Don’t know about the rest of you, but following on from a socially appauling time as younger kid, Uni was my time to get stuck into a bit of UK drinking culture. I’m not proud of it, but it went by in a blur of abstract maths that I didn’t really understand and snakebite. Well over at the University of California, Davis Campus, someone spent their time a little bit more usefully….
They came up with a way of splitting up the wine growing areas of California by climate, so you’d be able to know what grapes to grow in that area and what you’d get out of them. Alright, the scale (known as the Davis Zone system) only really deals with temperature, and no other terroir-esque kind of things, but that’s still really useful.
For a white grape like Chardonnay, if you’re going for a fruit driven style, it’s quite nice to know what you’re to expect. In cool climates (Zone I and II) you get green fruit flavours like apples. In moderate places (Zones III and IV) you get stone fruits like peach, and in hot places (Zone V) you’ll get tropical fruit like pineapples.
So if you know where you’re buying it from, and what Zone that is, then you can have a good old guess at what the fruit tastes will be. Not bad, huh?
Cheers
Previous posts in #NWTW Week 31
#NWTW Week 31: ON TOUR – Chardonnay from California (Part One)
#NWTW Week 31: ON TOUR – Chardonnay from California (Part Two)
#NWTW Week 31: ON TOUR – Time To Try Californian Chardonnay Again
Photos
A cold apple and a warm pineapple…hopefully self explanatory
The Davis Campus, looks nicer than where I went!
