Humboldt Terroir

A stellar Moonstone Crossing wine

(Dec. 31, 2009) Nebbiolo. Oh, I’m beginning to get it — how humankind, for centuries, has been moved to wax poetic about certain wines. Why Jesus turned water into wine. Why, for thousands of years, Jews have ushered in the Sabbath each week by praising the Creator for the fruit of the vine.

Nebbiolo. Moonstone Crossing Nebbiolo. Nectar of the gods and goddesses.

A stellar Moonstone Crossing wine.

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Nebbiolo, drunk by Pliny the Elder and hailed throughout the Roman Empire for its exceptional quality as far back as 1235 C.E. You gotta love the Italians. Grow foods where you live. Cook. Eat. Slowly. Enjoy your family and friends at dinnertime. Drink good wine. Enjoy life.

In this tradition, Sharon Hanks and Don Bremm, owners of Moonstone Crossing winery, have made a truly wondrous wine. Nebbiolo hails from the Piedmont region of Italy, made from grapes grown there. It is widely believed to be the only soil and climate — the only terroir in the world — where these grapes can be grown, harvested and urged into such exquisite libation.

(The concept of terroir developed through centuries of French winemaking based on observation of what made wines from different regions unique. The French began to crystallize the concept of terroir as a way of describing the aspects of a place that influences and shapes the wine made there.)

Although cold, wet fog is not good for growing grapes, our climate is perfect for making wine, as Humboldt’s 25 independent wineries will attest. With select grapes hailing from small hillside vineyards in Napa, Sonoma, Lake, Mendocino and Amador counties and the wine made right down the road, Moonstone wines are pretty darn local.

When traveling to the town of Barolo in the Piedmont region of Italy, Hanks and Bremm gave a bottle of their Barbera to a local enologist. He was so impressed, when he came to America a year later, he made a stop in Humboldt and sampled Moonstone’s Nebbiolo, made from grapes grown in Amador County in the foothills of the Sierras. Upon tasting it he proclaimed, “Zis iz impossible!!”

Lucky for us, it is quite possible here on the Northcoast. Available exclusively in the tasting room, Moonstone Crossing’s crown jewel, their 2004 Nebbiolo, was awarded the Gold Medal at the 2009 Fingerlakes International Wine Competition in New York.

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ONE Comments

Comment / By Rebekah / Today, 3:49 p.m.

Interesting article, and I’m looking forward to trying the Moonstone Crossing Nebbiolo. However, the title of the piece “Humboldt Terroir” is inconsistent with the wine chosen to demonstrate Humboldt terroir. The article says that terroir is “a way of describing the aspects of a place that influences and shapes the wine made there,” and then goes on to say that the Moonstone Crossing wines demonstrate a local terroir…even though none of them are sourced from Humboldt County? Terroir doesn’t really refer to the making of the wine (as is implied here), but the way the local conditions of where the grapes are grown impact the wine. I’m sure this nebbiolo is great, but if you are getting “terroir” driven qualities, that’s Amador County talking, not Humboldt. If you are going to claim a wine has a sense of “Humboldt Terroir” you’ve got to choose a wine that was made AND grown in Humboldt, like Cabot, or Winnett.