Wine Culture

Between the Rhine River and the Odenwald forest, in the area between Heidelberg and Darmstadt, you'll find a tiny German wine region, the Hessische Bergstrasse. Its name means "Hessian Mountain Road" in English. Long ago, the Romans named their trade route through this part of Germany the "strata montana," or "mountain road."

Switzerland evokes images of mountain climbers, yodelers, fondue and chocolate and cheese. It does not evoke wine. But surprisingly, Switzerland has a thriving wine community, though exports to other countries including the U.S. are miniscule, and amount to less than 2 percent of the total wine production. In fact, Switzerland has approximately 37,000 acres of grapes planted. By contrast, the unknown AVA of West Elks in Colorado has 48,000 acres of vines. The Valais region, Switzerland’s largest wine grape area, comprising of the valley which leads towards the Alps, are laden with steep terraced mountainside vineyards in a stunning display of the ability to plant grapes in seemingly impossible locations.

Robert Mondavi constantly reminded the world that wine was part of a “civilized life.” For him, the apex of human experience, the trifecta, was wine, food and art. Mondavi began the physical realization of this idea with the advent of Copia, an 80,000 square foot center for the arts, food and wine, sitting on 12 acres in downtown Napa, which opened in 2001. The second concrete iteration of Mondavi's philosophy came in the form of a yearly conference called Taste3. Inspired by the 40th anniversary of the Robert Mondavi Winery, which helped to forever change the way American’s viewed wine, the Taste3 conference, has grown to become, in a few short years, a forum for fresh ideas, new thought patterns and unique perspectives on wine, food, art and how we as human beings fit into the scheme of things.

Most wine drinkers have never heard of Saale-Unstrut, unless they happen to live in Germany. That's understandable, since nearly all the wine produced in this small German wine region is consumed locally. Wine production varies here, because Saale-Unstrut lies so far north. In particularly harsh years, crops are lost and production declines accordingly. Still, Saale-Unstrut has a proud winemaking history, dating back over a thousand years.

One of the most dramatic touches you can add to your wine cellar design is architectural embellishment. The addition of a carved corbel or a pedestal base or just a wood turning along your racks can transform your cellar from a dark place to keep your wine to an elegant space. But with the vision of a creative designer and the infinite possibilities available from carved architectural manufacturers, your wine cellar can take on character and presence, becoming almost palatial.

Adding touches of art to your wine cellar can enhance not only your experience retrieving wines or managing your inventory by making your cellar a more welcoming place. But art can also help you create a tasting room or a special space where you may bring valued guests to share your wine enthusiasm. Art may also help increase your property's value.

The Jumilla DO has turned potential disaster into triumph. In 1989 – long after most Spanish wine growers had encountered phylloxera, lost nearly everything, and replanted – the insect finally arrived in Jumilla, with predictable results. As phylloxera spread, grapevines succumbed, and Jumilla's growers had to make some hard choices.

Bottle Shock On May 24, 1976, Steven Spurrier, a British wine merchant hoping to stoke sales at his French-wine-only shop, held a wine competition in Paris. In this competition French judges were invited to blind-taste top chardonnays and cabernet sauvignons from France and California. In an event that would later be dubbed the Judgment of Paris , the California wines –included merely to serve as the “sacrificial lambs” to the supposedly superior French wines- won the competition in a shocking upset. This singular event revolutionized the wine industry and put California on the map as a major world producer of fine wine. This story comes to life on the silver screen for the first time with the film Bottle Shock , starring Bill Pullman, Alan Richman, and Dennis Farina among other notables. I recently chatted with Bottle Shock Co-Writer and Producer Jody Savin about the film. Why this film now? To answer this question in a socio-political sense, I would venture to say that we live in challenging times.

In spite of its small size, Sachsen has many pleasant surprises in store for those who enjoy German wine. Sachsen is, indeed, the smallest and most eastern wine region in Germany. It’s also – by a hair – Germany’s northernmost wine region. Most visitors to the area come to see the city of Dresden, restored to splendor and named a UNESCO World Heritage Site, or to shop for porcelain in nearby Meißen. Since most Sachsen wines are consumed locally, a visit to the Dresden – Meißen area may be the only way you can experience the region’s wines for yourself.