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Wine's Cutting Edge in 2007Is California’s Central Coast the Cutting Edge of Wine Making?
A brief retrospect on wine developments in California, with a view towards the future.
California has become one of the world's largest and most important wine regions. According to the Wine Institute, the California wine industry has an annual impact of $45.4 billion on the state's economy, growing nearly 40 percent from 1998 to 2002. It employs over 200,000 people and its products cover the entire spectrum from delicious, affordable wines to collector's wines costing hundreds of dollars a bottle. California wine comprises more than 95% of all U. S. wine exports. If California were an independent country, it it would be the fourth leading wine-producing country in the world behind Italy, France and Spain. The explosive growth of the California wine industry over the past several decades was not a product of economic evolution. It was the fruit of research carried on in places like the University of California, Davis; California State University, Fresno; and now at California Polytechnic University (Cal Poly), San Luis Obispo. Where old world winemakers rested on their proven traditions, the upstart California wine industry sought to equal or even overtake them by research into progressive viticulture, organic farming, integrated pest management, and the chemistry of wine. Early research efforts solidified the position of Napa Valley as California's leading wine region. Sonoma was the next region to establish itself. Most of those early efforts focused on making better Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay through careful selection of vineyard sites. Viticulturists paid increasing attention to the effects of particular soils and climates on the resultant wines. The Chardonnays of Stony Hill (Napa Valley) and Mt. Eden (Santa Cruz Mountains) reflected their mineral soils especially well and were considered supreme examples of California Chardonnay. They still are. While rooted in the research of Maynard Amerine in the 1950s and 1960s, and Ann Noble in the years following, the real explosion in California wine really began in the 1980s, when major attention shifted from winemaking to viticulture and clone selection. Winemakers were telling us that great wine is made in the vineyard, and spoke of minimal manipulation in the winemaking process. The marriage of science and art in winemaking continues today. The most progressive region today is California's Central Coast, comprised of Monterey, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Barbara Counties. Over the past decade, this region has produced many of California's finest Syrahs and Pinot Noirs - varietals that were largely unsuccessful in California just twenty years ago. In 1994 a Central Coast Chardonnay (Gainey) tied with France's Le Montrachet as the world's finest Chardonnay in a blind tasting of 400 international examples. Having achieved such wonderful success with Chardonnay, Syrah, Pinot Noir, and Zinfandel, many Central Coast winemakers are turning their attention to Italian varietals. At least nine Santa Barbara County vineyards have devoted their efforts to Barbera, Nebbiolo, Sangiovese, Dolcetto, Arneis, Cortese, Traminer, Tocai Friuliano, Lagrein, Teroldego, Primitivo and Moscato. The pursuit of Italian varietals in Santa Barbara County is not new. Bill Mosby (Mosby Winery, Buellton) has been experimenting with them since 1976. His first wines were Sangiovese and Nebbiolo. Few people had ever heard of those varietals back in the 70s. Today, Mosby's Italian varietals are among the best in the State and reasonably priced. To experience these unusual and flavorful wines, you will need to visit the small wineries that produce them or order online from their websites. Some suggestions:
The copyright of the article Wine's Cutting Edge in 2007 in New World Wine is owned by Alan Boehmer. Permission to republish Wine's Cutting Edge in 2007 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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