North Africa Flashcards
Morocco
Vineyards located at an altitude over 500 metres on the Atlas Mountains and cooled by Atlantic breezes.
Appellation system exists with 14 recognised regions.
Grape varieties include Carignan, Consult and Bordeaux and Rhone varieties.
Potential for producing best quality wine in Nth Africa.
Tunisia
Best vineyards located on the coast near Tunis.
Recent investment in winery equipment.
Full bodied reds and sweet and dry Muscats are produced.
Algeria
Historically most important North African wine producer (exporting large volumes to France for blending, until the 1960s).
Vineyard area has shrunk from 400,000 ha to around 60,000.
Investment and improvement is lagging.
Egypt
North African country which makes small quantities of wine, about 43,000 hl/1.1 million gal a year from its 70,000 ha/173,000 acres of vineyard in 2011, which are mainly devoted to producing table grapes. The Ancient Egyptians provide us with some of the oldest depictions of winemaking techniques, however.
Egypt- Ancient Egypt
Remains of grapes have been found in late Predynastic sites (c.3300–3000 bc), but the vine is not part of the native flora of the country, and was probably introduced from canaan in Predynastic times, despite herodotus’ false claim (Histories 2. 77) that there were no vines in Egypt. The southern Levantine industry had matured to such a degree that by the time of Scorpion I (c.3150 bc), one of the first rulers of a united Egypt, his tomb at Abydos was stocked with some 4,500 l/1,900 gal of imported wine from southern Canaan. The wine was laced with terebinth tree resin, to which fresh fruit (grapes and figs) and a variety of herbs (including thyme and savory) had been added. Beginning around 3000 bc, the Egyptian pharaohs financed the establishment of a royal wine industry in the Nile Delta.
The best grapes were considered to come from the Nile Delta; by the New Kingdom (c.1550–1050 bc), viniculture had been introduced to the oases of the western desert and the middle Nile. Vines, irrigated, and manured with bird droppings, were grown in walled gardens, sometimes among other fruits such as olives, and trained over pergolas (see tendone).
As in Ancient greece and Ancient rome, there were two distinct winemaking operations: treading, or crushing, to yield some free-run juice, and pressing the remainder with a sack-press. When harvested, grapes were trodden by foot by men who could hang on to overhead supports, or suspended ropes. The vat was deliberately shielded from the heat, and an offering of the must was made to the goddess Renenutet. Tomb paintings illustrate wine production amply, although the precise details are not always clear. After treading, the pressing was often carried out in a special sack-press with a pole fixed in a loop at either end of what was effectively a giant jelly bag. This was then twisted by several men in opposite directions and the liquid was collected in a vessel beneath. The liquid flowing out of the sack-press is always depicted as red. In Old Kingdom times (c.2686–2181 bc) the wine was transferred to large jars, later called amphorae.
In scenes dating from the New Kingdom must flows from the trough along a small conduit into a receptacle. In the sack-press apparently only the skins would have been pressed. Probably the free-run juice and the press wine were fermented together. Depictions show only the transfer of the must from the press into amphorae. In one illustration the contents of the press are transferred to large fermentation vats, then pressed in the sack-press and transferred into amphorae.
The actual alcoholic fermentation took place in the amphorae, from which the Ancient Egyptians would then deliberately exclude air, just like many modern winemakers. The filled amphorae were covered with cloth or leather lids, smeared with Nile mud, and then sealed. Small holes to allow the continuing escape of carbon dioxide were later blocked up.
White wine is likely attested in the Scorpion I tomb, based on the yellowishness of the residue, and in some of the amphorae in the Tutankhamun tomb, based on chemical analyses. Egyptian wines were generally resinated wines from the beginning of the royal winemaking industry to the end of the Pharaonic period. Wine was also drunk for medicinal purposes, when it was sometimes flavoured with Levantine and Egyptian herbs, kyphi, a mixture of gums, resins, herbs, spices, and possibly other less pleasant ingredients such as the dungs of various animals and birds, and asses’ hair.
Egypt- Wine trade organization
It is clear from the seals on amphorae and from the titles of certain officials that the manufacture and delivery of wine were already organized at royal level in the earliest periods. Wine is often shown in scenes on wall paintings. Lists from the Fifth Dynasty distinguish five types of wine according to its origin. ‘Wine from Asia’ and Canaan is also mentioned, and Canaanite wine amphorae are found in the New Kingdom. Inscriptions on amphorae of that period usually indicate year, vineyard site, owner, and chief winemaker (rather more information than is given on most modern wine labels). Most but not all centres of wine production lay on the western arm of the Nile Delta.
