A dozen female vintners from the Bordeaux region of France went to Napa Valley in January of 2008, and this year, in January 2009, fifteen female vintners from Napa Valley appellation are heading to Bordeaux for a four day exchange to share grape growing and wine making knowledge, the techniques and technology, and the processes of creating and selling wine.
The fact that this exchange is even taking place shows just how far the industry has come since The Tasting of Paris in 1976. There northern California wineries were invited to participate in a blind taste test competition and Napa Valley dethroned France’s dominance in both red and white wine production, forever altering the wine industry.
The Bordeaux-Napa Valley exchange is designed to promote the sharing of ideas, techniques technologies, and methodologies between the old and the new. The Bordeaux appellation has been making wine for five hundred years and the Napa Valley appellation has been making wine for a relatively short period of one hundred and fifty years.
The most significant difference being that Bordeaux is intertwined with the state and holds tightly onto traditions, and Napa County conversely has complete freedom. A prime example of such is that Bordeaux wines are not permitted to be sold over the Internet; something completely antiquated in the eyes of the Napa Valley visitors. The Napa Valley women hoped to learn more about the land regarding soil, vineyard layout, weather, and growing techniques which Bordeaux can offer, and the Napa Valley women believe that they can give in exchange some improvements toward sales and marketing of wine.
Wine creation was also of great interest to the group, focusing on the best soil each varietal favors, something especially important to the Napa Valley vintners since most of the wines produced in the northern California wine country are single varietal offerings. In contrast, most Bordeaux wines have always been blended with popular varietals within the Bordeaux appellation, and only recently have they begun to label the bottles with the varietals inside.
Interestingly, blending wines is viewed entirely differently between the two appellations: in Bordeaux it is common practice and considered an artful skill, but in California wine country, it is seen as something that isn’t done as a primary choice, but as a way to hide faults, stretch a product, or increase profits. Much of what is done in Napa Valley comes by way of trial and error for the region, where in Bordeaux there is so much history it is already well established as to what can be done where and when. The exchange can therefore save each side a lot of time, effort, and expense on improving what one side lacks, by offering what the other side needs in exchange for some wonderful insights outside of their respective appellations of Bordeaux and Napa Valley.
