Writing about American Wine for JancisRobinson.com

It is a pleasure to announce that I am now also writing for JancisRobinson.com as the American Specialist. There I will be writing in depth about wine regions throughout North America, while taking advantage of my location in California to dig deep with the state’s wines.

My first article posted Wednesday offering an introduction to how I approach wine. It appears free at JancisRobinson.com. My series on the West Sonoma Coast also started today, with an article that looks at the region as a whole. Next week the series will continue looking in depth at each of the subzones.

Here’s a glance at my introductory article from Wednesday.

Introducing Elaine Chukan Brown

Jancis writes Today we announce a major addition to our team. Although we often write about American wine (see yesterday’s two articles, for example), and Alder Yarrow files a monthly column for us from his base in San Francisco, from today we have a regular American wine reviewer in the form of Elaine Chukan Brown, pictured above. Based in Sonoma, she has won acclaim for her  Hawk Wakawaka Wine Reviews and contributions to Wine & Spirits and The World of Fine Wine. Earlier this year she was awarded the Frank Prial Fellowship by the Napa Valley Wine Writers’ Symposium. Below she introduces herself and her approach to wine. From Friday we will be publishing a major series by Elaine on the wines of the West Sonoma Coast. 

In April of 2012, a handful of wine writers travelled together on a tasting tour of Colli Orientali del Friuli in the north-east corner of Italy. Paolo (pictured below) and Dina Rapuzzi and their sons Pierpaolo and Ivan invited us into their home beside their winery Ronchi di Cialla to share a meal. As we ate, Paolo told us the story of how he and Dina started their winery.

Friuli had been greatly affected by both world wars. Through the first half of the 20th century, wine growing in the region had essentially been abandoned. When wine production returned to the area, the cultivation of international varieties was strongly encouraged as they were seen as more marketable and, therefore, better for the region’s economy. Such a view was common throughout Italy. Wine made from indigenous varieties was essentially illegal. Friuli had changed hands multiple times, serving as part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, then Italy, then portions of it as Yugoslavia, then Italy again. It even enjoyed independence for a time. The result is that to this day, most people of the region feel that although their home is now Italian, their hearts remain Friulian.

To continue reading the rest of this article [which is available free at JancisRobinson.com]: http://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/introducing-elaine-chukan-brown