FOCI

[SFJoe]

originally posted by VLM:

I wonder what merlot would taste like from Clos Guillot. Like Trotanoy, but better?

That's a great question. Persuade them to plant some and go for the big bucks.

 

[Ian Fitzsimmons]

originally posted by SFJoe:
I am traveling and can't run on. But in brief, plants respond to their environment in all sorts of ways. Put people from Northern Europe out in the sun, and they turn red, then brown. DNA damage from UV light turns a whole series of genes on, and others off.

Plant cabernet franc vines in chalky high pH soil and they turn different genes on and off, generating a particular texture in their tannin that I tasted quite a bit yesterday. Buy a Baudry Clos Guillot to see exactly what I mean.

We've genetically engineered these vines for many years to have more than their typical complement of genes for smelly and tasty things--terpenes, small heterocycles and so on. These are regulated in response to their environment in complicated ways.

More another time.

So some parts of the mineral-chemical mix taken in with water activate gene regulators. And vines have been selected over the long years to self-regulate optimally, in terms of flavor, in the conditions local to them.

Of a piece with the idea of terroir. Interesting implications for human nutrition.

Thanks.