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Beckmen Vineyards
Vintage: 2012
2012 has, so far been a positive year for wineries around the world. While it may be a little too early to speak of the wines being made in the northern hemisphere, European and North American wineries have already begun reporting that their harvesting season has been generally very good, and are predicting to continue with the kind of successes they saw in 2011. However, 2012 has been something of a late year for France, due to unpredictable weather throughout the summer, and the grapes were ripening considerably later than they did in 2011 (which was, admittedly, an exceptionally early year). French wineries are claiming, though, that this could well turn out to be advantageous, as the slow ripening will allow the resulting wines to express more flavour and features of the terroir they are grown in.
The southern hemisphere has seen ideal climatic conditions in most of the key wine producing countries, and Australia and New Zealand particularly had a superb year, in particular with the Bordeaux varietal grapes that grow there and which love the humidity these countries received plenty of. Also enjoying a fantastic year for weather were wineries across Argentina and Chile, with the Mendoza region claiming that 2012 will be one of their best vintages of the past decade. Similar claims are being made across the Chilean wine regions, where Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon had an especially good year. These two grape varietals also produced characterful wines on the coastal regions of South Africa this year.
Varietal: Syrah
There continues to be much debate surrounding the name of the Shiraz/Syrah grape varietal, with many experts still quite unsure which came first. Indeed, even the origins of this varietal are more or less unknown, despite it being most commonly associated with the Rhone Valley of France, and New World countries, most notably Australia. However, its popularity and unique characteristics have seen it planted all over the world, where it continues to impress with its powerful flavors and wonderfully spicy notes of pepper and clove. Shiraz/Syrah wines are renowned also for their versatility, and are regularly used in single variety still and sparkling wines, as well as blended and oak aged wines which demonstrate its ability to express its terroir and secondary flavors very well.
Region: California
California has long been the New World's most important and prodigious wine producing regions, with a history which stretches back to the 18th century and the Spanish pioneers who settled here. Today, California produces vast quantities of wine, and if it were a country, it would be the fourth largest producer of wine on earth. Despite experiencing many problems in the mid 20th century, including a very serious blight which almost crippled the state's wine industry, the ideal terroir and excellent climate ensured that Californian wines soon became the envy of the New World once again. California produces a vast range of wines, and utilizes a long list of fine grape varietals, with many wineries and their produce more closely resembling those of France and other Old World countries in regards to character, practices and flavors
Country: United States
For three hundred years now, the United States has been leading the New World in wine production, both in regards to quantity and quality. Wine is actually produced in all fifty states across the country, with California leading the way by an enormous margin. Indeed, as much as eighty-nine percent of all wines to come out of the United States are produced in California, where the fertile soils and sloping mountain sides, coupled with the long, hot summers provide ideal conditions for producing high quality, European style red, white and rosé wines. With over a million acres of the country under vine, the United States sits comfortably as the fourth largest wine producer in the world, where imported grape varietals from all over the Old World are processed using a successful blend of traditional and contemporary techniques.
Appellation: Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara is often overlooked as a wine region, however, the quality of the producing coming out of this coastal county cannot be ignored – many of the best New World red wines hail from Santa Barbara, and the wineries of the region are consistently impressing with their flair for experimentation. For over a hundred years, Santa Barbara has been using the blazing Californian sunshine and cooling Pacific Ocean breezes to produce classic French grape varietals of stunning quality and distinction, leading many people to refer to the county as the 'Californian Provence'. Indeed, the terroir of Santa Barbara is not so dissimilar to that of many great French wine regions, and this may go some way to explain why the red and white wines which are produced there pack in so many interesting and enticing features.