Bordeaux, France
If you are interested in some of the most renowned wines in the world, this is the region to visit. Today we visited the area of Saint Emilion, known for the best red wines of France, as well as for the great history the area has. Bordeaux is the fourth largest city of the country, and sixth largest port. The city has the Maison des Vins (House of the Wines), an indispensable stop for documentation of the different Bordelais vineyards. Like most of the Bordeaux chateaux, the name does not mean literally a castle, but a stately mansion dating maybe from the 19th century. It is completely a Bordelais convention. In the area we visited Chateaux Cantin, a lovely wine producing company that has marvelous "caves", and a very modernized wine system. We had crossed the Garonne and the Dordogne rivers, and now were in the wine district known by the English as the "King of Wines" District; the quality of the St.-Emilion wines has been supervised for eight centuries by an elected council of peers, known as Jurats. Their deliberations take place with red -robed ceremony in one of the town's Gothic cloisters. Unique to Europe is the monolithic church in the center of the town. Tunneled in the deep limestone hillside starting in the 11th century, and sporting an interesting catacomb, honeycombing the area, it has a steeple that emerges into the top level of the street and of the hill.
Vitis vinifera is a member of the family of the grape (which has approximately 800 species). Sixty-five of these live in the Northern Hemisphere. The species is now cultivated to 52 degrees North (in Poland). Interestingly, cultivars probably arose in SW Asia. Estimates for the origin of wine production vary from 8000-3000 BC; the first evidence is from residues found in clay vessels in Western Iran, dated to 5,500 years ago. The variety and cultivars we use today were probably domesticated around 4,000 BC. Any grapes used before that had to have been wild.
Only during the Greek Empire did wine become a popular drink. To prevent leakage, the Greek stored this wine in vessels smeared with pine pitch to seal it. Today flavor is added to produce the famous "retsina" wines. The Romans used no pitch, so eventually Roman wines surpassed Greek wines in popularity. From here it spread to the rest of Europe with Rome's troops; it probably was taken to France around 600 BC, and later to Spain, Portugal and Algeria. Until recently, Europe and North Africa were the undisputed world leaders. Today, the Unites States, Argentina, Chile and South Africa rank among the top 10 wine producing countries. As to its introduction into the United States, it was the Spanish who introduced wine around 1769 to California.
If you are interested in some of the most renowned wines in the world, this is the region to visit. Today we visited the area of Saint Emilion, known for the best red wines of France, as well as for the great history the area has. Bordeaux is the fourth largest city of the country, and sixth largest port. The city has the Maison des Vins (House of the Wines), an indispensable stop for documentation of the different Bordelais vineyards. Like most of the Bordeaux chateaux, the name does not mean literally a castle, but a stately mansion dating maybe from the 19th century. It is completely a Bordelais convention. In the area we visited Chateaux Cantin, a lovely wine producing company that has marvelous "caves", and a very modernized wine system. We had crossed the Garonne and the Dordogne rivers, and now were in the wine district known by the English as the "King of Wines" District; the quality of the St.-Emilion wines has been supervised for eight centuries by an elected council of peers, known as Jurats. Their deliberations take place with red -robed ceremony in one of the town's Gothic cloisters. Unique to Europe is the monolithic church in the center of the town. Tunneled in the deep limestone hillside starting in the 11th century, and sporting an interesting catacomb, honeycombing the area, it has a steeple that emerges into the top level of the street and of the hill.
Vitis vinifera is a member of the family of the grape (which has approximately 800 species). Sixty-five of these live in the Northern Hemisphere. The species is now cultivated to 52 degrees North (in Poland). Interestingly, cultivars probably arose in SW Asia. Estimates for the origin of wine production vary from 8000-3000 BC; the first evidence is from residues found in clay vessels in Western Iran, dated to 5,500 years ago. The variety and cultivars we use today were probably domesticated around 4,000 BC. Any grapes used before that had to have been wild.
Only during the Greek Empire did wine become a popular drink. To prevent leakage, the Greek stored this wine in vessels smeared with pine pitch to seal it. Today flavor is added to produce the famous "retsina" wines. The Romans used no pitch, so eventually Roman wines surpassed Greek wines in popularity. From here it spread to the rest of Europe with Rome's troops; it probably was taken to France around 600 BC, and later to Spain, Portugal and Algeria. Until recently, Europe and North Africa were the undisputed world leaders. Today, the Unites States, Argentina, Chile and South Africa rank among the top 10 wine producing countries. As to its introduction into the United States, it was the Spanish who introduced wine around 1769 to California.
