D’Amato & Szabo: Wine Thieves

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This is part two of a five-part series on the Wine of Rias Baixas. In the first episode, we took you through the region, including a brief history and the technical details of climate and soils, sub-regions and the denominación of origin rules and regulations. If you missed it, you may want to go back and have a listen to our interview Katia Alvarez, winemaker at the Martin Codax winery of the Val do Salnés sub-region. 

In this episode, we remain in the Salnés valley sub-zone and speak with Diego Rios, the Chilean winemaker in charge of regional reference, Granbazán. We get to the bottom of the mysterious origins of albariño with Diego, the most widely planted grape in Rias Baixas today. Germanic tribes? Cistercian monks travelling the Way of St. James? or Roman foragers? Find out in this episode.

Saltiness in wine is a strangely recurring theme on Wine Thieves, and we also look more deeply in this episode into its causes. Is it real? Or perceived? A trick of the other senses joining together to create the impression, or a bona fide dose of sodium?  Does the terroir of Rias Baixas itself contribute to the perception of salinity? We discuss such riveting angles as sodium deposits on grapes, absorption through soils into vines, and even how the important Galician canned seafood industry might play a role…  As always with scientific papers, our conclusions are that, "further study in this field is recommended”. So grab a glass of salty coastal Albariño from Green Spain, maybe some razor clams or pulpo a la gallega, and join Sara and John on this adventure into the past and future.

Salud!


Episode sponsored by D.O. Rias Baixas, content exclusively by The Wine Thieves®

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Welcome back and thank you for joining us for another season of Wine Thieves! We're off to a fresh start with our latest series in which we  explore albariño, seaside vineyards and fresh Atlantic wines as we travel through the diverse wine-growing region of Rias Baixas. This small corner of northwestern “Green Spain” in the region of Galicia has emerged over the last couple of decades as a premier source of fresh, crunchy, salty wines that are mainly, but not exclusively, white. This first episode in the series will give you all the relevant background to the Denomination of Origin Rias Baixas and its wines, and includes an interview with winemaker Katia Alvarez, chief winemaker at Martìn Codax, one of the region’s largest and most recognized producers around the globe. The winery is based in the sub-region of the Val do Salnès, the largest of the 5 subregions of Rias Baixas.  

The coastal landscape of Rías Baixas features a series of spectacular jagged inlets and shallow fjords known as “rias”, hence the name Rías Baixas, which means literally the “lower rias", or lower estuaries”.  The D.O. Rias Baixas encompasses over 4000 hectares of vineyards,  split into 5 sub-zones according to their topography and proximity to rivers and the sea. Although over 99% of all wine produced in Rías Baixas is white, differences in microclimates, terroir and grape varieties in the five sub-zones, as well as different winemaking techniques, make for impressive diversity. Styles range from crisp, aromatic citrusy and saline  in Val do Salnés, to the peachier, softer style in O Rosal, and a less fruity, some say earthier style in Condado do Tea.

Grab your map and your glass as we explore the remarkable hillside and terraced vineyards of Rias Baixas, discuss the traditional pergola system called "parra", learn why yields are so low, what wine style to expect from each subregion, how salty sea air affects coastal vineyards, and  how hydric stress can occur in a rainy climate. 

