Author: stacy.louise


Jan
2020

Wine Region Overview: New Zealand

categories: General Knowledge (L3), Wine, Wine 101

[Information based on WSET Level 3 material]

Australia is such a large wine region, and that’s where my Oceanic-wine-focus tends go go. But let us not forget their close neighbor, New Zealand. As you might expect, being a group of islands between the Tasman Sea and the Pacific ocean, the climate here is overall maritime—the asterisk goes here for Central Otago which, centered around the Southern Alps, actually maintains and continental climate.

Other key piece of info, when determining the difference between the two islands: Remember, NZ is in the Southern Hemisphere, so the South Island climate will be a bit cooler; the North Island climate, a bit warmer.

Thinking about the geography of the two islands, most of the vineyards of the South Island tend to be on the eastern side where the vines are protected from rain-bearing winds from the west by mountain ranges that span pretty much right down the center of the island itself—the Southern Alps. (Quick shout out to Nelson who braves it out over there on the left with its east coast pride.) But, again, this is a maritime climate situation—rainfall is inevitable and can be a concern during the growing process. However, it’s noted that most of the soils tend to be free draining, which is excellent for vine vigor. Of course there will be some vineyards located on flatter lands that can be overly fertile (this will happen closer to the ocean), resulting in a bit more greener, herbaceous notes on the wines (specifically in reference to the most planted grape, Sauvignon Blanc).

But it’s noted that due to this excessive vigor and having to work around wet, rainy conditions, New Zealand growers have become well-versed in the art of trellising and other canopy management techniques and that the Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand initiative has helped set winery standards and assist growers in achieving well-maintained and sustainable vineyards.

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Jan
2020

Wine Region Overview: Southern Italy

categories: General Knowledge (L3), Wine, Wine 101

Ok cool kids—or, bambini—this is our last stop on our tour of Italy’s wine regions—Southern Italy. Don’t forget to check out what we learned in Northern and Central Italy as well.

[Information based on WSET Level 3 material]

First thing you have to know is that Southern Italy is hot. If you’ve been there during the summer months, you know what I’m talking about. Luckily, despite many preconceived notions, the wines of the Southern Italian world are not all big, bold reds. Let’s take a look…

Overall, the climate of Southern Italy, is hot and dry in the inland areas, becoming more humid toward the coast. As in, Central Italy, many vineyards are planted along the slopes of the Apennine, in which case the vineyards are cooled by altitude. Those planted in the coastal area of the Puglian Peninsula will receive some moderating sea breezes.

Traditionally, vines were bush-trained low to the ground as a way to utilize the canopy to protect grapes from sunburn. Many old vines still use this viticultural method, however newer vineyard plantings use cordon training and trellising in order to incorporate mechanization in the vineyard.

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Jan
2020

Wine Region Overview: Central Italy

categories: General Knowledge (L3), Wine, Wine 101

Did you join us on our tour of Northern Italy? If not, take a look because today we’re moving south to the central wine regions of the country…

[Information based on WSET Level 3 material]

Remember how the northern wine region was defined by the Alps spanning the entirety of the northern-most border? Well we have a similar geological-defining feature here: the Apennine Mountains run the length of Peninsula. Grapes planted along its hills and valleys experience the moderating affects of altitude, helping alleviate the overall hot climate of the region. Again, similar to the northern region, some vineyards in Central Italy are planted along the coastline—these will, of course, benefit from cooling sea breezes.

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Jan
2020

Wine Region Overview: Northern Italy

categories: General Knowledge (L3), Wine, Wine 101

For those of you following along on my WSET wine tour around the world, we recently did a brief stop in Northern Italy for a pop quiz about some of the wines produced. Indeed, that did cover a lot of ground, but not nearly the whole region. So I want to take time to look at Northern Italy in its entirety and explore the different regions and wine styles produced.

[Information based on WSET Level 3 material]

OVERVIEW

When we look at Northern Italy, we are looking at the area closest to the foothills of the Alps as well as the plains of the River Po. In general, Northern Italy has a moderate climate with dry, short summers. The Alps, which you may be able to tell from the map above, span the length of the Northern Italian border, thus shielding the area from rain. Like the River Po, other bodies of water that provide climatic moderation to the more inland areas include lakes such as Lake Garda. As you can see, there are also portions that are close to the sea—these areas can have higher levels of rainfall, so the major vineyard concern there will be fungal diseases.

Traditionally, vineyards were trained on the pergola system, as this provides air flow as well as keeps the grapevines off of the moist vineyard floor. Furthermore, with the vine canopy drooping over the fruit clusters, the training system also helps minimize excessive sun exposure. This system is still utilized today for grapes that require a high amount of acidity and low sugar (such as for sparkling wine) and for those wines that require grapes to be sun-dried (as in the passito method, which requires grapes to be fully developed and free of fungal disease so they can dry-out off the vine, post-harvest—we covered last time, but will touch on it again here). However, it’s noted that higher density plantings utilizing a VSP training system is now more widely used overall.

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