Valdivia (val-DEEV-ya) is about 400 miles south of Chile’s capitol, a couple hours north of where Patagonia really begins. The area is criss-crossed with rivers, with a temperate rainforest on the lower slopes of the stratovolcanoes and other mountains that form the cordillera—the massive mountain range that runs along the western edge of South America. The climate there is reminiscent of the US Pacific Northwest.
For the new book, I needed to find something to say about wine that gets to the root of how its flavors are created and change over time. While the stupefying complexities of terroir are undoubtedly central to understanding any one wine, it’s easy easy to get lost in that labyrinthine rabbit-hole, and miss the vineyard by focusing on the vines. Since most people interested in wine likely have boatloads of resources along those lines, I decided to skip it all and focus on a few basic questions I had never seen addressed in my stack of books or in conversations with sommeliers or tasting room staff.