Wineries and Vineyards - The Biltmore Estate
So, one of the reasons for my long absence last week was that I disappeared for a long weekend for New Year's in Asheville, NC. Of course, your intrepid wine adventurer/correspondent did not miss the Biltmore Estate Winery. I intend to make several posts about the experience because there is just that much to tell. I'll begin with a note about grape cultivation and winemaking at the estate.
One thing I never thought about much before focusing my attention on wine is that growing wine grapes and making wine are very much two different things. Many vineyards have wineries, and many wineries have vineyards, but they don't always come in pairs. Vineyards can just sell grapes, or use all their grapes for their own wine, or some combination thereof. Wineries might get grapes from their own adjacent vineyard, or they might purchase all their grapes, or, as the Biltmore Estate does, they might both grow and purchase grapes for their wine.
It's a fairly common practice, especially outside of Europe, for wineries to use grapes that are not grown close to the winery, or even close to each other. Not long ago I had a wine from South Eastern Australia, which is a region that is bigger than many countries! Those grapes could have, and probably did, come from widely varying geographic and climatic areas. It's less common in Europe because European winemaking tends to focus on terroir (the effect of the land and climate on a wine, being able to taste the character of a place in the wine) and so they are less likely to throw grapes from different places together willy-nilly.
The Biltmore Estate winery uses many grapes grown in California for some of their wines, as well as some grapes grown on the estate. The estate has proved a challenging environment for viticulture: the elevation is roughly 3,000 feet, leading to cooler temperatures. Also, the climate is a bit moist and shady for grapes, leading to problems with rot and grapes that aren't sweet enough, and on top of everything they have had 2 of the most rainy years on record recently. So, they make many wines from grapes that are not grown on the estate, and the poor tour guide was clearly burnt out from having to explain that fact to people who were expecting to drink wines made exclusively from grapes grown on the grounds. While I understand and respect the concept of terroir, I haven't let it restrict me from enjoying tasty wines that were made from the grapes of disparate vineyards, and so this didn't bother me in the slightest.
A note on the tour: this was my first-ever tour of a winery, and I was blessed with wonderful luck. There were only 4 people on the tour including myself and my boyfriend, so we could go slow and ask plenty of questions, and our guide was wonderfully knowledgable and patient. I took plenty of pictures, which I will be posting later. (I dropped the camera on the way home, so I need to fix a spring in the battery compartment before I can download the pictures.) More later!
One thing I never thought about much before focusing my attention on wine is that growing wine grapes and making wine are very much two different things. Many vineyards have wineries, and many wineries have vineyards, but they don't always come in pairs. Vineyards can just sell grapes, or use all their grapes for their own wine, or some combination thereof. Wineries might get grapes from their own adjacent vineyard, or they might purchase all their grapes, or, as the Biltmore Estate does, they might both grow and purchase grapes for their wine.
It's a fairly common practice, especially outside of Europe, for wineries to use grapes that are not grown close to the winery, or even close to each other. Not long ago I had a wine from South Eastern Australia, which is a region that is bigger than many countries! Those grapes could have, and probably did, come from widely varying geographic and climatic areas. It's less common in Europe because European winemaking tends to focus on terroir (the effect of the land and climate on a wine, being able to taste the character of a place in the wine) and so they are less likely to throw grapes from different places together willy-nilly.
The Biltmore Estate winery uses many grapes grown in California for some of their wines, as well as some grapes grown on the estate. The estate has proved a challenging environment for viticulture: the elevation is roughly 3,000 feet, leading to cooler temperatures. Also, the climate is a bit moist and shady for grapes, leading to problems with rot and grapes that aren't sweet enough, and on top of everything they have had 2 of the most rainy years on record recently. So, they make many wines from grapes that are not grown on the estate, and the poor tour guide was clearly burnt out from having to explain that fact to people who were expecting to drink wines made exclusively from grapes grown on the grounds. While I understand and respect the concept of terroir, I haven't let it restrict me from enjoying tasty wines that were made from the grapes of disparate vineyards, and so this didn't bother me in the slightest.
A note on the tour: this was my first-ever tour of a winery, and I was blessed with wonderful luck. There were only 4 people on the tour including myself and my boyfriend, so we could go slow and ask plenty of questions, and our guide was wonderfully knowledgable and patient. I took plenty of pictures, which I will be posting later. (I dropped the camera on the way home, so I need to fix a spring in the battery compartment before I can download the pictures.) More later!
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