The flavor of black raisins in wine of Illinois
Discover the of Illinois wines revealing the of black raisins flavor during the olphactive analysis (nose) and during the gustative analysis (mouth).
Illinois is a U. S. state located South of the Great Lakes region and bordered by Missouri to the west and Indiana to the east. The state is one of the fastest-growing wine producers in the United States; the number of wineries doubled in the late 1990s and now stands at over 100.
Illinois covers 150,000 square kilometers (58,000 square miles) between latitudes 36°N and 42°N, similar to northern California. However, the unpredictable and often Harsh winters of the Midwest mean that viticulture is not as widespread as in the key Californian regions of Napa Valley and Sonoma County. Most Illinois vineyards are located in the south, where they can take advantage of slightly warmer temperatures and increased exposure to sunlight. Illinois has a Long and successful wine-growing history dating back to the mid-19th century, when settlers planted grapes along the banks of the Mississippi River to make wine.
By the turn of the century, Illinois was the fourth largest wine-producing state in the United States. Like many states, this thriving wine industry was devastated by the advent of Prohibition in 1920, when most of Illinois' vineyards were uprooted in favor of grain crops.
An electronic dart was tossed at us recently by Decanter reader Tim Frances from Kent. It landed on the screen of our magazine editor Amy Wislocki; Amy lobbed it across the virtual room to me, suggesting a column-length reply. ‘Here’s a poser,’ Tim began. ‘How do your experts grade a wine that they find intellectually well made, but that they truly madly deeply dislike? I’ve tasted wines I can admire dispassionately, but would stab my feet with forks rather than drink them. Must be a conundrum f ...
It’s easy to forget that the southern Rhône’s four most prevalent red varieties aren’t indigenous. Grenache, Carignan and Mourvèdre all appear to originate from Spain; Syrah made its way down the river from the northern Rhône. Of the long tail of other grapes, most have their roots closer to home. Plantings have dwindled in recent years, but today local varieties are experiencing renewed interest. One that’s finding a lot of fans – both in the Rhône and further afield – is Counoise. Scroll down ...
Layers of colour in the sky before me: indigo, peach, salmon. In the rear-view mirror, the gold was catching fire. As I drove down through the lonely, Mistral-chilled vines of Babeau-Bouldoux towards nearby St-Chinian, I was thinking about what Christine Deleuze of Clos Bagatelle had just said. ‘When you came to visit 10 years ago,’ she reminded me, ‘you said we needed to wait another decade for a market breakthrough. Today you’ve said we need to wait another decade or two. So when, exactly, wil ...