From Vines to Wines [antikvár]

INTRODUCTIONFresh grapes and wine are perhaps the most luscious foods we mortals encounter during our sojourn here. That's a big part of the unique affinity between grapevines and men. That's how the vine has tempted us to take it down from the wild trees, to protect it and work with it, so we can have its fruit at will.The vine repays our care with lavish benefits. For three days after drinking a bottle of 1969 Chambertin, the sun and blood of Burgundy drenched my aura. The memory of the taste lingered.Vines splurge on flavor in those very climates that are most hospitable to mannorthern California and southern France, for two outstanding examples. They seem to be luring us, coaxing us to stay and care for them, suggesting how good life can be in those places.Not every climate ripens the most flavorful grape varieties so slowly and perfectly. But every place has its potential: in the colder regions east of Paris, the vignerons take their high-acid, low-sugar underripe grapes and transform them into Champagne. In Austria, where hard freezes hit clusters still hanging on the vine, they make Eiswein.In the United States, we've hardly begun to explore our viticultural potential. Who knows what vinous treasures could flow from the south-facing shale and slate hills of eastern Pennsylvania or the fertile, stony soils of the Ozarks? Our Lafites and Romanee-Contis lie undiscovered beneath forests and fences. Or, possibly, they're waiting for us in our backyards.In wine-growing areas, you see the vines stretched on their treUises, their arms wide open in welcome, or, in a different light, resembling rows of crucified men. In winter, there are the