Italy is famous for its treasure trove of indigenous grapes, and this week, City Vino features a couple of these treasures with you. Both Negroamaro and Gaglioppo hail from Italy’s southern regions of Puglia and Calabria.
The first vines brought to Chile came via Spanish Conquistadors as early as the 1500s. Immigrants from Europe would bring more varieties to Chile, especially from Bordeaux in the 1800s. As of 2020, 70 percent of Chilean wine production is exported.
A red blend is a designation or description indicating that the bottle contains more than one grape variety. Red blends can be made in traditional style, such as a Bordeaux or Rhône wine, or with any combination of grapes that the winemaker desires, if it is in alignment with the local wine laws. Wine laws can dictate what grapes can be used and in what proportion.
On Wednesday January 22, 2020, at approximately 1:30 pm, the door near the bottom of a large blending tank, containing near 100,000 gallons of wine, popped open, spilling wine onto the ground at Rodney Strong Vineyards in Healdsburg, California.
Zinfandel is a black-skinned grape whose origins tie back to Croatia. DNA testing has confirmed that Croatian grapes Crljenak Kaštelanski and Tribidrag are genetically equivalent, and equal to the Primitivo variety from Apulia, Italy. Records indicate that the grape was introduced to Italy in the 18th century, and to the United States in the mid-19th century.
