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Domaine Santa Duc
Vintage: 2007
2007 was the year that saw California's wine industry pick up once again, after a troubling couple of years. Indeed, all across the state of California, fantastic harvests were reported as a result of fine weather conditions throughout the flowering and ripening periods, and Napa Valley and Santa Barbera wines were widely considered amongst the best in the world in 2007, with Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes packing in all sorts of fine and desirable features in this year. South Africa, too, had a much-needed fantastic year for red wines, with Pinotage particularly displaying strong characteristics, alongside the country's other flagship red wine grape varietals.
Over in Europe, France had another fine year, especially for white wines. Champagne wineries were very happy with their Chardonnay harvests, and the Loire Valley and Graves in Bordeaux are proclaiming 2007 to be a memorable year due to the quality of their white wine grapes. For French red wines, Provence had their best year for almost a decade, as did the Southern Rhone. However, 2007 was most favorable to Italy, who saw high yields of exceptional quality across almost all of their major wine producing regions. Tuscany is claiming to have produced its best Chianti and Brunello wines for several years in 2007, and Piedmont and Veneto had a wonderful year for red wines. For Italian white wines, 2007 was an extremely successful year for Alto Adige and Campania. Germany also had a very good 2007, with Riesling displaying extremely dry and crisp characteristics, as did Portugal, where Port wine from 2007 is said to be one to collect.
Varietal: Grenache
The purple skinned Grenache grapes have become, over the past few decades, one of the most widely planted grape varietals on earth, thanks to their unique characteristics and the fact that they are an ideal varietal for use in both single variety and blended wines. They tend to be very light in body, due to the fact that they have low tannin levels and not much acidity to them. However, they can add a boost of alcohol to any blended wine, and also offer their complex and spicy flavors of pepper and dark berries. Grenache grapes grow very well in dry and arid region, such as their native home of central Spain, and struggle with damp conditions in which they are prone to rot or develop mildew. Thankfully, modern techniques and technology has managed to overcome many of these problems, resulting in this varietal continuing to grow in use and popularity.
Region: Rhone Valley
The southern French wine region of the Rhone Valley has been home to wine-makers for over two thousand years, with the first grapevines of the region being cultivated in around 600 BCE when the ancient Greeks arrived with their knowledge of viticulture and eagerness to produce more wine. Today, the region is famed around the world for the excellence of its produce, and has dozens of wineries making the most of the wide range of grape varietals which flourish there. In the northern sub-region, the continental climate and brisk winds coming off the Central Massif allow wineries to grow a smaller range of varietals – predominantly Syrah, Marsanne, Roussane and Viognier, whereas the southern, more Mediterranean sub-region allows far more range. Here, dozens of varietals are grown for the production of white, red and rosé wines, all packed full of flavor and able to express the unique terroir they are grown on.
Country: France
France is renowned across the globe for its quality wines and the careful expertise which goes into making them, but what is truly remarkable about this relatively small country is the vast range of wines it produces in such huge amounts each year. Not only are the finest red wines in the world said to come from the beautiful regions of Bordeaux and Burgundy, but elsewhere in the country we find the Champagne region, and areas such as the Rhone Valley and the Loire, whose white wines consistently receive awards and accolades by the plenty. This range is a result of the great variety of climatic conditions and terrain found in France, coupled with generations of wine makers working within single appellations. Their knowledge of specific terroirs and grape varieties has, over time, perfected the production of wines within their region, and the end results continue to impress the world to this day.