Egypt- Wine drinking
Wine was drunk by gods, kings, and nobles, especially at feasts, and was rated only slightly behind beer, which was the most common beverage of ancient Egypt. Amphorae, often painted with vine leaves, are depicted on tables or resting on stands. The wine was sieved as it was poured out. Servants would fill small beakers for serving, sometimes carrying a second small jug (possibly containing water to dilute the wine, but more likely a herbal concoction). The wine was drunk from bowls or amphorae (which sometimes rested on stands). The king Akhenaten and his family are shown drinking at the royal capital Tell-el-Amarna (14th century bc). Priests received wine as part of their daily rations, likewise army officers and foreign mercenaries; but the workmen of Amarna received none, an indication of its value. By contrast, the workers who had built the pyramids received a daily allotment of two ‘bottles’ or about 4–5 l/1-1.3 gal of beer.
Egypt- Religion and Wine
Wine is said to be the drink of gods, and also of the dead (along with beer and milk). Thus it was important in cult worship and is frequently mentioned in lists of offerings, sometimes several sorts together. It was frequently offered as nourishment to deities by the king or private persons, also symbolizing purification. libations of wine and water were made at temples and tombs throughout the country.
The goddess Hathor, ‘the mistress of drunkenness’, was the Egyptian equivalent of the Sumerian beer goddess, Ninkasi. She was closely associated with a lesser goddess ‘who makes beer’, Menqet. One festival to honour Hathor, appropriately designated the ‘the Drunkenness of Hathor’, at her temple in Dendera, recalled the story of how the goddess had gone on a rampage to destroy a rebellious humanity in her form as the lioness goddess, Sekhmet. Just in time, Re diverted her from her mission by filling the inundated fields with ‘red beer’, which Hathor interpreted as a sign that she had accomplished her task. She then over-indulged, and forgot to carry out the devastation of mankind. The yearly celebration at Dendera coincided with the inundation of the Nile during the summer, when reddish iron-rich soils were washed down from the Atbara River in Sudan, giving the waters the appearance of ‘red beer’. By drinking an alcoholic beverage at the festival—both wine and beer—and celebrating with music and dance, humanity shared in Hathor’s transformation into her more benign form as the feline Bastet.
Classical authors identified Osiris as the benefactor who bestowed wine on mankind, comparing him in this respect to the Greek god dionysus. The grape certainly became a symbol of the dying and rising god. Vines depicted in tomb paintings symbolized the deceased’s hope for resurrection. Other texts refer to wine as the perspiration of Re or as the eyes of the god Horus. His pupils are said to be grapes through which wine flows. In the later periods the term ‘Green Eye of Horus’ was used to refer to wine.
Egypt- Modern Wine Production
Brewers Heineken own the leading and thoroughly modern Egyptian wine producer Gianaclis, about 75 km/47 miles from Alexandria, and in 2014 there were two others. sultana and a wide range of international varieties are grown, on trellises, mainly in the north of the country, although vine age is low and the growing season is too short for Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, and members of the Pinot family. Satellite technology is harnessed to apply drip irrigation with precision. Grapes are picked between late June and early August and are generally chilled before transport to sophisticated modern wineries equipped with stainless steel. French oak barriques are used for some top wines but most are drunk young.
Ethiopia
In north-east africa can produce quite respectable red wine and some white from vines grown at relatively high elevations. The Awash winery in Addis Ababa, based on vineyards established by the Italian troops who occupied part of the country from 1936 to 1941, has been joined by a castel project with 162 ha/400 acres of vines planted between 2007 and 2009 near Ziway, 160 km/100 miles south of the capital. It sells international varietals under the brand names Rift Valley and Acacia from vineyards surrounded by a wide trench designed to deter pythons, hippopotamuses, and hyenas.
Kenya
African country virtually on the equator, with a very limited production of wines, and some packaging of imports from South Africa. Since the mid 1980s, vinifera vines have been cultivated and have been harvested every eight months, providing three vintages every two years, chiefly from vineyards around Lake Naivasha (see tropical viticulture). Rainy seasons are March to May and October to December and some producers may revert to one growing season from June to September. The only commercial wine producer in 2014 was Rift Valley Winery, whose 20 ha/50 acres of vineyards are at elevations over 1900 m/6,235 ft. A locally grown Sauvignon Blanc/Chenin Blanc blend and rosé are sold under the Leleshwa brand. A refugee from the Médoc has planted a small vineyard in Laikipia.
Tanzania
Although less than eight degrees south of the equator, Tanzania produces wine from two vintages a year (see tropical viticulture). international varieties are planted, notably around the city of Dodoma. German settlers planted vines just south of Mount Kilimanjaro in the 1930s and an ambitious vine nursery was established by another German in the 1980s.
Aramon
Is now, happily, a remnant of French viticultural history, a vine variety that burgeoned throughout the languedoc in the second half of the 19th century (the many who made their fortunes from wine around Béziers then were known by some as the Aramonie) and was displaced as France’s most popular only in the 1960s by carignan. For decades, particularly after the development of railway links with the populous north of France, Aramon vines were encouraged to spew forth light, everyday wine-for-the-workers that was with good reason called petit rouge.
