Green Valley Gravensteins taste better in all forms, fresh, dried, made into juice, or cooked into sauce. As the price of apples has remained stable and even declined, grape prices have skyrocketed. Still others who have never farmed a thing in their lives are putting in grapes. It all comes back to climate. The long, cool growing season allows the fruit to gain depth and complexity without developing the thicker skins and harsher tannins characteristic of fruit grown in hotter areas.
Cold nights maintain the grapes' acidity.
It is much more fruit driven, with bright fruit flavors, lush textures, and good, crisp acidity,'' says Forrest Tancer, who has been winemaker at Iron Horse Vineyards for nearly three decades. Pinot noir is the signature grape of the Burgundy region of France. For decades, California shuffled along in its shadow. This is Marimar Torres Estate, where the first vineyards were planted in the mid-1980s. Marimar Torres, who comes from the prominent Torres family of Spain, strongly believes that wine is made in the vineyard, not in the winery.