The River Loire

The Loire river is the longest river in France, beginning 100km north of the Mediterranean and ending in the Atlantic Ocean. That means there are plenty of regions with different styles from Côte Roannaise to Sancerre to Vouvray to Anjou to Muscadet. In all of them the river has an important influence—but not just the Loire. The many tributaries are also very important, Sèvre, Maine, Layon, Vienne, Cher, for instance. An overview of my latest podcast episode which explores how all these bodies of water define the wines of the Loire Valley in so many different ways.

The Pacific

The Pacific Ocean’s name comes from “peaceful”—and often it is, cooling the warm climates of California and Chile. But it can be violent too, bringing in rain, cyclones, and tsunamis from earthquakes. The largest ocean in the world with around 25,000 islands, it influences wine regions in many different ways.

The Atlantic

New podcast series: Bodies of Water, which examines how rivers, lakes, seas, and oceans affect growing conditions and therefore the styles of wine of many regions across the world. The first episode is on the Atlantic Ocean, which has a direct influence on seemingly very different regions from Bordeaux to Rías Baixas to Uruguay to Long Island—These wine regions would not be what they are were it not for the Atlantic.