Sediment

The particulate matter (usually harmless) and color pigments that may precipitate out of a wine as it ages. The presence of sediment is not negative; many of the best wines in the world throw off sediment as they age.

What is hairy grenache?

A. The name for a diseased grenache vine that develops a coating on the leaves, making it look like it’s covered in hair

B. A nickname for the feeling of tannin on the palate that comes after drinking grenache

C. A mutation of grenache that has leaves that appear to be covered in fur

D. An idiom in northeast Spain for a hangover that comes from drinking too much red wine

Hairy grenache, or garnacha peluda in Spain and lledoner pelut in the Languedoc Roussillon region of France, is a clone of grenache that has particularly hairy leaves. Like the furry fuzz found on rosemary and other Mediterranean plants, the “fur” evolved as a defense mechanism to protect the vine from heat and conserve moisture. The clone is native to the Spanish region of Catalonia. Wines made from hairy grenache often have a lower alcohol content, but the clone is customarily blended with regular (non-hairy) clones of grenache.

Missoula Floods

During the Last Ice Age, the repeated episodic freezing and melting of glaciers near Lake Missoula in western Montana resulted in an estimated 25 cataclysmic floods from ruptured ice dams. The massively destructive floods, which… Continue reading

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