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« Primo Priorato | Main | recycledJuice: Sole Wine »

26 April 2005

Whence Catawba?

CatawbaSure you've heard of Catawba.  But do you know where it originated?  The 'original' Catawba was, in fact, a sparkling wine made from the native American grape species, Vitis labrusca. The grape, originally wild, was cultivated as "Catawba" along the banks of the Ohio river.  Nicholas Longworth, an enterprising lawyer/wine enthusiast, had a grand vision of the Ohio becoming the Rhine of America.

Well, in 1867, an American contingent entered Catawba into a blind tasting at the Exposition Universelle in Paris.  Sadly the French judges awarded the wine "straight zeroes."  Among other things, the wine was described as foxy or musky.

How do I know this?  Well, I've just begun reading the book, "The Botanist and the Vintner - How wine was saved for the world," by Christy Campbell.  It's a historical account of the Phylloxera infestation that darn near wiped out non-foxy wine producing grape vines.  Thus far, it's a very good read.

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Comments

Lenn

Interestingly enough...I'm reading the same book. ;)

I'm enjoying it a lot actually...though I've not gotten all that far into it.

Beau

Cool. it's a pretty good book.

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