Wine 101 · Chapter 6

The Regions

Place it in the world. Then prove the method.

First

Old World, New World

  • Old World: Europe, centuries of winemaking
  • New World: the Americas, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa
  • Old World labels usually lead with place
  • New World labels usually lead with grape
  • A way of talking, not a ranking

The appellation idea

The place name comes with rules

  • In Europe, the place on the label sets the rules: which grapes, how grown, how made
  • France: AOC
  • Italy: DOC and DOCG
  • Spain: DO and DOCa
  • United States: AVA. A line on a map. Any grape, any method.

Close to home

Why Washington

  • Desert east of the Cascades: dry, sunny, irrigated
  • Long summer days at a northern latitude
  • Cool nights keep the acid
  • Columbia Valley is the big umbrella. Red Mountain sits inside it.
Columbia Valley

The flight · Fully blind, scored

Your first fully blind flight

  1. Wine 1
  2. Wine 2
  3. Wine 3
  4. Wine 4

No hints. After the reveal, one point for each grape and each region you got right.

The reveal

What you tasted

  1. 1 Pinot Gris Alsace Same grape as Pinot Grigio, richer style: ripe pear, spice, a touch of sweetness
  2. 2 Nebbiolo Barolo or Langhe Pale color, high tannin and acid. Pale does not mean light.
  3. 3 Merlot blend Bordeaux (Saint-Émilion side) Plum, smooth tannin. Merlot thrives on the clay soils here.
  4. 4 Zinfandel Dry Creek Valley Very ripe blackberry, wild-berry spice, high alcohol

In your deck

Find these four cards

  • Pinot Grigio / Pinot Gris 1 · Pinot Gris
  • Nebbiolo 2 · Nebbiolo
  • Merlot 3 · Merlot
  • Zinfandel / Primitivo 4 · Zinfandel

Your 90 seconds

Tell the story

Pick one wine you pour. In 90 seconds, out loud, no notes: the grape, the place, one thing about the place, how it tastes, and who would love it.

Compare it to a wine from class: "If you liked the Barossa Shiraz, this one is..."

Keep going

Tonight's cards

Grapes

  • Pinot Grigio / Pinot Gris Pinot Grigio / Pinot Gris
  • Nebbiolo Nebbiolo
  • Merlot Merlot
  • Zinfandel / Primitivo Zinfandel / Primitivo

Regions

  • Piedmont Piedmont
  • Bordeaux Bordeaux
  • Sonoma County Sonoma County
  • Columbia Valley Columbia Valley
  • Red Mountain Red Mountain

Terroir

  • Clay Soils Clay Soils

Pull these from your deck. Then go back through every card you tasted in the series.

You have a method now. Use it on every glass.

Wine 101

That's Wine 101.

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