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Glimpses of Wine Trade in the Neolithic Era on Santorini Island

6/23/2016

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Perhaps the ancient Minoan towns that populated Santorini Island and Crete 4,000 years ago looked similar to this modern-day view. 

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Standing on the edge of the caldera and looking out into the sea, it's difficult to imagine that beneath these peaceful, lapping waves lurks one of the world's most powerful volcanoes, and that this calm view was one of armageaddon-like destruction during the Minoan Explosion sometime between 1500 and 1627 BC.  

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The volcanic eruption all those millenia ago buried in ash and pumice an ancient Minoan town that archeologists refer to as Akrotiri. This bustling sea-faring town boasted three story houses with a market square, paved streets, artistic wall paintings, advanced furniture, toilets and plumbing, pipes and 'air conditioning' systems, and evidence that ancient wine was traded through this town. The sea-faring Minoans had some sort of warning of the volcanic eruption, because no human remains were left at the site. Perhaps early smoke, sulfur, and pre-volcanic earthquakes caused their organized departure. Archeologists posit that although they made it off the island, the people of this town most likely perished on their ships in a tsunami that followed the explosion. The volcanic explosion weakened other Minoan outposts to the point where other cultures and civilizations could easily move in and take over their cities. Imagine what the world could be like today if some of the Minoan technologies could have been advanced on thousands of years ago. 

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These plaster casts of wooden beds are just one example of the craftsmanship and handiwork of the Minoans. 

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Here, you see a glimpse into a bustling marketplace where amphorae filled with grains, oils, and wines supplied the locals with daily needs. 

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A closer looks shows a view of an amphora that held grain-- the contents were usually hinted at by the designs on the pottery. In the amphora in the upper left of the photo you can see the grain design painted on the outside of the clay. 



Akrotiri continues to give up secrets about Minoan society 4,000 years ago, and the similarities to our own modern comforts are pretty incredible....

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Lovingston Winery (Monticello, Virginia)

6/23/2016

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The drive from Charlottesville to Lovingston has a hallucinating effect on the senses. In winter, tall road-side trunks tower in the strip of median. The morning sun casts long shadows on the road in stripes of sunlight and darkness. The faster you drive, the more the strobe-like effect numbs your vision. Icicles melt from the tips of the branches, sparkling into light as they drip away onto the red clay below them. Closer to Lovingston, the road widens, habitable structures grow farther apart, and the hills rise up taller, closer, and more jagged. Rough stone outcroppings on the hilltops make them seem more like mountains, and the trees that cling to the vertical edges echo the ruggedness of this hardscrabble countryside. This is like another world. 
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After turning off the main roadway, a back road winds around an embankment, hugging the steep aspect. Again, the landscape changes. Those sharp hilltops give way to rolling fields of wild grasses that roam free in the wind, rustling in lackadaisical hypnotic waves to the point where it seems as if the very soil itself has a soul. 

And indeed, it does, which brings us to the winery. A pond, with the surface half-frozen, waits for spring in front of the main structure. In the distance, patient vines rise up from the clay, dormant sticks now, but stoic with the promise of Spring's budbreak. These are some of the steepest-incline vines I've seen so far in Virginia. 

A practical space with the vineyards behind it, the winery has a tank room in the lower entryway. Climb a few stairs, and you'll come to the tasting room-- a dark wood table in a nook just off the elevage area, with tidy rows of barrels in the background. The whole place is very much like the wines: charming, straightforward, and without pretension. 
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One part of the building-- 'the bunker'-- cuts into the earth, and here is where bottles awaiting shipment rest. A few experiments are brewing in this area-- a PetNat, and a sherry-style wine, among others. 

The entire space is on the smaller side for a winery, which is ultimately a relief to the wine drinker. So often 'tiny family wineries' are actually huge operations behind-the-scenes. But here, you get the feeling that every grape berry is under the watchful eye of the Puckett family. As you might guess by the size of the winery, production is limited and focused at around 1500-1800 cases per year, 95% of which comes from their estate fruit. They have about 10 acres planted, with perhaps some expansion in the future, but nothing too grandiose. 


How did it all begin? Ed & Janet Puckett got their grape start in Georgia, where, admittedly, 'we learned what not to do.' They moved to Virginia, determined to set up a small, high-quality winery. In 2002 they purchased land here, from a family who had owned it for about a century. Perched above the winery, the Pucketts live in a house built in 1906 by a woman named Josie & her husband. Out front, on what was once 'Josie's Knoll,' vines grow. It makes a difference when you live right next to your vines; they become intertwined with your life, and the wines become as much a part of the story of the Pucketts, as the Pucketts are a part of the wine. 

The main vineyards were planted in 2003, named 'Josie's Knoll' after the previous steward of their land. The winery rose in 2005. 2005 was also their first vintage, which marks this coming September's harvest as their 10th anniversary bottling. The vines are still young, but they yield incredibly interesting fruit even at this young age. On Josie's Knoll, a few blocks stand out. 'Janet's Block,' and 'Gilbert's Block.' 

Ed & Janet's daughter, Stephanie, keeps track of the details, and works closely with winemaker Riaan Rossouw.

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'It takes a lifetime to figure out a barrel,' Rossouw says, hinting at a bit of wisdom, 'and some people, they change them every year!' 

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Some of my favorite bottlings from Lovingston include their merlot, Meritage, and petit manseng. 

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Orange Wine at King Family Vineyards (Monticello, Virginia)

6/2/2016

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Matthieu Finot's 2014 orange wine from King Family Vineyards has potential to become a classic regional pairing for Virginia ham. Read all about it in my latest article for The C-Ville Weekly: 
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    Erin

    I’m Erin, and this is my wine blog. Here, you'll find information about wines from around the world, and Virginia.  



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