Tuesday Travels: Passport to Wine (PtA) #1—Veneto Region, Italy

Benvenuti in Italia! (Welcome to Italy!) And welcome to our very first “Welcome to Wine Country” Passport to Wine. As their name implies, these virtual visits whisk us across borders and oceans to wine-growing areas in other parts of the globe.

Today we’re visiting the Wine Country of the Veneto region, right outside Venice in the northeast between the Dolomites and the Adriatic Sea. Hilly and somewhat chilly, the Veneto is the home of Prosecco, www.prosecco.it Italy’s delightfully fruity-fresh sparkling wine.

The vintners who produce this bubbly treasure have very wisely banded together to form a consortium to establish quality-control guidelines for Prosecco. The wine, in fact, has earned DOC status (more tomorrow) for its terroir-focused standards of excellence.

Although I love to travel, this time I didn’t have to deal with jet lag, airport hassles or an actual passport to taste Prosecco: Italy came to San Francisco last week with a wonderful “Vino in Villa” tasting, featuring members of the consortium and their wines. (Here's a pic of Daniele D'Anna in the Crown Room of the Fairmont Hotel with his Bortolotti Prosecco. www.bortolotti.com)

As they poured me their lovely libations, the visiting vintners described the unique growing conditions of their region. Stretching across a series of hill chains in the province of Treviso, between the town of Conegliano in the east and Valdobbiadene at the western edge, the Prosecco production zone comprises about 45,000 acres in 15 separate communities. Farming the steep hills is labor-intensive and difficult to mechanize, and much of the acreage is in the hands of small growers, with several co-ops and only a few large producers.

Much of Prosecco’s character comes directly from the vineyards. The grape does best (BTW, “Prosecco” is the name of the grape varietal as well as the sparkling wine made from it) on hillsides, at altitudes of up to ~1650 feet. This makes for dramatic cooling at night, which helps preserve and build the necessary acidity in the grapes. On the other side of the coin, Prosecco vineyards are planted on south-facing slopes (often with woods on the northern side) to achieve optimal ripeness.

Several other local varietals—Bianchetta, Verdiso and the “pear-shaped” Perera—are sometimes blended with Prosecco, usually in small amounts. Distinctive and especially beautiful at harvest time, the large, yellow Prosecco grape clusters make for an eye-catching golden accent on the sunny hillsides.

Grapegrowing in this region dates back to ancient times: Prosecco may possibly trace its ancestry to the “Pucino” of the Roman era. In its modern form, Prosecco production began about 200 years ago. Nowadays, thanks to successful programs of clonal selection, vintners plant different “biotypes” of Prosecco in the various microclimates of the zone. A top-flight research facility, in fact—the Experimental Center for Viticulture, along with the excellent School of Viticulture and Enology, both in Conegliano—provide research and education within the Prosecco community.

Tomorrow, on Wine 101 Wednesday, we’ll look at the how-to of Prosecco production. Until then,

Cheers (Salute)—
Rosina
gilded fork, wine, wine writing, Welcome to Wine Country, Rosina Tinari Wilson

Wine 101 Wednesday—Location, Location… Terroir

Ask any realtor about the most important factor in selling a home. Standard answer: “Location, location, location.”

As you might expect, it’s no different when the real estate has grapevines growing on it. The French coined a word for it: terroir (tehr-WAHR). It derives from their word "terre," and before that from the Latin "terra," both of which mean “earth” or “land.” (BTW, the word “terrier,” as in dog, also comes from this root word, since they’re bred for unearthing pesky hide-in-the-dirt rodents.)

In the wine world, the expression "gout de terroir" (taste of the earth/soil) means that the wine’s character strongly reflects its place of origin. (It can also refer to actual earthy or minerally flavors in the glass.)

Vineyard location ranks at (or at the very least near) the top of the list of factors that determine a finished wine’s level of excellence. And just as with any other plant (my shade-loving fuchsia would roast in your hot front yard; your lush red roses would stetch their straggly, blossomless arms toward the nonexistent sun on my back patio), different varieties of wine grape need different growing conditions. One wine varietal’s ideal location may not suit another varietal’s needs at all.

Cabernet, for example, loves the hot sun. (Zin does too, BTW. See happy vine in foto.) Pinot Noir doesn’t. Pinot made from hot-climate grapes, in fact, loses its elegance and finesse, and starts to taste “cooked.” (The biochemistry of the flavor compounds in the grapes actually changes to create these pruney, raisiny flavors, plus the heat cooks out some of the grapes’ acidity for a nasty double whammy.)

Let’s go to France to compare different climates and the grapes that love them. The great Cabernet-based Bordeaux wines come from the warm Medoc in the southwest. The cooler, more northerly Burgundy region where Pinot thrives lies just south of Champagne and at the same latitude as nearby Switzerland. (Unfortunately, we now have global warming to confuse the issue—and it’s indeed wreaking havoc with much of Europe—but let’s keep that out of the mix for now.)

All of this translates to California and other New World winegrowing areas as well. When we looked at the Pinot Noirs from Marin County yesterday, their cool-climate vineyard origin provided the link that tied them all together.

Next Wednesday, we’ll pick up where we left off today, and we'll look at the many factors that comprise terroir. We’ll also zero in on how terroir makes a difference in the glass. And I’ll give you a preview of an upcoming podcast (or two!) on a unique, terroir-based wine judging called the Grand Harvest Awards. www.vwm-online.com

Tomorrow, in our first Thirsty Thursday, we taste Pinot. Mmmmmm. Join me. And bring a wineglass!

I welcome your questions about the world of wine—let me know what’s on your mind and I’ll get some answers for you. In fact, I like this idea so much that I’ll set aside the First Wednesday of each month to talk about topics that you suggest.

Cheers for now,
Rosina
gilded fork, wine, wine writing, Welcome to Wine Country, Rosina Tinari Wilson