Wines with Dinners

originally posted by SFJoe:
You guys are confusing garrigue with 'garrigue.'
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I'm amused to note that this definition of garrigue is enshrined in Wikipedia:

'Viticulture
Grapes that are grown in the garrigues region of France are said to produce wines with a "barnyard" or "earthy" tone, or "the herbal scent of lavender that fills the hills of Provence in the summer time." '
 
Apparently so.

It took me decades of reading Kermit's newsletter before it occurred to me that the most obvious explanation for these curiously literal aromas was that plant oils were getting in the wine. I was standing at the edge of a Vermentino di Gallura vineyard, and the wild herbs started right at the edge of it. Duh.

Parking my car under a eucalyptus would have been even more obvious.
 
originally posted by Oliver McCrum:
Apparently so.

It took me decades of reading Kermit's newsletter before it occurred to me that the most obvious explanation for these curiously literal aromas was that plant oils were getting in the wine. I was standing at the edge of a Vermentino di Gallura vineyard, and the wild herbs started right at the edge of it. Duh.

Parking my car under a eucalyptus would have been even more obvious.
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This is a common occurance in Napa where many vineyards are bordered by eucalyptus trees. Blocks planted near the trees have an obvious increase eucalyptus flavor, due to the eucalyptol blowing off the leaves. The waxy cuticle of the grape is quite hydrophilic and the oils migrate in happily.

+ I noticed the same phenomenon when driving up to Ridge Vineyards then tasting Monte Bello - the bay laurel up on the ridge seem to come through in the wine.
 
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