Salud!
Episode sponsored by the D.O. Rias Baixas

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 A replay of last year's terrific episode celebrating Riesling day, March 19th, featuring  Johannes Selbach (Selbach-Oster) of the Mosel Valley, Johannes Leitz from  the Rheingau, Philip Wittman of the Rheinhessen, and twins Hans and Valentin Rebholz of Ökonomierat Rebholz. The earliest-known written record of Riesling dates back precisely to March 13, 1435 in Germany, in the cellar log of Count John IV of Katzenelnbogen in Rüsselsheim, a town just south of the Rheingau. The log notes a purchase for 22 shillings of “seczreben Rießlingen in die wingarten – “Riesling cuttings for the vineyard”.  That’s why March 13th has been officially designated as Riesling's big day,  and this year, 2021,  mark's its 586th birthday.  Deutschland is its undisputed home, accounting for 45% of all the Riesling planted worldwide with 23,800 hectares under vine. So how better to celebrate this momentous occasion than at table with a quartet of Germany's maximum Riesling artists? John and Sara welcome stars Johannes Selbach (Selbach-Oster) of the Mosel Valley, Johannes Leitz from  the Rheingau, Philip Wittman of the Rheinhessen, and twins Hans and Valentin Rebholz of Ökonomierat Rebholz in the southern Pfalz for a jovial ode to this favorite grape of all wine lovers and an exploration of the grosses gewächs, or grands crus, of these top producers. Learn your slate from your quartz, your Himmelreich from your Sonnenhur,  Roseneck from Rottland, Kirchspiel from Brunnenhäuschen, and Kastanienbusch from Ganz Horn, among others. Reminisce about the days when a bottle of cru classé St. Estephe sold for $5 and a bottle of Mosel for $8, get the table's perspective on unforgettable food & Riesling pairings, and bonus: learn which rieslings these experts consider the benchmarks outside of Germany. Grab a glass of this beauty and don't miss the riesling celebration!

This episode is produced in partnership with the Wines of Germany. 

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This is the last in our 5-part series featuring Armenia’s modern wine renaissance and our final episode of 2021. This time we focus on what’s most important, that is . . . eating and drinking in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia! Following the evolution of wine culture in the country that moved from a brandy-producing and brandy drinking culture to embracing their millennia-old wine history and reviving wine production and wine drinking. The Thieves speak to Mariam Sagetelyan, the co-owner of the most important wine bar in Yerevan, called InVino, which is still the only wine-only restaurant bar in Yerevan. Wine is all they sell and serve. 

Artem Parseryan also joins the program, the winemaker at Trinity Canyon Vineyards, a project started by Mariam’s father and two other friends, hence “Trinity” so that they could supply their wine bar and restaurant at the time. Their venture began only about a decade or so ago, but it was a time when reliable commercial wine was very hard to come by. They literally had to fill the supply for the demand they had created.

Respect for indigenous varieties, a look at self-rooted international grapes as a way to better understand the phylloxera-free sites of the Vayots Dzor and "to karas or not to karas" are some of the many topics John and Sara discuss as they uncover the many specialties that are to be savoured in Yerevan. Join us as we ring in the New Year with a glass of areni in hand!

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In this episode, the Thieves visit one of the world’s great wine capitals: Vienna.  Up until the late Middle Ages, grapevines were still growing within city walls in what is now the first district in the heart of Vienna. Vineyards were slowly pushed to the outskirts, but Vienna remains the only European capital to have acreage of commercial consequence; just under 600ha are planted today to a wide variety of both red and white grapes. In the districts surrounding the city, especially in the north such as the 21st and its historic neighbourhoods of Strebersdorf, Stammersdorf and Jedlersdorf, and the 19th district’s Heiligenstadt, Nussdorf, and Grinzing, rural meets urban in a setting that features charmingly rustic wine taverns surrounded by the vineyards that supply them.

Called buschenshank, or more commonly heuriger (plu: heurigen; HOOI-REE-GEn), these original, seasonal pop-up, farm-to-table-restaurants operated by vintners have been a Viennese, and Austrian, tradition for nearly two and a half centuries. They’ve become such a cultural institution that, like the Viennese waltz, they were included in the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage in Austria. You know they’re open for business when you see a fir branch hanging above the door.

Of the many styles of wine produced in Vienna, the most traditional and emblematic wine is the white wine called Wiener Gemischter Satz, (VEEner-geh-MISH-ter-sats) which means literally the “mixed set of Vienna”. In practical terms, gemischter satz is a wine made from a mix of different white grapes co-planted in the same vineyard, and harvested and vinified together. Vienna is one of the few places left in the world where the ancient practice of planting multi-variety field blends, once the norm throughout the old world (and in the oldest vineyards of the new world), is still followed. Today, almost one-fifth of vineyards in Vienna are field blends.

Joining Sara and John on the show to discuss Viennese drinking habits are two important winemakers in the renaissance of Vienna’s wines, including its flagship Gemischter Satz: Fritz Wieninger of Weingut Wieninger and Hajszann-Neumann, and Alex Zahel of the Zahel Family winery. Grab a glass of "gemischt” and come heuriger-hopping with us through Vienna.

