Sense of Place

Tag: wine history

  • Notes on the Wines of Rioja

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    Nicolette Cagle
    in

    Overview. Located in north-central Spain, the DOCa Rioja wine region extends across the autonomous communities of La Rioja, the Basque province of Álava, and Navarre, with one registered winery in an enclave of Castilla y León. Wine has been produced in the area since at least Roman times, although the region’s wine culture is older…

  • Notes on Burgundian Wine

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    Nicolette Cagle
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    This was originally written in December 2019. Some edits were made in 2026. Burgundy’s wines are shaped by a long winemaking history and a complex geology of limestone, marl, and clay. Although Pinot Noir and Chardonnay dominate, the region also produces wines from Aligoté, Gamay, and several less common varieties. Burgundian Wine History. Much of…

  • Wines of Israel and Palestine

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    Nicolette Cagle
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    This post was originally written in September 2019. Some updates were added in 2026 to reflect modern geopolitics. The wines in this tasting come from a geographically small but remarkably varied part of the southern Levant. Vineyards extend from the high, volcanic landscapes of the Golan Heights to the limestone hills around Jerusalem and Bethlehem…

  • Greek Wine Notes

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    Nicolette Cagle
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    Greek wine reaches back through thousands of years of cultivation, cultural exchange, disruption, and revival. This tasting explores several of Greece’s distinctive native grapes and the landscapes that shape them—from the elevated vineyards of Macedonia to the limestone soils of Kefalonia and the high plateaus of the Peloponnese. Greek Wine History. Wine has been produced…

  • Tasting the Spanish Routes to Cuba

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    Nicolette Cagle
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    by Nicolette L. Cagle, February 26, 2019 The earliest colonial movement from Spain to the Americas drew heavily from Andalusia. Peter Boyd-Bowman found that Andalusians made up the largest regional group among identified Spanish emigrants from 1493 to 1519; among 195 identified arrivals in Cuba from 1520 to 1539, 41 percent came from Andalusia (Boyd-Bowman…