Enter Torrontes, the white wine that Argentina has begun to hang their hats on.  It has some of the light crisp characteristics of Albarino’s and Sauv. Blanc’s, but is very much its own varietal.  Some of the most interesting stuff I’ve found is grown at high altitude – over 5,000 feet – in the Calchaquíes Valleys of the North.

Here is a previous review – Nomade Torrontes.

Argentina is also, fittingly, becoming known for their fine wines – the signature of which is Malbec on the red side.

We kicked off Argentina month on Monday night, with our good friend the big cat, by enjoying some steaks and a bottle of Terrazas Reserva 2007 Malbec over a couple of great hours of conversation.

We’re looking forward to going beyond Steak and Malbec in Argentina this month.

Nk;mip is North America’s first Aboriginal owned and operated operation, and part of the Osooyos Indian Band’s long term plans for sustaining their land and way of life. The Vancouver Olympics have done a very nice job honoring and highlighting the impact of the native tribes on life in Canada.  Their vineyards are planted in the soils of the last remaining desert in Canada, and the northern most tip of the extensive desert that stretches all the way from the Baja peninsula in Mexico, through the American Southwest, and Northwest, all the way into Canada.

This was the quintessential white wine recommended by the good folks of Taylorwood Wines in Vancouver. We were particularly excited about this one after learning about the Canadian guidelines for simply describing the sweetness of wine on a 0-3 scale.  This Riesling came in at 1, I believe…

The Osooyos sub region of the Okanagan Valley is right on the US border and less than 2 hours from the cozy hamlet of Lake Chelan, which makes it even more understandable how this wine can easily compete with the best Rieslings of Washington State.  It  put forward a very nice peachy pear acidity to go along with the perfect amount of Riesling smooth sugar.

As I’ve been learning about BC wines this month, I’ve been skeptical that they would be able to produce red wines of substance due to the northerly latitude.

This bottle, Mt Boucherie Summit, was recommended highly by Taylorwood as a quintessential example of the BC capability to produce a powerful full bodied red wine from Merlot, Cab Franc, and Cab Sauv grapes. I figured it would be a good sample to see what BC is capable of.

While not mind blowing or life changing, I am impressed and encouraged by the potential to ripen these classic varietals this far to the north. Much of this is due to the long summer days and temperate effects of the huge lake Okanagon. With a little more global warming they could really be on to something in the next 50 years.

Mt Boucherie has vineyards in both the Okanagon Falls subregion of the Okanagon Valley region and the Similkameen Valley, all of which they own and maintain themselves.  The Gidda family has been in the BC wine business for over 40 years, and are the largest family owned and operated outfit in BC.

Their winery and tasting room is located in Kelowna and I will definitely be making a stop to visit someday.

So, as I learn about new cities and regions, its always important for me to start with a map.  You can make plenty of assumptions about people and places if you first understand their spot on a map. Neighbors, topography, and climate are huge factors in culture.

Looking at the map, one can draw plenty of similarities between British Columbia and California.  Both are shaped in the same skewed upright rectangular shape, both have hundreds of miles of Pacific Coastline.  Both are dissected by impressive inland mountain ranges.  Both have enviable wine country real estate and thriving wine and tourism industries.

The similarities may end there. One is inhabited by 4M people and the other by 37M.  California’s GDP is $1.85T, while all of Canada is $1.3T.

More to come on this fascinating land over the next few weeks.

First, thank you for reading.  We hope that you enjoyed our January quest to learn a few things about the wines, people and region of Champagne.  I know I can’t wait to visit someday and walk the chalky soils, drive the crazy roadways, and visit the many growers of the region who are taking the road less traveled by not selling their grapes to the big houses.  Consistency is boring.

Stay tuned for our take on British Columbia in February, which will include a trip to the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Here is a summary of our Champagne articles:

• Ringing in a Decade with Champagne
• Take the E50 from Paris to Reims
• L’Histoire de Champagne
• A Running List of Champagne Favorites
• Time to Split
• There are Big Houses in Champagne
• James Bond’s Champagne
• The Greatest Champagne-Dessert Pairing

Here’s a list of the top brands in the industry that are easily accessible to consumers across the United States:

