Friday, March 1, 9:30 – 11:15am
\nBy Kim Gertler<\/p>\n
To find the \u201ctruth in terroir\u201d is no simple assignment \u2013 defining how a wine can somehow express a sense of place \u2013 is wine\u2019s elusive \u201choly grail\u201d that continues to baffle and defy scientists, academics and authors. It\u2019s top of mind here in Vancouver where you can trace your favourite grape\u2019s shifting flavours and aromas through a dozen countries in a single room. But to define that sense of place in a mere eight glasses\u2026 is a daunting task indeed.<\/p>\n
So how did the Truth in Terroir session approach the above conundrum? By presenting a surprising array of unlikely wines grown in precise single vineyard locations from around both worlds \u2013 old and new. I recorded the entire session so you can hear some great stories and \u2018taste\u2019 along.<\/p>\n
Free Form by Okanagan Crush Pad Ancient Method 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n This \u201cpet nat Pinot Noir\u201d comes from 2230 feet high up near Summerland in the Okanagan Valley. \u201cOur goal was to highlight the fruit \u2013 highlight the soil and highlight the land,\u201d says winemaker Matt Dumayne. Made in the method ancestrale, the wine \u201cstarts fermenting by itself until we create five atmospheres of pressure and it\u2019s disgorged six months later.\u201d There is no dosage \u2013 as the idea is to let the wine speak for itself. It\u2019s saying, drink me now \u2013 I\u2019m fresh and juicy – a great opener.<\/p>\n Bodega Garzon Garzn Uruguay Single Vieyar Albarino 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n Albarino was brought by immigrants from Galicia, Spain to Uruguay, where it\u2019s the second most planted grape, next to tannat. \u201cI shouldn\u2019t have but I brought soil from our country\u201d confesses Maria Sosa \u2013 proudly holding up a vial of balasto \u2013 the local soil of decomposed granite.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I can describe the wine in one word it is \u2018energy\u2019 and this is exactly what this vineyard gives to the wine.\u201d The vines are rooted in a rugged locale, amidst giant boulders, constantly pounded by the salty breezes of the Atlantic. \u201cAs a child my father would introduce my brother and I to the ocean \u2013 and a wave would come up and whup – hit you with a salty slap. That\u2019s what this wine reminds me of. There is no other Albarino that will be like this one!\u201d She\u2019s spot on \u2013 the wine is vibrant, aromatic and more than a bit salty.<\/p>\n The harvest happens in the dead of night to keep the fruit cool. The wines are wildly fermented in native yeasts and rest in giant eggs of local concrete sur-lie. The idea is to add another layer of location, emphasizing the \u201cterroir within the terroir,\u201d says Sosa.<\/p>\n Culmina Wild Ferment Gruner Veltliner 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n This rare expression of the classic Austrian variety comes from a bench high above Okanagan\u2019s Golden Mile. So high, in fact, that it\u2019s above the boundaries of that sub-appellation and is thus classified under the general VQA designation of Okanagan Valley. It started out as an experiment after finding soils of schist on a previously unplanted site.<\/p>\n Before giving Gruner the go-ahead, the Culmina team sought the advice of the (late) great Austrian-Canadian winemaker, Karl Kaiser. \u201cThe one thing that he did verify was that it was winter-hardy. That prompted us to give it a shot,\u201d says Sara Triggs.<\/p>\n That shot paid off \u2013 it\u2019s not only the first Gruner veltliner successfully grown and made in the Okanagan \u2013 but this zesty high altitude expression just might elevate the grape to new heights. According to the Globe and Mail\u2019s Beppi Crosariol, \u201cit must be counted as a New World benchmark for Austria\u2019s signature white grape.\u201d<\/p>\n Stina Croatia Posip 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n Made on the island of Brac in the Adriatic Sea, off the Dalmatian coast of Croatia, this wine is 100% Posip (Paw-SHIP) \u2013 a traditional Croatian white grape. The word \u2018stina\u2019 refers to the island\u2019s trademark white limestone \u2013 an inspiration to poets, sculptors and \u2013 winemakers too. The rocky site that this wine comes from has been said to resemble the surface of the moon.