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You probably already know about Austrian grüner veltliner. It’s the country’s most planted variety, and the wine you’re most likely to find on store shelves and restaurant wine lists. You may even know that Austria makes exceptional riesling and fine reds from local specialties like blaufränkisch and sankt laurent. But what may be news is that this middle European country is also the source of some of the world’s best sauvignon blanc, from a small region in the country’s deep south called Steiermark, or Styria.

Styria is one of Austria’s wettest and most humid regions. Pressure systems from the nearby Adriatic Sea regularly drive moist, unstable pockets of air up into Austria where they eventually run up against the Alps. As air masses rise, storm clouds form, and then slip back down into Styria and drop up to 1200 millimetres of rain annually, at the upper limit for quality grape growing. Warm, moist air is also a catalyst for vine diseases of all kinds, a challenge especially for the small but growing number of organic grape growers in the region. So what makes quality wine possible and worthwhile in this seemingly inhospitable place? The answer, in a word, is hills. Steep hills. In fact, outside of the Alps proper, Styria has the country’s steepest slopes, the most extreme of which tip over 115% grade. That’s steeper than even the most radical sites in the Wachau.

To better understand Styria's calling card, sauvignon blanc, John and Sara speak to two producers widely considered at the pinnacle of quality : Alex Sattler of Sattlerhof, and Stefan Tement of Weingut Tement. These two are representative of the growing number of young winemakers taking over family estates and pushing the limits on quality production, making Styria a particularly dynamic and quality-focused . Put down your grüner and get ready for a vertigo-inducing episode of Wine Thieves!

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The Wine Thieves make their way to the south of France to the country’s most productive IGP, the Pays d’Oc. This long coastal strip spanning 240 kilometres across the Mediterranean Sea from just east of Nîmes to the Spanish border is a multi-faceted region with endless sunshine, benevolent winds and variations in elevation that make it possible to successfully grow no fewer than 58 permitted grape varieties. The IGP Pays d’Oc (Indication Géographique Protégée, or, Protected Geographic Indication) is an area that serious collectors routinely overlook given its reputation for ready-to-drink wines of a nebulous geographic region. Yet the designation has been steadily transforming, helped by a modern approach, foreign interest and investment and varietal labelling. More than just pleasure-for-price, the area is also a non-conformist playground, thanks to the freedom afforded by the Pays d’Oc IGP designation.

John and Sara interview three producers who forged unique identities within the Pays d'Oc. First up is Tim Ford, Owner and Managing Director at Domaine Gayda, a family-owned winery whose organic vineyards are in the heart of the Languedoc in the foothills of the Pyrenees about 25 km southwest of Carcassonne.  Tim and co-owner Anthony Record joined forces with winemaker Vincent Chansault in 2004 to focus on sustainably-produced wines with modern appeal.

Our next guests are dynamic couple Laurent and Catherine Delaunay, who founded Les Jamelles and co-founded Abbots & Delaunay (in Marseillette, near Carcassonne) making a range of wildly successful wines with a particular focus on varietally bottlings. Originally from Burgundy, where they still have a foothold and produce pinot noir and chardonnay, the couple fell in love with the Languedoc and its myriad creative possibilities. They are producers, négociants and some of the busiest people the Thieves have met in the world of wine.

Our third guest is Magali Dardé, third generation in charge of Domaine Les Yeuses, and her agent Olivier. The winery in Mèze on the Etang de Thau – a brackish inland body of water - was built in the 13th century by the Knights Templars atop an ancient Roman villa. The estate has been in the Dardé family for over 30 years with the family sharing in the day to day responsibilities. Single variety wines are a focus, sourced from the estate’s 80 hectares of vines with a view of the sea.

Join us for this vibrant episode with some of the stars of Southern France.

This episode was produced in partnership with Pays d'Oc IGP. 