• Dom Perignon – produced by Moet  and Chandon, and owned by LVMH this famous label is named after the famous monk, who in 1668 began producing fine sparkling wines for Louis 14th, the Sun King.  Mark dove in to history of Dom Perignon earlier. 400k cases per year.
• Krug – also owned by LVMH, Krug is recognized as one of the nuttier  champagnes out there with a strong influence of the oak aging.
• Vueve Clicquot – also falling under the shiny LVMH umbrella since the mid 80’s Veuve is heavily marketed in the US and easily recognizably by their yellow label.  Madame Clicquot was influential in developing the riddling and degourgement process that makes large scale product possible.
• Moet & Chandon  – they are the official house of Queen Elizabeth the second and a part of the same portfolio as Louis Vuitton.  2M cases per year.
• Cristal – produced by Louis Roederer, was initially  produced for Alexander II of Russia and is widely considered the first premium cuvee.  Flashy websites are all the rage in this class of wines.  Also, 400k cases per year.
• Louis Roederer – famed producer of Cristal, dates all the way back to the same year that Our Declaration of Independence was signed. Another 250k cases, beyond the Cristal.
• Henriot – this independent house is a favorite of Mark, and has a rich history dating back to 1808. Surely, this is one of the up and coming wines that is really delivering on value right now. 
• Laurent – Perrier – makers of the best selling  Rose champagne, and one of my personal favorites, they also proclaim to the best the oldest family owned house.  They contract with a whopping 1200 growers each year and their 2008 revenue was over 180M. Imagine managing that many growers, and keeping quality consistent!
• Perrier-Jouet  – Owned by Pernod Ricard, this house was also founded in the early 19th century and produces on a massive scale out of the Epernay region.   Their website is definitely creepy. 250k cases per year.
• Taittinger – run by Claude Tattinger out of a massive  mansion near Reims, these folks export 2/3 of their production. Their flagship wine is a 100% chardonnay effort called Comtes de Champagne.
• Charles Heidsieck  – the champagne for “those who know” is very proud of their many gold medals and awards at county fairs.  Chuck, who lived in the mid 19th century is widely credited with popularizing champagne in the US. 
• Mumm – the official champagne of Formula One Racing, they also have a large operation in Napa.
• Bollinger – one of the last remaining family owned operations, they ferment much of the champagnes in oak.  100k cases.

The name Champagne is derived from the word Campagna, a region in Southern Italy.  The story goes that the Roman soldiers thought that the hills looked the same.  After they planted grapes , they must have quickly learned that the climate and terroir was quite different from their hot and dry homeland.

The region is located less than 100 miles northeast of Paris and directly west of Alsace at the 49th Parallel North (which is the same latitude as the U.S./Canadian border in Washington state).  The official controlled appellation (AC) contains five distinctly identified districts: the Aube, Côte des Blancs, Côte de Sézanne, Montagne de Reims, and Vallée de la Marne.  Taking a closer look at the above map of Champagne, I’ve circled the general location of these districts, although some smaller ones exist within the region. The Aube is disconnected from the rest southeast of Troyes, making the geography of Champagne rather interesting.

Not all vineyard land is valued the same, of course, and for many years going back to the 1940’s an organization named CIVC rated the grapes from each village and stack ranked them.  The Grand Cru vineyards, the highest classification, got 100 percent ratings. Premier Crus were vineyards with 90 to 99 ratings and the Deuxième Crus in the 80–89 range.  Once the price was set for the grapes, each buyer would pay a percentage of that price to the grower depending on the village in which the land was located based on their classification.  Complex and controlled, or simply French.  In the past 10 years, growers and buyers have moved to a more capitalistic system of trading goods, but many of the previous rating are still honored.

All of the land that was approved for the AC boundaries in 1927 has been planted, and a proposal is currently being reviewed to expand the official boundaries.  This is serious business and has the potential to make a E5,000 hectare soar to a value of over E1,000,000. It’s clear to me that the ability to legally use the word Champagne on a bottle of wine, makes it one of the most powerful words in modern use.

I pulled the picture below from Bing Maps showing the fascinating quilt-like division of properties.  Over 19,000 individual growers take to the fields every year and less than 10% of the land is owned by the big houses.

Separately, I think, Liz, Mark, Nick and myself all had a little new years resolution including Tavola Rosso.  Mark resumed posted a week ago, Liz was just telling me about some recipes she wanted to post, and Nick sent me an email demanding that we get this thing going again (despite not posting for a year and a half ). To be fair, he did have some good ideas and the site was getting stale.

So… we’ll be focusing our food.wine.travel thoughts and posts on a specific region, state, provence, appellation or maybe even continent each month and digging deep for the really interesting content.  This could include pairing, a dissertation on the key players – who are the influencers, disrupters, region history lessons, the top brands to watch out for and to be aware of,  a geography lesson, look in to the notion of terroir, and the usual tasting notes and wines of the week.  We hope that this keeps us motivated to write and keeps you coming back to read more.

We’d like to welcome the new decade in with a closer look at the Champagne region.

To be continued…

CC MeanestIndian