Wines and Spirits

Wine Growing Locations And Conditions

Vines thrive in a couple of fairly narrow bands of latitude approximately 30-50В° North and 30-40В° South of the equator. This is because the climatic conditions required for growing high quality vines are strictly defined. *Cool Winters Vines have to have cool winters when they can "sleep" and gather strength for the production of the subsequent summer"s crop. However, it can"t be overly cold, or the roots of the vine will be harmed by frost, and the plant will die. *Warm, Moist Springs Spring has to be warm and wet (though not too wet) so that the plants can bud and produce the tiny flowers which will eventually become bunches of grapes. *Long, Hot Summers Summers should be prolonged, sun-drenched, and hot. However, too much heat is counter-productive, as the fruit may ripen too quickly and scorch. *Dry, Mild Falls Falls should be mild and reasonably dry so that the grapes can easily get to full maturity and the harvest can be finished before rain or cold can damage the mature grapes. Most of these stringent requirements exclude much of the northern and southern latitudes, as these are too cold and have too little sun. The equatorial lands are also excluded, since they are too hot, with no period of time in which the vines can sleep. Only in between the latitudes approximately 30-50В° N and 30-40В° S are the climatic conditions suitable for wines of the best standard. Wines are made on the edges of these latitudes, but they are seldom consistent or of real quality. Soil Conditions As opposed to most agricultural crops, the grape vine does not require fertile, rich, earth to flourish, and the world"s premier wines are almost always produced from poor quality soils where few other crops would be worth planting. The excellent Burgundies come from acidic, granite soil on a foundation of limestone, and the superb wines of Bordeaux are produced from soil made up largely of gravel and pebbles, on a base of clay or chalk. The thinness of the earth obviously restricts the quantity of the crop, so that fewer grapes are cultivated, but of better quality. Also, the poor, free draining topsoil stimulates the vine to drive its roots deeper in search of water and nutrients. Since the roots reach further down, complex minerals are absorbed that will add complexity to the grapes and, ultimately, to the wine. If the soil is too rich, too full of nitrogen and nutrients, the vine may produce plentiful grape crops, but these will be grapes suitable for eating, not for making wine. The fruit will be too sweet and uncomplicated and will lack in complex minerals, sugars, acids and flavors. Vineyards are likely to be situated along river valleys, on gentle slopes where they have optimum exposure to the sun"s rays, where the earth is free draining.

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