California Study Guide Flashcards
What % of American wine is produced in California? What are the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th largest producing states respectively?
90%
Washington
New York
Oregon
What are three species of vine that were in North America prior tot the arrival of Vitis vinifera?
Vitis labrusca (Concord) Vitis rotundifolia (Scuppernong) Vitis aestivalis (Norton)
What was the first Vitis vinifera grape to see successful growing in North America? Where was this? When?
Mission
Mexico in the early 1500s
When did George Yount plant his first vineyard in Napa?
1839
When was California annexed from Mexico?
1847
Who was dubbed the “father of California wine”? When did he arrive to Napa Valley and found Buena Vista?
Count Agoston Haraszthy
1849
Who is credited with the introduction of Zinfandel along with 300 varieties from his travels in Europe?
Count Agoston Haraszthy
What former apprentice of Count Agoston Haraszthy moved to the Napa Valley and founded Charles Krug winery? When was this? Where in the valley is this winery?
Charles Krug
1861
St. Helena
Put the following in order by which they were established. What are the years of their establishment?
Charles Krug Schramsberg Beringer Inglenook Buena Vista Beaulieu Vineyards
Buena Vista (1849) Charles Krug (1861) Schrambsberg (1862) Beringer (1876) Inglenook (1880) Beaulieu Vineyard (1900)
Who founded Inglenook Winery in 1880?
Gustav Niebaum
When did Phylloxera hit California?
1880s and 1890s
What was the main rootstock that saved California vines from Phylloxera?
Vitis riparia and its hybrids
What are two hybrid grapes that dominated the vineyards of New York and the East Coast during the mid 1800s?
Catawba and Delaware
What is the United State’s first bonded winery? When was this and in what region?
Pleasant Valley Wine Company established in 1860 in the Finger Lakes
What style of wine and from what grape was being made in Ohio during the mid 1800s?
Sparkling wine made in the traditional method from the Catawba grape
What winery in Missouri was the third largest in the world at the turn of the 20th century?
Stone Hill Winery in Hermann
What is the star grape of Missouri?
Norton
Who was responsible for the discovery of American rootstock’s resistance to Phylloxera? Where is there a statue of him?
Charles Valentine Riley, a Missouri entomologist
Statue of him in Montpellier, France
Which winery thrived during Prohibition as the “House of Altar Wine”?
George de Latour’s Beaulieu Vineyards
Which amednment ended Prohibition? When was this?
21st Amendment in 1933
What style of wine accounted for 81% of the wine produced in California in the immediate years following Prohibition?
Sweet, fortified wine
Cheap generic wine under the guises of what 4 names flooded the American market in the decades following Prohibition?
Burgundy
Chablis
Port
Sherry
Up until the 1970s a majority of the wine produced in America was geared towards what?
Inexpensive, lower quality wines for a generally uneducated domestic market. Bulk wines
Who’s “Thunderbird” and “Night Train Express” contributed to the oceans of cheap wine from the Central Valley during the 1900s?
Gallo Brothers
What Russian winemaker did Georges de Latour hire in 1938 to oversee production at Beaulieu? What wine did this winemaker introduce and what was significant about it?
André Tchelistcheff
Georges de Latour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
It was considered a new benchmark in quality for American wine
What contributions to the American wine industry did André Tchelistcheff contribute?
Brought new standards of hygiene and techniques to California, including temperature-controlled fermentations and controlled malolactic fermentation.
He also mentored many of California’s young talents, including Robert Mondavi, Louis Martini, Joe Heitz, and Mike Grgich
Who is considered the “dean of American winemakers”?
André Tchelistcheff
When did Robert Mondavi launch his winery’s first harvest?
1966
When did table wines surpass fortified wines in domestic consumption for the first time?
1967
When did Robert Mondavi launch his Fumé Blanc, oak-aged Sauvignon Blanc singlehandedly making the grape saleable?
1968
Who were early pioneers in Sonoma (3)? Santa Crus Mountains?
Hanzell, Martin Ray, and Simi in Sonoma
Ridge (Paul Draper) with his Monte Bello bottling in Santa Cruz
What was the first vintage of Mount Eden Vineyards?
1972
What is the name of Monterey’s oldest commercial vineyard and what was its first vintage?
Chalone Vineyard in 1960
Where is the Sanford and Benedict Vineyard? Who planted it and when? What is the grape?