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This week we're back in Armenia focusing more deeply on the origins and proliferation of Armenia’s autochthonous grape varieties. Indigenous and autochthonous seem to be used interchangeably, but as we've learned, in the scientific community, autochthonous is the preferred term for grape varieties that were born, so to speak, in a certain place.  So, get ready for a very heady interview as we delve deep into vinifera DNA, domestication centers, and algorithmic predictions of grapevine distribution …

The Wine Thieves welcome guest Kristina Margaryan, head of the research group of plant genomics at the institute of molecular biology and the national academy of science specializing in grapevine genetics and genomics. In 2018 she helped to establish the first Armenian grapevine database. Also joining the discussion is Varuzhan Mouradian, founder of Van Ardi, one of the first boutique wineries established as part of the modern Armenian wine renaissance. 

To prep you for the discussion, John and Sara learn the definitions of morphology, phenotypes, somatic mutations, chimera, germplasm and clarify the distinction between a grape synonym and homonym. You'll discover what just may be the world's oldest grape variety and the possibility of long-lost relatives across Europe as our guests explore archeo-botanical evidence and newfound genetic research. Looking to the past to innovate in the future, they consider the possiblity that ancient, wild grape varieties may hold the key to disease resistant and climate-hardy farming. Don't miss out on this thought-provoking  conversation!

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(Previously aired 07/21) In this important episode, we connect with two of the many women who make up the fabric of Napa Valley's wine trade.  We speak with Megan Baccitich, a Healdsburg native and winemaker at the forward-thinking Geodesy Winery, and Ana Diogo-Draper, born raised and educated in Portugal but in Napa for the last 15 years, and now  Director of winemaking at Artesa. We explore why discussions about women in wine are still relevant and necessary,  examine the importance of mentorship programs for women such as the innovative WG EDGE (Women Gaining an Edge), a project led by Judy Jordan of Jordan Family of wines and founder of Geodesy. Both Ana and Megan tell their stories of how they rose to leadership roles in a historically male-dominated industry and give advice to women interested in pursuing careers in wine. We'll look at how Napa's wine community is supporting women in wine and the continuing need to increase the number of leadership roles held by women. Join us with a glass for a thought-provoking conversation.

This episode was created in partnership with Napa Valley Vintners. 

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In this episode, the Thieves explore one of the most important and timely topics in the wine world today: Regenerative Agriculture. “Regen Ag”, or simply RA as it’s often called, has become THE buzzword of the year not just in the wine industry, but in the agri-food sector at large. What is regen ag? It’s a simple question but the answer is anything but.  In very basic terms, it’s a system of agriculture that puts in more than it takes out. It’s not about just sustaining what’s already in the soil, but actually replenishing nutrients, increasing organic matter, capturing carbon, protecting water sources,  making the crop more resilient to erratic weather events, and especially increasing biodiversity above and below ground, including  micro-fauna, all the billions of bacteria and fungi, protozoa and nematodes that live in healthy soil and that are necessary for healthy plants, or in this case, vines. But it’s also the wellbeing of workers and the overall profitability of an operation. What could be more important than this in the 21st century?

But exactly how a farmer goes about implementing regen ag is the more complex question.  Unlike organic or biodynamic viticulture, which controls the inputs on a farm – what and how much of anything you can spray on vines, for example, regen ag is all about outcomes.  It's  not prescriptive; the success of RA is measured not by what you put in, but by what you end up with.

But how do you measure, or even certify, that success? How do you measure wellbeing? How much carbon do you have to capture? How many plants and animals and bacteria do you need to have on your farm to be bio-diverse? The actual yardsticks are hard to pin down. We discuss these questions, and many more, with our two expert guests from New Zealand, a country at the forefront of regenerative agriculture. Joining us is Michelle Barry of the Bragato Research Institute (BRI), the research arm of New Zealand Winegrowers that is leading the charge on researching and implementing and communicating RA, and kiwi master of wine Steve Smith, who's spent his whole life since high school working in the NZ wine industry, co-founded Craggy Range, and  is now co-owner of  biodynamic Pyramid Valley Vineyards in North Canterbury and Lowburn Ferry in Central Otago, as well as the Smith and Sheth Wine Company. Contemplate the future of winegrowing with us with a glass of responsibly made NZ wine in hand.

This episode was produced with the assistance of New Zealand Winegrowers.