Lay of the land

By Abel Busoni
Contributing Writer

We’re just getting comfortable with the idea of wine in the middle parts of the USA. We’re making it across the country. We’re drinking it more and more, and yet it is like an invasive species that doesn’t quite take root.

I’m going to outline a good way to keep track of the wines you like without actually maintaining a list. If you like wine but aren’t a fanatic, this is the method that will keep you drinking good wine and leveling up.

Denominations of origin also known as “Appellations” in the USA (for whatever reason), refer to the area or region where wine is produced. All of the wines produced in a region will bear that region’s name on the bottle, so long as they aren’t using too many grapes from another region.
There are facts of life that Abel Busoni does not pretend to understand, like how the geological reality of the earth, formed over such a length of time that the mere contemplation of it immediately fetches spasms of a world without end, heaves itself upward to form a grape that, as a final destination, will be enjoyed for just a moment, a moment which will itself be obscured by time and nature— or how the meteorological conditions of a thousand years might condition the molecular structure of a fruit, changing it in ways that may eventually affect the political future of Paul Ryan. What I do understand is that the lay of the land in any particular appellation will give rise to a different, unique grape that will offer its soul to a unique wine.

The wines from an appellation, by type/category, will bear similar characteristics. Any good bottle of wine will have the name of the region on the bottle. So, the next time you have a bottle at a restaurant and you really like it, remember the region. If it’s Napa Valley, for example, the next time you pick up a bottle, try another Napa product that’s in your price range. Eventually, you’ll get a first hand idea of the kinds of wines you can get in each region. Particular labels will start to jump out at you, and then you’ll have it.

Of course, there are other factors that go into the production of a wine. The types of grapes used, the process technology, etc ... but the comforting thing here is that most wine drinkers don’t know anything about that. They just like wine, drink it (regularly but not too regularly), and find a system that works for them in terms of learning what they like and how to identify it at the shop or in the restaurant.

The best thing about this is that you don’t have to pretend to know something when you look at a wine list. Instead, you can comfortably look at the region and point your finger. And if something lights a fire inside you, you can always level up and learn more.

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