Aramon’s great attribute, apart from its prodigious productivity of up to 400 hl/ha (22.8 tons/acre), was its resistance to powdery mildew, the scourge of what were France’s established wine regions in the mid 19th century. The variety was taken up with great enthusiasm and rapidly spread over terrain previously considered too flat and fertile for viticulture. galet notes that its effects were particularly noticeable in the Hérault, where, between 1849 and 1869, the land under vine more than doubled, to 214,000 ha/528,800 acres.
Unless planted on poor soils and pruned extremely severely, Aramon produces some of the lightest red wine that could be considered red, notably low in alcohol, extract, and character. To render the rouge sufficiently rouge for the French consumer, Aramon had invariably to be bolstered by such red-fleshed grapes as one of the teinturiers, most often alicante bouschet. This gave Aramon a grave disadvantage compared with the deep, alcoholic reds of North Africa, and its popularity began to decline in the mid 20th century, a trend exacerbated by its toll from the 1956 and 1963 frosts. Aramon suffers from the twin disadvantages of budding early and ripening late and is therefore limited to hotter wine regions.
The total French area planted with Aramon shrank from 34,700 ha/85,700 acres in 1988 to 2,126 ha/5,251 acres in 2010.
Aramon Gris and Aramon Blanc, lighter-berried mutations, can still (just) be found, particularly in the Hérault.
Castel
France’s biggest wine company, was founded in Bordeaux by nine Castel brothers and sisters in 1949 and is still family-owned. As well as owning dozens of Bordeaux châteaux and selling prodigious quantities of wine, Castel is an important distributor of beer and water in France and North Africa. Castel acquired barton & Guestier, the Bordeaux négociant, and bought the Nicolas retail chain in 1988, their chief rival Société des Vins de France in 1992, Domaines Virginie in the Languedoc in 1999, the British retail chain Oddbins in 2002 (which it subsequently sold off), and the Burgundy négociant Patriarche in 2011. It is also involved in a joint venture for the production of Chinese wine and distribution ofFrench wines in china with changyu and, together with suntory of Japan, owns a Bordeaux négociant and Chx Beaumont and Beychevelle.
Table Grapes
The common term for those grapes specially grown to be eaten as fresh fruit. Of the grapes grown worldwide, table grapes represent the third most frequent use, following wine and dried grapes. About 21 million tonnes are grown each year and the trend is upwards. The most important producing country is China, followed at quite some distance by Turkey, India, Iran, Italy, and Egypt. The fruit is consumed primarily within the producing country because it is relatively low in value and perishable. However, with refrigeration the opportunities for export are increasing and Chile, for example, has developed a substantial export trade in table grapes over the last four decades. Table grapes are used widely by the emerging wine industries of asia.
The varieties of grapes for fresh consumption are usually specialized and different from those for wine and drying. They should taste good, have a reasonably consistent berry size, bright colour, firm flesh texture, not too many seeds, and skins tough enough to withstand storage and transport. Recently developed seedless varieties are increasingly popular. Some important table grape varieties are Barlinka, Calmeria, cardinal, chasselas, Dattier, Emperor, Flame Seedless, Gros Vert, Italia, muscat of alexandria, muscat of hamburg, Perlette, Ruby Seedless, Alphonse Lavallée (Ribier), and sultana (or Thompson Seedless).
Table grapes are typically grown in warm to hot regions to encourage early maturity and freedom from any rot brought on by rain. Low night temperatures assist the colour development of some varieties, while both very high and very low day temperatures may inhibit colour development. Many of the table grape regions of the world are inland desert areas.
There are some important differences between table grape and wine grape vineyard management. For table grapes, the aim is generally to produce maximum berry size, and so irrigation and fertilizers are used more liberally than for wine grapes. Sloping and overhead trellis systems such as the pergola and tendone are common, where the shoots and leaves form a canopy over the fruit, avoiding excessive and direct sun exposure (see sunburn).
Because they are worth more than most wine grapes (although see Ch d’yquem, montrachet, and domaine de la romanée-conti), table grapes typically require more manual vineyard work. This can include shoot thinning, crop thinning, and sometimes berry thinning. These practices lead to larger berries which ripen early. growth regulators are also commonly used to thin flowers, but more particularly to increase berry size of seedless varieties such as Sultana. cincturing or girdling can also be used to hasten ripening.
Table grapes are harvested earlier than wine grapes as a lower sugar level and higher acidity make them taste more refreshing, in the range of 15 to 18 °brix (whereas wine grapes would preferably be harvested for dry wines at about 22 °Brix).
Some table grape varieties can be kept in cool stores for up to 20 weeks, although eight to 12 weeks is more common. Long storage life is promoted by low temperatures such as −1 °C (at which the sugar content stops them freezing), a relative humidity of about 96%, and sulfur dioxide fumigation for mould control.
