the enchanted land of Caluso were desserting her in favor of a new religion known as Christianity. As she sat down and shed her tears, a grapevine grew and brought forth sweet grapes with a bright copper hue. Eventually, these grapes became known as Erbaluce in her honor.

Great story, isn’t it?  Or perhaps we should simply refer to it as what it is – a legend, that, while surely fiction, does at least let us know that Erbaluce is an ancient grape. We also know – somewhat for sure – that the grape is native to Piedmont, which has written records of the grape dating back to 1606. These days, it rarely ventures far from home, and is an allowed variety in just a handful of DOC/DOCGs – all of them in Piedmont.

Erbaluce’s unique copper color – sometimes accompanied by pink highlights as the grape ripens – has given rise to the nickname Uva Arrostita, or “roasted grape.”  Modern science, through DNA profiling, has revealed that Erbaluce is closely related to another Piedmont native, Cascarolo Bianco, although who exactly begat whom is not clear.

Erbaluce is cultivated in a variety of provinces in and around Turin, but is most associated with the town of Caluso. Even here, however, it is a rarity – at last count, there were less than 800 acres – and its wines are seldom seen out of the region.

erbaluce 2Erbaluce di Caluso was granted DOC status in 1967, and was promoted to DOCG in 2011. The disciplinare allows for dry white wines, sparkling wines, and sweet wines – all produced with 100% Erbaluce grapes. The dry white wines go by the name Erbaluce di Caluso, while the sparkling wines, appreciated for the fresh fruit character and mineral aromas – are known as Caluso Spumante.

But the real star is Caluso Passito – a sweet, dried grape wine with a minimum of 7% residual sugar, 12.5% alcohol, and 36 months of aging (48 for the Riserva).  Caluso Passito is known for its aromas of apple, vanilla, citrus, honey, and almonds –and while I’ve only had it once  – I’m betting it would make an excellent match with a simple dessert of gorgonzola, dried fruit, and hazelnuts.

Note: Erbaluce is an allowed (majority) grape variety in the following wines, all produced in Piedmont:  Canavese DOC, Colline Novaresi DOC, Coste della Sesia DOC, Erbaluce di Caluso DOCG, Piedmont DOC

The website of Azienda Vitivinicola Giacometto Bruno has a lovely description of their Caluso Passito.

The Central Otago Gold Rush

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Wine students are well aware of the effect that California’s Gold Rush (1848-1855) had on wine production in northern California – namely, that between 1856 and 1857, gold fever turned into vine fever, and winegrape plantings in the area more than doubled!

However, did you know that Central Otago had a gold rush of its own?

It all began in May of 1861, when gold was discovered in an Otago Valley now known as Gabriel’s Gully. The site is located about three kilometers from the town of Lawrence, close to the Tuapeka River.  The discovery at Gabriel’s Gully was the largest gold strike ever for New Zealand, and quickly led to a rapid influx of foreign prospectors to the area – many of them veterans of the recent gold rush in California, as well as similar finds in the gold fields of Victoria, Australia.

One such miner, named Jean Desire Féraud, was of French descent – from a wine-making family in Burgundy, no less. Upon his arrival in Otago, Mr. Féraud quickly made a fortune from gold – so much so that the location of his lucky strike, located on the west bank of the Clutha River, is now known as Frenchman’s Point.

Jean Desire Féraud, via centralotagowine.com

Jean Desire Féraud, via centralotagowine.com

With his newly-found riches, Mr. Féraud bought 100 acres of land and planted orchards, herbs, and vineyards. He also built a winery, known as Monte Christo. Most of the wine was sold locally, but one batch – believed to be Pinot Noir from the 1879 vintage – won a third-place medal in the “Best Burgundy” category at an 1881 competition in Sydney.

Despite this success, Féraud’s efforts were not enough to win over the locals – most of them miners and farmers who preferred whisky and beer – to the love of wine, and Féraud soon sold the winery.  It was purchased by James Bodkin in 1889, and the property remains in the Bodkin family to this day.

Thus, the first wave of wine production in Central Otago was short-lived, and, as we all know, the modern wine industry took until the 1990s to really get going. It does, however, seem like Mr. Féraud knew what he was doing, as Pinot Noir is now the leading red grape of New Zealand. And Central Otago, famous for being the southernmost wine region in the world, is equally well-known for its fragrant, intense, silky Pinot Noir. To wine lovers, and hopefully to the legacy of Jean Desire Féraud, that’s as good as gold.

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A Tale of Tibouren

Clos Cibonne Tibouren

Clos Cibonne Tibouren

Tibouren…it is a grape that is highly regarded, and with a historical precedence for use in the rosés of Provence. And yet, many of you have – perhaps – never heard of it!

The Tibouren grape is appreciated for making earthy, expressive wines redolent of that “wild, herbal, somewhat floral” aroma known as garrigue – named after the wild underbrush that grows in the limestone-rich soils of Provence and other regions around the Mediterranean basin. It is approved as a principal variety (allowed up to 90% of the blend) in the red and rosé wines of the Côtes de Provence AOC; it is approved as an accessory variety (allowed up to 20% of the blend) in the reds and rosés of the Coteaux Variois en Provence AOC.

The Clos Cibonne estate, located on the coast between Marseille and Nice, has one of the largest and oldest plantings of Tibouren in the world, and on occasion produces varietal wines from Tibouren in both red and rosé versions. The Tibouren vineyard at Clos Cibonne is almost 40 acres, much of it planted in 1930 or earlier.

Garrigue

Garrigue

Tibouren has avoided becoming too well known for several reasons – the first being that, despite its excellent reputation for making interesting wines, it is not widely grown.  France has a total of just 1,100 acres, with more than half of those planted in Provence. The main reason for the small showing of the grape is – despite its being quite hardy in regards to pests and most vine diseases – that the grape has a tendency to early budding and susceptibility that pesky condition known as millerandage. CSW Students will recognize millerandage as a condition known as “abnormal fruit set” that results in grape bunches that have a high proportion of small seedless berries mixed in with normal, larger, seed-bearing grapes.

Like most vinifera grapes, Tibouren has an interesting and not-quite-verified history. It is said to have been introduced to the area around St. Tropez by an Italian ship’s captain named Antiboul. The grape first went by the name Antibloulen, which later led to the name “Tibouren.” Recent DNA testing, as reported by Jancis et al in their amazing book “Wine Grapes,” has shown it to be identical to the Rossese di Dolceacqua grape of Liguria. This would make sense, according to the story of the Italian sea captain!

Rossese di Dolceacqua (aka Tibouren)– 662 acres of it – is still grown, very close to the French border, in Liguria.