Great Wine Made Simple - Andrea Immer [87]
Getting to Know the New World
Our survey of the New World countries (United States, Chile, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) focuses on their common link—varietal wines. For the intrepid taster, I will tell you about each country’s interesting offerings beyond the Big Six—their body styles, flavors, and some good ones to try. For the specialist, we will focus on the signature wine styles from each country, and the best regions for each to help you target your buying. My wine recommendations don’t include numerical scores or definitive lists—there are many credible sources to go to for those. Rather, these are just the favorites that I have been writing about, showcasing on my TV show, and selling for years in my restaurants, and would not want you to miss.
The United States—The Lay of the Land
American appellations (place-names) are called Approved Viticultural Areas, abbreviated AVAs. They don’t compare to the European appellations because they only regulate the boundaries of the growing area. Everything else—grapes planted, winemaking techniques, vineyard yield, and so on—is left up to the winery. This makes choosing American wines a question not of appellation style and winery reputation, as in Europe, but rather about varietal style and winery reputation. By now you know varietal styles and many of the top-quality winery names. But what about the many winery names you’re not familiar with?
Branching out doesn’t just have to be for gamblers. In Chapter 5’s terroir discussion, I mentioned that American wineries, in pursuit of ever-better quality, have been experimenting with what grapes grow best in each AVA region. In the process, they have established what are called sub-AVAs—smaller subsections of the famous regions like Napa and Sonoma that were given a separate AVA name in recognition of their distinct growing conditions—and have learned what grapes grow best in those sub-areas. These can be the basis for your branch-out buying strategy, as follows. If you know some of the major sub-AVAs and their grape affinities, you can do one of two things:
Stick with your favorite varietals, but try new wineries from the AVAs known for success with that grape variety; or
Try different grapes and styles than those you normally drink, choosing the ones that are well-matched to their growing area.
For example, the Pinot Noir lover would try new wineries’ bottlings from areas such as Carneros (a sub-AVA of Napa and Sonoma), Russian River Valley (in Sonoma), and Santa Barbara (in the Central Coast growing area), which are all known for great Pinot. Someone who wanted to go beyond the Big Six and explore red Zinfandel might choose wines from Zin strongholds like the Dry Creek Valley (in Sonoma) and the Sierra Foothills (in Amador County). Either approach greatly increases your odds of getting a very good wine. The following maps will show you America’s key wine-growing zones, and the tables will give you the best sub-AVAs for each grape and some wineries to try in each.
A SUMMARY OF AMERICAN WINE LABELING LAWS*
Growing Region 85 percent of grapes must come from the specified AVA
Varietal Content The specified varietal must comprise at least 75 percent (in Oregon, 100 percent except for Cabernet Sauvignon, which is 90 percent minimum)
Estate Bottled 100 percent of grapes must come from vineyards owned or controlled by the winery, in the same AVA as the winery; “Vintner Grown” or “Proprietor Grown” is used if the vineyard is in a different