Michael Bryan
Executive Director
Atlanta Wine School
Editor, Connect With Wine eNews

Jane's Monthly Dozen: Med Reds
by Jane Garvey

Mediterranean Climate is used routinely in our classes to describe grape growing areas where the vines, like the inhabitants, are quite happy with their moderated temperature surroundings. In other words, you don't have to be sitting in the Mediterranean Basin to enjoy this sort of climate!
>>> This Month's Column

Wine Touring in The Most Southern Point in France
by Linda Jenkins of Vacations-Abroad.com

Linda's descriptive jaunt through the South of France continues with photos, historical reference and wine notes from her recent trip there.

 >>> See this Short Article & Pictures

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• Georgia Pinot Noir Turns Heads
  Ron Rathgeb and I were connected under unusual circumstances earlier this year. Eager for me to try his Pinot Noir, he offered to send me some. I am well beyond the cautious stance most people have when tasting Georgia wines, but I must admit, I was a little worried that he was sending me Pinot Noir! I mean Cabernet Sauvignon is considered "training wheels" for high-maintenance, fussy, complicated Pinot Noir. But I can still recall tasting the wine and marvelling at my surprise. Cherry, bacon and herbs. Yes, all from a $19 Georgia-grown and produced Pinot Noir. Way to go Ron! Go visit these guys sometime.
• Top 100 Wine List Chosen by the Public
  So what happens to the TOP 100 list when it is constructed by regular mom & pop wine buyers? Well, it is a little more...shall we say pedestrian. That doesn't sound snobby, does it? :) More
• Absinthe Made in US Found Legal Once Again
  Vincent van Gogh sliced off his ear while sipping it, Edgar Degas and Pablo Picasso painted it, French poet Paul Verlaine cursed it as he lay dying in his bed. For nearly 100 years, the United States and many other nations banned it. But no longer. More
• The San Francisco Chronicle's Top 100 Wines of 2007
  The "Best of the West." Now here's a list I can sip on. With the exception of Korbel on there (what's that doing on there?) it is a rather solid list. More
• Truth-in-Labeling Bitter Sweet
  We're all for finding out a little bit more about what's in the bottle--after all, this "organic" product doesn't tell us anything about the contents except for alcohol (which is a +/- range anyway) and sulfites. What about carbs, calories, fat and protein? Turns out that to move to this new labeling will hurt small producers. Seems its not enough that they will need to print new labels, they'll be responsible for their own testing too! More

Technically speaking the Mediterranean Sea, which the Romans importantly called "Mare Nostrum," or "Our Sea," is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean. Lying at and just above and below 40°N, the "Med," as it's often colloquially called, is nearly completely enclosed by land, with Europe on the north, Africa on the south, Asia on the east. Thus, its name means more or less "in the middle of land." In area it covers about 965,000 square miles. Some 16 nations surround "The Med," most producing wines.

The classical Mediterranean climate is fairly uniform, with wet winters and hot, dry summers. In a Mediterranean climate, temperature ranges in summer and winter are fairly tight. During the day in summer, diurnal differences may be wider from dawn to night, but winter and summer extremes will be moderate and fairly close to each other. There won't be much snow or threat of freeze. However, Mediterranean climates are all adjacent to large bodies of water, some of which because of their currents and temperatures may further influence the climate.

Mirror-Image Wine Regions -- North & South Latitudes The image opposite shows the two grape growing (and wine production) bands between 34-39° North & South latitudes. California's climate is influenced by the Japanese Current, and Chile's the Humboldt Current. Both of these cooling influences profoundly effect temperatures, and hence grape growing, inland from the respective coasts.

By extension, Mediterranean climate occurs in other parts of the planet. California around 40°N shares Mediterranean climate and so does non-coastal Oregon, although along the California coast cool subsurface waters temper summer's heat, especially around San Francisco. As well, part of the Chilean coast around 40°S, the Western Cape of South Africa, and parts of western (around Perth) and southern Australia claim Mediterranean climate. Cape Town lies on the 34th latitude south, about the same latitude south as Casablanca or Los Angeles is north. Cape Town has a Mediterranean climate, appealingly warm in summer with the warmest days tempered by the "Cape Doctor," a South-Easter responsible for keeping the city remarkably free of pollution.

"Temperate" Mediterranean climates are those with more distinct seasons that are at higher elevations than classical Mediterranean climates and are more sheltered from moderating ocean breezes. More likely to see some snow, such regions as southwest Oregon's Rogue and Umpqua valleys, central Spain, southeastern France inward from the coast, northern Italy, and northern Greece.

Some 16 nations border the Mediterranean, and sundry islands are encircled by it. Greece itself looks as though someone spilled a can of pepper on a map, it has so many islands. Corsica, part of France although it's closer to Italy, Sardinia and Sicily (all sovereignty of Italy), and the Ibiza Islands (Spain) are encircled by "The Med." North Africa, especially Morocco and Algeria, and the Middle East, notably Lebanon and Israel, produce fine "Med Reds."

The cuisines developed in the region, providing much of the fodder for the praise lavished on the "Mediterranean" diet, vary from Moroccan cous cous to Greek dolmas. Similar variety attends the viticulture of these regions, and shapes the viticulture of lands sharing Mediterranean climate as they have adopted viticulture as part of their agriculture, along with the olive and the fig--the three sisters of Med cooking.

It's no accident, then, that California cooking shares so much with Mediterranean that one might almost talk about Cal-Med fare, as one does Cal-Ital. That classic San Francisco seafood stew, cioppino, may not be an authentic Italian dish, but Italians certainly do recognize its heritage from the seafood stews around Genoa.
One can't help but think of the Mediterranean without thinking of sun, pasta, beaches, a leisurely pace to life, and superb cuisine and wine. Come have a taste. All "Med reds" should be served at 60-65°F in large tulip-shaped glasses, except for the sweet ones (as noted).