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Posted by Alan Boehmer Mar 23, 2007 |
It's an axiom that wine is made in the vineyard. Which is to say that a finely situated vineyard planted to the most suitable clones of the most suitable varietals and managed in the most advantageous ways will produce fruit that needs little or no manipulation in the winery. The juice is shepherded through all the winery processes with as little effort from the winemaker as possible. The result is a wine that sings its varietal character and displays a strong sense of place or terroir.
True? Well, yes, in former times. Traditional European wines depended strongly on nature's beneficence in terms of soil and climate. Finding suitable varietals was a matter of trial and (sometimes) error. Eventually all came out pretty well. Time sorted everything out. Pinot Noir ended up in Burgundy, Gewurztraminer in Alsace, Nebbiolo in northern Italy. Planted elsewhere, many varietals such as these just didn't do as well. Winemaking practices were fairly crude and similar across the board.
How times have changed! While there are many single vineyard bottlings that highlight their place of origin, winemaking expertise is steadily rising as new technologies and understandings develop.
Today a winemaker's skill is as important as optimum vineyard particulars. This is true, not only of high production wines (which have always been winery products, not vineyard products), but of many high quality single varietal wines. A winemaker today will often choose to harvest many lots of a single varietal from a single vineyard and ferment them separately to allow the fruit of a vineyard to display its various micro-distinctions. Lots from other vineyards might be treated in similar fashion and the final wine will be a blend of many separate lots that the winemaker chooses to best complement each other.
An excellent example of this procedure may be found in one of California's stellar examples of Sauvignon Blanc, the highly recommended Ferrari-Carano Fumé Blanc $16, -a product of multiple lots from three vineyard sources, fermented separately, blended, and aged partially in stainless steel tanks and older, neutral oak to add richness and creaminess. Good fruit, of course, is fundamental. But the end product is the creation of the winemaker.