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The role of Saint Benedict in the identification and cru-ing of Burgundian...
As illustrated in my graphical summation of the history of wine styles -- described in Lukacs'Inventing Wine: A New History of one of the World's Most Ancient Pleasures -- the next significant...
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Regenerative Viticulture: Early steps on the road for Familia Torres
The recent Regenerative Viticulture Symposium, organized and presented by Familia Torres, was a harbinger of the still-then unformalized Regenerative Viticulture Association. The list of speakers was...
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Il Palazzone's Rosso del Palazzone: In the vanguard of Montalcino vins de soif
Non-vintage bottlings are more frequent in the sparkling, fortified, and sweet wine spaces than for still wines. Some of the existing non-vintage still wines are flagships in their estate portfolios...
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Can Font (Emporda, Spain): Regenerating vineyards to take care of the planet
As part of my ongoing coverage of Regenerative Agriculture, I have reported on a number of ongoing deployments to include Tablas Creek Vineyards, Troon Vineyard, Solminer, and Familia Torres. I...
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The Catholic Church and wine: The Babylonian Captive Papacy and...
I have been tracking the role of the Catholic church in the spread of wine beyond its entry point into western civilization beginning with the story of the Cistercian monks and the wines of Burgundy. I...
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Andrea Franchetti: A curated review of the legacy of an architect and builder...
The wine world has been wracked by a number of leading-light deaths in the past two years or so but none has struck as close to home for me as the passing of the Tuscan and Mt. Etna giant Andrea...
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Château Pape Clément: The link between the Bordeaux estate and the Avignon Popes
I recently posted my article on the Avignon Popes and Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the Wine Studies Group and received feedback from member Jean-Yves Maldague that the Bordeaux estate Château Pape Clément...
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Monks on a mission: The spread of winemaking through colonial Mexico and...
The Spanish were directly responsible for the drubbing of French wines at the hands of the American upstarts at the Judgment of Paris tasting. More specifically, Spanish priests were the culprits. It's...
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Monks and the Mission: The spread of viticulture through Baja and Alta...
So let's recap. The thesis here is that the Spanish, and, more specifically, the Spanish monks, were responsible for the defeat of the French wines by the upstart Americans at the Judgment of Paris...
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Early efforts at winemaking on the American East Coast: The Jamestown...
Prior to the Spanish monks planting their first vines in California (1769; then part of Alta California, a colonial property of Spain), the first experiment in winemaking by the English settlers on the...
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Barboursville Vineyards (Barboursville, VA): Closing Jeffersonian loops
My initial post on Barboursville Vineyards was subtitled "The marriage of Italian expertise, international varieties, and the Monticello terroir. This was not the first time that this trifecta has been...
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How the Mission Monks laid the groundwork for a viable US wine industry
I took a short detour from chronicling the Spanish-driven advance of vitis vinifera northward in New Spain to cover the faltering attempts at creating a wine industry in the English colonies along the...
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Los Angeles was the City of Vines before it became known as the City of Angels
I have been blaming the Spanish clergy for the Judgment of Paris debacle for French wines but further research places more direct responsibility on a ... Frenchman. Yes, a Frenchman. Sixteen years...
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Agrovoltaics - A potential approach to mitigating the effects of climate...
The threat of the impacts of climate change on wine quality has sent winemakers scrambling for mitigating solutions to include: moving to higher altitudes; adding more heat tolerant varieties to the...
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The wines of Italy's Campania region
Campania, the shin of the boot that is Italy, is its third most populous region. And with its 5.8 million people resident in an area covering 13,590 sq. km, it is the country's most densely populated...
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Mastroberardino: The foremost producer of premium wines in Campania
Mastroberardino, the largest producer of premium wines in Campania, as well as being one of Italy's most highly regarded producers, has roots in Irpinia Province that reach back into the 18th century....
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The Aglianico cultivar, the least-known of the great reds
Two of Campania's four DOCG classifications are based on the Aglianico variety which is itself further deployed, as regards styles, classification, and geography. I examine the characteristics of the...
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Fiano: "One of Italy's greatest native wine grapes"
In a recent Wine Spectator article, Robert Camuto posed the question as to whether Fiano was Italy's greatest white wine. Ian D'Agata does not allow himself to be limited by grape type. Instead, he...
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The Greco cultivar and Greco di Tufo wine
Irpinia, the ancient name of Campania's Avellino Province, is home to three of the four regional DOCG production zones: Taurasi (red), Fiano di Avellino, and Greco di Tufo (the latter two both white...
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The Falanghina cultivar: At home in Campania
Ian D'Agata (Native Wine Grapes of Italy) has tagged the Falanghina variety as "... one of the greatest success stories in Italian wine of the last thirty years ..." in that it has "... managed to...
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