Elephant on a Tightrope French Wines

For those of you who might be interested in trying these French wines that David has mentioned, here is a picture and a link to their website: elephantonatightrope.com

A Good Wine Begins in the Vineyard

Just about any French winemaker will tell you that a good wine begins in the vineyard. A wine is a natural, agricultural product that should be treated with care from start to finish in a natural, healthy environment.

The entire vine environment; the climate, location, and soil also determines the character of the wine. This is the concept of "terroir". The climate takes into account the wind, length of day, amount of sun, temperature variations, and moisture. The location refers to the land's slope, its relief and orientation to the sun. Soil aspects include the depth of soil, its layers, the type and depth of the layers, its water holding capacity, temperature, and chemical composition.

The concept of terroir means that due to the vine's environment, wines from a specific terroir are unique and incapable of being reproduced outside that area, even if the grape variety and winemaking techniques are the same.

In contrast, many wines today are being mass produced in an industrial environment, driven by profit. To obtain a higher yield of grapes, these industrial vineyards work the land with heavy equipment, sterilize the soil, spray for pests and deplete the groundwater. The yield is much higher, but often the grape quality is lower. Few people are aware that many of these industrial wines also contain chemical additives, added during the vinification and aging stages to manipulate the wine's aroma and flavor.

The result is a wine that can be sold to the consumer at a lower price than the wine produced by the winemaket that has allowed his vines to develop in a natural environment with continous nurturing, and minimum intervention. It can fool your tastebuds and taste not too bad, but would you rather have a wine crafted by someone who nutures his land, or one that has been made using artificial flavors?