The Three White Conquerers

Whilst idling some days away over the Christmas period at my parent’s house I came across a tale of the Three White Conquerors. Some may think that this has racist connotations, however in the land of these conquerors the only varieties of race are white and red. I have heard that there are red conquerors whose empires span across the seas, but that is a tale for another time.

Rhine, Germany

Once upon a time there were three white conquerors named Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. Each of these adventurers came from a different town where they and their family grew on the vines everyday. They came from strict families where tradition of style and character were passed down through the family from generation to generation.

Riesling was originally from the Rhine region in Germany. Traditionally the cold climate produced a wine that was pale in colour due to the fewer sunny days that the little grapes were exposed to the sun. Just like Riesling's parents mama and papa Riesling he smelled lovely, like a bouquet of flowers. The ladies just adored him. While he liked the town of Rhine he knew that there was more to see in the world and decided when he grew up that he would like to travel the world and bare fruit in any region that would let him grow.

Loire Valley, France

Sauvignon Blanc was another little guy with an upbringing similar to Riesling. He was born to a traditional family in Bordeaux in France. Just like his father he was a green skinned grape with herbaceous, fresh cut grass and asparagus characteristics. His family was very well to do and all the children were polished and generally acted with finesse. There was one small problem though, everyone in the family had a great time in their youth, but they always died young. Poor little Sauvignon Blanc decided that he would go searching throughout the world to find a place where he and his family could live long happy lives.

Burgundy, France

Now we all know the story of Chardonnay and how he left his family in Burgundy, France to seek fame and fortune in California. His crisp, clean characteristics brought won him many admirers and he thought that he would take his French good looks and straw-coloured hair to an adoring public in Hollywood.

Each of these varieties had their own reasons for leaving their homeland, but the same magical thing happened as they travelled the world in search for their desires. Each spread his seed and became fathers to a multitude of children from nations around the whole world. First it was Riesling who conquered France, Austria, Czech Republic, Northern Italy, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, South Africa and the Ukraine. His thin skin did not appear to be a problem and mother earth’s soil welcomed the charming young German wherever he went.

Sauvignon Blanc never succeeded in finding a home for his family where they would live for a long time. To this day there is something about his family, which they always party too hard in their youth and don't make it beyond a couple of years. He did however also conqueror many lands and discover different places that developed his characteristics and enabled him to see things in himself that he had never known before. He has relatives in France (Loire Valley & Bordeaux), California, Australia, Chile and South Africa. His most famous conquest would be New Zealand.

And the there is Chardonnay. After his glory days of California peaked in the 1990's his imitators couldn't find work anymore in a saturated market place and fled to find their own way throughout the globe. Each of these Chardonnays settled in a different region and produced a wine that was entirely specific to that region including California, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and the list goes on and on.

The most important thing that these three grapes have in common is that they travelled the world and conquered regions with soil and climates that they had never seen before. Nowadays the gift that they offer wine drinkers all over the world is a range of wines produced from one type of grape in many different regions. They are the three noble white varieties. They are the three white conquerors that all other white varieties look up to.

Until next time, have a glass for me. Potentially Champagne on New Years Eve!

A Place Called Alsace

I am not going to lie; I have been a very naughty Guiggie. There have been a few little hiccups along the road in the last 6 weeks that have wreaked havoc on my ability to record my wine adventures. Mostly I have just been enjoying the silly season frivolity with gusto and putting in a stellar effort in researching the topic of wine to bring you some fascinating pearls of wisdom, which I believe I have. 

Just like ‘the rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain’ my ‘choice of wine this time comes from a place called Alsace’. Somewhere along the line I have learnt that it is much easier to learn things by association or rhyme which has helped me hone my growing wine acumen in the last few weeks. Before one can become an expert in anything it needs to be broken down and then rebuilt to understand how it all works.

The wine from Alsace came onto my radar in a little bar called Bar H in Surry Hills. I asked the sommelier to give me a wine that was similar to a Pinot Gris or a Pinot Grigio. The wine that she gave me was a Pinot Blanc from Alsace and was like a ray of sunshine streaming down my oesophagus. It had a perfumed bouquet nose (as per the description), which meant that it smelled like flowers, and it most certainly did. The floral scent is something that I remembered from that wine and took on board.

Throughout a series of dinners and trips to wine bars around town I continued an exploration of the region. As I have learnt, the climate and conditions for growth of a particular grape determine their character. When I looked into Alsace I realised that there are a number of different varieties that grow well there. I like to think of them as cousins, all from the same background and upbringing but have their own unique personality.

Riesling is the oldest one with the dry sense of humour; Gewürztraminer is the German cousin from across the border who is a little feisty and known for being drunk at a young age; Pinot Blanc is the shyer of the bunch preferring to not over power the others; Pinot Gris is a little bit fatter than the others and Sylvaner is the baby with the fresh face who is always pleasant to have around.

Wines from Alsace often have this shape bottle

On a catch up with my old wine buddy Sarah Nally and new recruit Nicola Dow-Smith we met at the lovely little city based wine bar De-Vine on the corner of Market and York and polished off a bottle of Paul Kubler 2007 Sylvaner ‘K’ from Alsace France. We discovered that it is not only always the grape variety that you like, but also the qualities produced from the region that the wine is from.

Since then rather than search for a particular type of wine, I have been searching for wines from Alsace France. You may think that imported wine would be expensive but this is not necessarily the case. The wine that we were drinking at DeVine was $13 by the glass, and the bottles that I have been buying in my local bottle shop range from $22 - $40. The tip to picking one of these types of wines is the distinctive long thin bottle shape.

In essence the lesson learnt for my most recent research has been that by looking at the regions from the old world wine producers one can get a better understanding of how that variety in its original environment. This is the basic building block. The next challenge will be to understand how the grape variety has taken on new characteristics when grown in the new world environment.