The Right Vines in the Wrong Place (or vice versa)

Unidentified allotment vine - in the right place ?

Reading an article in Le Rouge et le Blanc on the Sablet and Séguret Côtes du Rhône Villages appellation today.

The article by Philippe Bouin and Yaïr Tabor mentions that some younger vineyard owners wonder whether it is useful for appellation rules to call for the use of 'improving grape varieties' (cépages améliorateurs) in blends.

Many local regulations in southern France call for Syrah or Mourvèdre to form part of the blend in order to gain appellation status, whereas they might not give of their best in the area.

Everyone knows that the Northern Rhône is the spiritual and probably physical home of Syrah and that some of the wines produced there have gained mythical status. You would not plant Grenache here.

On the other hand the jammy grapes produced by Syrah in hot, very sunny areas of the lower Rhône valley serve only to gain the appellation badge, bringing nothing 'improving' to the party.

This leads me to reflect on the fact that there is indeed a 'right' place for certain grape varieties to grow.

In countries such as France with a long tradition of vine growing most of the 'right' places are known and have been for centuries. Generally speaking 'right' is a place where the grapes only just ripen fully, over a long season, every year.

French regulations by and large respect these traditions, but are applied a little too rigidly, ignoring or relegating to bit parts good indigenous grapes, which properly cultivated would produce great or at least very good wines (e.g. Pineau d'Aunis in the Loire; Cinsault and others in the south).

In countries like England regulations allow for much more flexibility, and the 'right' places are only starting to become known (e.g Darnibole at Camel Valley...).

There is much to look forward to as far as English wines are concerned.

Fantasy Vinelands

I often wonder when passing through suitable landscapes what sort of wines might be produced there, or if there are small isolated parcels of vines what they might be able to achieve. In countries like France there are many areas where vines were once widely planted but are now absent or very sparse and I am given to imagining the resurrection of a great terroir. Often you will catch a glimpse of vines in hedgerows, climbing up trees as they do in the 'wild'; they will sometimes be recognisable cultivars but sometimes they will be wild plants, perhaps rootstocks growing unburdened in the countryside.

Vine growing by the roadside

There are some potentially great sites to be discovered. If you ask around you will sometimes find out that vines were planted there pre-phylloxera, or before the rural exodus, and wine was indeed made. Nobody can remember what this wine was like or whether it was any good, but it might have been. That idea has a particular attraction. You can't be proved wrong, unless some intrepid individual takes the plunge, plants a vineyard and sees for him or her self what the results are like.

The great vine lands of England have yet to be discovered, and again there are some intriguing sites. Some day a truly great wine will be made here perhaps benefiting from the effects of climate change. But where this will be is anyone's guess. I would imagine that well exposed former hop gardens would be good candidates for producing high quality ripe grapes. Herbert Hall at Marden Vineyard in Kent, run by Nick Hall comes to mind sited as it is on a well exposed, well drained site. First release of sparkling wine from this estate should be this month. Something to look forward to.