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Average price (in U.S. dollars) of a bottle of Bordeaux wine sold in a French supermarket according to the Bordeaux Wine Council. The range in price of wines from this one region is astounding—from less than $5 a bottle to well over $1,000 a bottle. No other wine region has so enormous a spread. The average price of a U.S. wine sold in a U.S. supermarket is $10.

What wine region boasts the oldest cabernet sauvignon vines in the world?

A. The Graves region of Bordeaux

B. The Ribera del Duero region of central Spain

C. The Barossa Valley of South Australia

D. The Livermore Valley, east of San Francisco

Cabernet vines planted in 1888 in the Barossa Valley of Australia are thought to be the oldest in the world. The vines are part of Penfold’s famous 10-acre “Block 42” parcel within the Kalimna Vineyard. Grenache and shiraz (syrah) vines that are more than 100 years old are also commonly found in Australia. Amazingly many of these oldsters are on their own roots (not grafted onto American rootstock), since Australia was not crippled by phylloxera, the root-eating insect that between 1860 and 2000 destroyed vineyards in most other parts of the world.

Garrigue

When a wine pro describes a wine as “earthy,” the characterization can mean several different but related ideas. One of the permutations of earthiness is what the French call garrigue (gare-REEG). Garrigue is the aroma… Continue reading

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