Proof of terroir

My recent interest in malbec has led me to discover that vintners in California and in France have started producing their own malbecs. Those in France naturally claim that it's the original home of the malbec grape. Forget that they virtually gave up on that grape a long long time ago.

Argentina produces a stunning wine from the malbec grape grown in the high altitudes of the Mendoza region. So now everyone wants to bring back their version of malbec. Of course, there are folks out there who think that terroir is a bunch of nonsense. They suggest that it's all up to the grape and the vintner. So they plant some on rootstock in California; but the malbec grapes in Mendoza are on their original roots before Phylloxera. Now, I wonder if the malbec in Bordeaux was transplanted onto American root stock. I'll have to look that up. I think it would have been.

We have grapes!

Okay, well I cannot say that we have many grapes, nor can I call them bunches of grapes. But we do have some visible succulent fruits, on the same plant as last year, and in a cluster. They appear to be ripening as we speak. First week of September. The weather was humid and warm last week, damp yesterday, and blustery and damp today. A gale is forecast for this afternoon. Just what we don't want at harvest time. Not that we have to worry yet.