<\/p>\n According to Emil Mehdin. Here, the goal is simple: \u201cto present Posip the way it is.\u201d Once again, the locale is the key. In the hot island climate, the higher altitude site, keeps the fruit cooler, especially with the advent of night ocean breezes. One of the challenges is to harvest the grapes quickly at the precise time of peak ripeness \u2013 so, here too, harvest happens at night or in the cooler morning hours.<\/p>\n The winemaking is straightforward \u2013 5- 6 months in stainless steel \u2013 but the wine is anything but. Robustly textured, this Posip beautifully balances fruits of citrus, pear and melon with nutty, creamy notes and a bracing salty- stony finale. On to the reds.<\/p>\n Jackson Family Wines, Anderson Valley Pinot Noir 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n This pinot hails from the Kaiser vineyard from the deep end of the Anderson valley where \u201canother valuable cash crop is grown as well,\u201d jokes Thomas Price. \u201dAromatically \u2013 isn\u2019t that cool? There are so many different kinds of flowers and savory herbs \u2013 there\u2019s a lot of stuff going on.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is super close to the Pacific Ocean and it is definitely a little cooler climate\u2026 the soils are more sandy as you get to the deep end and for me generally for Pinot Noir \u2013 when it is grown on rocky or volcanic soils it\u2019s a little softer \u2013 Anderson Valley pinot noir \u2018s sense of place is in its aromatics that rosemary and violet \u2013 aromatically it\u2019s really complex.\u201d<\/p>\n The wine is crafted in a lighter style with some neutral oak. It\u2019s focused fresh and brightly supple – surprising for a six year old new world Pinot.<\/p>\n Umani Ronchi Campo San Giorgio Rosso Conero Riserva 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n From the west coast of Cali to the east coast of Italy \u2013 where across the Appenines from Tuscany \u2013 a family mission is underway \u2013 to take the wines of the humble Montelpuciano grape to a whole new place. Literally.<\/p>\n These are not the rustic, sun-soaked fully ripened wines of Montepulciano D\u2019Abruzzo. Nor are they the Tuscan wines of Sangiovese commonly confused with this variety that go under the name Vino Nobile de Montepulciano \u2013 These are wines made solely of the Montepulciano grape, but cut from cool new cloth. Cool – because the vineyard is a mountainous region \u2013 100 kilometers north of Abruzzo but cool enough to be markedly different in style. New \u2013 because these vines, at 15 years old \u2013 are by Italian standards, mere babies.<\/p>\n \u201cWe collected all of our experience with this grape and started this project looking for the best area to grow this wine in the ideal setting \u2013 to drive our philosophy to the extreme \u2013 to find the best place to ripen an elegant Montepulciano.\u201d says Lorenzo Gucci, \u201cOur vineyard is about a square kilometer \u2013 about the size of a football pitch\u2026the Conero area is just 1.5 kilometres from the sea but is a mountain, has an elevation of 150 metres above sea level \u2013 you find a Montepulciano of a totally different style \u2013 a very very small single vineyard, and this cooler mountainous region with a lot of breezes from the sea you will find a Montepulciano that\u2019s more elegant with more acidity persisting in the wines.\u201d<\/p>\n The vines are grown close to the grown with the leaves tied up \u201clt\u2019s like a small cypress tree with the bunches at the bottom.\u201d Each plant yields only a couple of bunches. The soil is a mix of calcaric, clay and sand. The whole bunches are left in the tank for just over two weeks without crushing before undergoing malolactic fermentation, then a year of aging in French barriques \u2013 with only 20% new oak.<\/p>\n The family\u2019s mission to show the world how Montepulciano can be made Conero style, is evident in the fresh, structured wine in the glass before us all – where tones of ripe blackberry and plum mingle with licorice and cocoa.<\/p>\n Benziger Family Sonoma County Tribute 2014<\/strong><\/p>\n This is the first wine from Sonoma to be certified biodynamic but the story of Tribute is also the story of the Benziger family who \u201clike the Beverley Hillbillies moved out in the 70\u2019s from New York to a beautiful ranch above the town of Glen Ellen on Sonomoa mountain.