If you were stranded on a desert island and could only drink wines from one general region for the rest of your life, which one would it be?
I used to say the Loire Valley, because of the wide range of white and red wines, including excellent sparkling wines, minerally, bone dry whites, delicious sweet wines, and complex, age-worthy reds that can also be drank young. Now, as I get older I’m not enjoying sweet wines as much, so that plays less into my decision.
If you include Champagne and Beaujolais into Burgundy (which some do, though neither is in that department in France), that would definitely be one of my choices.
The other would be Piedmont. While I’ve always loved Barbaresco and Barolo, there were times in the last 20 years when too many producers seemed to be going the modern route, and the whites of Piedmont either were an afterthought or just weren’t brought into the US the way they are now. Now that many of the Barolo and Barbaresco producers are returning to somewhat more traditional styles, I’m loving them more, although at my age I’m starting to question the wisdom of buying more wines that need extended cellaring. I’m also finding so much to love about Piedmont separate from B&B, including the delicious wines of Alto Piemonte, and the incredible variety of grapes and wines made here, including Erbaluce, Cortese, Arneis, and Timorasso on the white side (including some excellent sparkling wines), and the delicious reds focused on Ruché, Dolcetto, Grignolino, Barbera, Croatina, Vespolina, and of course, Nebbiolo… in all of its incarnations. To my palate, there’s such a depth and breadth of quality here that it might be my choice if I could only drink wines from one region.
Well, the only island I can think of that has a variety of reds & whites is Sicily, so if I’m going to be stuck on island for the rest of my life, it might as well be there.
I could handle living on the south island of New Zealand, and drinking exclusively wines grown there. Maybe the north island too. Neither is anywhere close to being a desert, though.
The central coast is scheduled to be an island by and by. I’d go along for the ride and be perfectly happy. I’d take confinement in Oregon as my preference. There is even decent sparkling wine made there.
German riesling, specifically Mosel. Assuming I still have 50 years left on this planet (G-d willing), I have no doubt that these wines will age that long and get better with time.
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