Carol Shelton was born and raised in Rochester, New York, and then moved to San Mateo, California. She went to the University of California Davis (UC Davis,) studying poetry, though having an undeclared major until the fateful day, in her freshman year, when she took a tour of Sebastiani Winery.

Provence is a region in southeastern France extending from the left bank of the Rhône on its west, to the Italian border on its east, and bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to its south.

We start our quick tour of Spain with a stop in Ribera del Duero, which is in the country’s northern plateau. Red wines from this region are made from the grape Tempranillo.

Rosé is a style of wine that is made when juice from red grapes is left in contact with the skins for only a short period of time. The resulting wine has more characteristics of the grapes themselves, and not usually any tannins or other flavors from the skins. This skin contact gives the wine shades of delicate pinks or oranges, up to bright and vivid salmons or deep pinks, depending on the amount of contact and possibly the winemaking techniques used.