\u201d The wine comes from a previously abandoned vineyard site: \u201cIt was first settled in the 1860\u2019s but then the 1906 earthquake, prohibition and phylloxera, wiped out the area and they literally locked the front gate for fifty years and the place kind of went back – kind of almost went feral. In the early 70\u2019s a doctor bought the place and he was a little more radical \u2013 he was a little more interested in growing marijuana up there, as a matter of fact he grew Cabernet and marijuana \u2013 he mixed it together in the barrel and made a wine called \u201ccannabis sauvignon \u2013 I\u2019m not making this up\u201d The crowd rips into laughter a second time when Chris Benzinger adds \u201cit was the ultimate food wine.\u201d<\/p>\n The vineyard has been rejuvenated on the site of Sonoma mountain \u2013 which is an old volcano with \u201cunbelievable fractured soils from the volcano itself \u2013 it\u2019s like geological lasagna \u2013 basalt, red aggregate, compressed ash and then your sub soils and your top soils.\u201d<\/p>\n The site gets 360 degree exposure to the sun with what Benziger calls the spice rack in the morning \u2013 \u201cthat\u2019s gonna give us coffee, chocolate and eucalyptus.\u201d And then the other half of the vineyard that gets the full brunt of the afternoon Benziger calls the fruit basket: \u201con a good year we\u2019ll get black fruit, blueberries and some nice bing cherries.\u201d That volcano of flavours is all there in the glass \u2018erupting\u2019 with beautiful balance and poise.<\/p>\n Achaval-Ferrer Mendoza Argentina Finca Mirador 2014<\/strong><\/p>\n Malbec\u2019s quest for greatness in Argentina is a somewhat new phenomenon according to Achaval-Ferrer\u2019s Julio Lasmartres: \u201c20 years ago we had a very big domestic market and one of the world\u2019s highest per capita consumptions of wine. We were making average wines at a decent price point for the domestic market – nobody really differentiated where the grapes came from.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Lasmartres, it was a visiting Italian winemaker that challenged winemakers to up their game: \u201cWhy produce the same kind of Malbec that everyone else is doing? There are fantastic single vineyards…these old hand crafted vineyards that were being left aside because they had low yields and they required much more labour \u2013 so many people were not taking care of them\u201d So Archaval Ferrer took over three of the vineyard sites high up in the Uco Valley (2400 \u2013 3400 feet) with the goal of making spectacular single vineyard wines out of them.<\/p>\n The Finca Mirador comes from Medrano \u2013 the site is a four-hectare, sandy, dry riverbed cooled by breezes that come \u2018downriver\u2019 from the mountains. The fruit from low yielding 85-year-old vines is picked three times before undergoing a high temperature maturation. Concrete, French oak and at least two years of bottle aging follow.<\/p>\n The wine shows a flair and delicacy that stands apart from its peers – lush dark fruit, silky tannins, dancing with floral and spicy notes.<\/p>\n Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n To find that taste of place in the glass is the undeniable quest of anyone who explores the world of wine but – because it\u2019s so hard to quantify \u2013 it remains a hot topic of debate, discussion and disagreement. The fact that terroir makes a difference is certain \u2013 but how it makes that difference \u2013 aye, there\u2019s the rub.<\/p>\n While the session didn\u2019t directly address the terroir debate above \u2013 the contributors brought forth wines that were gratifying, diverse and each vividly redolent of its locale. The quest continues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Friday, March 1, 9:30 – 11:15am By Kim Gertler To find the \u201ctruth in terroir\u201d is no simple assignment \u2013 defining how a wine can somehow express a sense of place \u2013 is wine\u2019s elusive \u201choly grail\u201d that continues to baffle and defy scientists, academics and authors. It\u2019s top of mind here in Vancouver where […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"yoast_head":"\n