Santa Ynez Hills of Santa Barbara
Richard Sanford
Pinot Noir
Who first showed that Vitis vinifera had promise in the Finger Lakes? What was the name of his first winery? When was it founded?
Dr. Konstantin Frank
Vinifera Wine Cellars founded in 1962
Who is responsible for first planting Pinot Noir in the Willamette Valley? What is the name of his winery and when was this?
David Lett
Eyrie Vineyards in 1965
Which two wineries placed first in the 1976 Judgement of Paris tasting for Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay respectively?
Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars for Cabernet
Chateau Montelena for Chardonnay
When was the first Napa Valley bottling topping $100 released? By who?
1978 by Diamond Creek
When did Phylloxera sweep through Napa Valley for a second time? What was the silver lining regarding this?
1980s
This allowed producers the opportunity to replant and reassess grapes and clonal selections for each site.
What did the stylistic shift of the Napa Valley favor in the 1990s? What cult producers emerged during this time?
ripeness, body, and higher alcohol levels
Cult producers like Harlan Estate, Colgin, and Screaming Eagle emerged
Even though rootstocks have kept Phylloxera at bay in California, what two additional threats have proved serious?
Pierce’s Disease and the light-brown apple moth
What organization established the AVA system? When was this? Who oversees the AVA system today?
the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) in the late 1970s
Today the Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) oversees the AVA system.
The AVA system demarcated appellations according to what 3 criterion?
geographical, physical, and climatic features
What was the first AVA established? Second? When?
Augusta in Missouri (1980)
Napa (1981)
What two wineries had to change their name in 2009 with the establishment of the Calistoga AVA because they didn’t use enough Calistoga fruit in their wines? What was significant about this?
Calistoga Cellars and Calistoga Estates
This set an example for future label integrity
If a bottle is listed with an AVA, what % of the fruit used must come from that AVA?
What if state, county, or country (USA) is listed in lieu of AVA?
What if a bottle is labeled California, Oregon, or Washington?
If a wine is labeled by a single vineyard, what % of the grapes used must come from that vineyard?
If a wine is vintage-dated, what % of the fruit used must come from the stated vintage? (AVA and state/county)
Wine with a varietal designation must contain a minimum what % of the state variety? (viinfera and labrusca)
85% if AVA is listed
75% for state, county, or country and no AVA
California and Oregon require 100% grapes from the named state.
Washington requires 95%
Min 95% for stated vineyard
Min 95% from stated vintage for AVA. Min 85% if labeled by state or county
Min 75% of the stated variety for vinifera.
Min 51% of the stated variety for labrusca
What is the margin of error listed for abv on American wine? If alcohol abv is not listed, what two terms may be on the label if the wine is between 7-14% alcohol?
+-1.5%
“Table Wine” and “Light Wine” may be listed on the bottle in lieu of abv amount as long as the abv% is between 7-14
What criteria must be met in order for an American wine to be labeled “Estate-Bottled”? (3)
(1) must declare name and address of bottler
(2) 100% of a wine must come from grapes grown on land owned or controlled by the winery
(3) the winery and all vineyards used in the production of an estate-bottled wine must be located within the same AVA
Who is responsible for the creation of the Northern Sonoma AVA? Why?
Gallo
So they could blend from across all of their holdings in pre-existing AVAs and label their wines as estate-bottled
What are the 4 major wine growing region AVAs of California?
North Coast AVA
Central Coast AVA
South Coast AVA
Sierra Foothills AVA
Napa Valley AVA and Sonoma Valley AVA are located within what AVA?
North Coast AVA
Why are most of the fine wine districts located near the coast?
The fog and cool sea breezes mitigate temperatures and create a large diurnal swing from warm days to cool nights.
Which of the four large major AVAs has made little impact in terms of fine wine production? Between which two cities is it located?
South Coast AVA
Between Los Angeles and San Diego
Which valley is responsible for 75% of California’s wine production but is not considered an AVA?
Central Valley
What are the top two white grapes in the Central Valley responsible for bulk wines?
Chardonnay and French Colombard
What are the criteria for “Meritage” in California? (2)
(1) Must be a blend and no one grape accounts for more than 90% of the blend.
(2) May be red or white but must be produced from Bordeaux varieties.
What Croatian grape is Zinfandel identical to?
Crljenak Kastelanski
What is the silver lining of White Zinfandel’s fame in the 1980s?
It preserved Zinfandel vines so that today some of the world’s oldest Zinfandel vines are located in California.