Grapes are grown, and wines are produced around the world. Wherever I have visited a vineyard, I have heard the local vintner claim that their growing climate and the wines they produce, are as good as those produced in France. Sometimes this is true and, sometimes not so much.
My theory on food is that people will gravitate to, and like, the food they grew up with. People from New York like New York style pizza. People from Chicago like Chicago style pizza. People from Memphis like BBQ on their pizza (yuck). While there is some semblance of truth to this paragon with wine, it isn’t as true as often. The beauty of learning about the world’s different wines is that you are quite often surprised at how much you like wines from a different geography. With this said, while it is great to spend an afternoon at a vineyard close to my mother’s place in Westhampton NY, the Long Island NY wines are not consistently great.
The “usual suspects” Roses, Bells, Lewins, Chaudoin and Floras enjoying an afternoon at a vineyard on the North Fork of Long Island
In the 1980’s friends from Connecticut spent two years in Australia and learned to love Australian wines. At the same time we spent two years in California and developed a love for Californian wines. To this day my buddy gravitates to his Australian wines and I, to my Californian favorites. Then out nowhere, a friend that grew up in France, but now lives in Poland raves about wines from Georgia. My first reaction was that I had been to a business meeting at Chateau Elan resort/vineyard outside of Atlanta, and while it was a nice venue for a meeting, the wine was not memorable. My friend’s Georgian wine was from the former Soviet state. The country of Georgia is between Turkey and Russia and is one of the oldest wine producers in the world. They have been making wine there for over 8,000 years (Think “Fred Flinstone”) so they must know what they are doing. It turns out that more recently, Georgia was a major producer of wines for the Soviet Union, but since the breakup of the Soviet block, and political strife with Russia, Georgia has been looking for new markets, hence my friend finding it in markets in Poland.
Chateau Elan outside of Atlanta Georgia U.S. A., Great venue, not so great wines
We got together via zoom the other night with friends in Florida, Washington DC, Arizona and Poland. Even with the time zone challenge we had a great time. Besides the highlight of catching up with old friends, it was great to learn something about wines from around the world. The winners in the interest category were the Georgian wines and a bottle of Cabernet from California
Wines from the country of Georgia
My wine guru recommends this Napa Valley gem
If you enjoyed this blog and similar other stories/wine group/supper club lessons follow me on Facebook and Twitter and subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and check out my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs. Published by Morgan James Publishing and available through most channels where books are sold.