The Vineyard

Welcome to Vine to Wine this is your host Linda Moran. I was tasting wines with a winemaker who is passionate about where he sources his grapes and it inspired me to talk today about - the vineyard.

Most of the time, we have a glass of wine; and we think of the winemaker as the artist or the “rock star” of the wine’s creation. However, if you ever get into a meaningful conversation with a truly great winemaker, they will inevitably begin referencing the source of the fruit from which the wine was made. It is then that you come to understand what the wine is all about. It’s great fruit that contributes most to great wine. You see, it is possible to make bad wine with great fruit, but it is nearly impossible to make great wine with bad fruit. In my case the winemaker selected the Cabernet Sauvignon from three different vineyards because of the very different characteristics the fruit exhibited. One vineyard showed bright clean acids the other bold forward fruit and the third firm yet supple tannins. Each of the wines were aged in different types of oak deemed to play up or down a particular characteristic of the fruit. Once the wines completed the barrel aging, blending will begin and the development of those unique characteristics will be incorporated with the complimentary fruit and the magic continues. And that’s just a little bit of why the vineyard is so important to a winemaker.  Remember to send your wine questions to Linda at vine to wine dot net and thanks for joining me on today’s Vine to Wine.