In the second half of the 19th century, phylloxera swarmed European vineyards, first documented in the heart of the Rhône Valley. To make matters worse, wine fraud was ramping up in the country as wineries started falsely claiming their wines were produced in more famous regions in order to sell more product.
Frankly, the entire wine industry was in disarray, but in 1890, Pierre Le Roy de Boiseaumarié was born in Normandy, and he would go on to right at least some of these wrongs. When he was young, his family relocated to the Southern Rhône where he was raised and received an education in both law and winemaking. Eventually, he was dubbed “Baron Le Roy.”
A few decades later, the French government passed a law to protect wine and spirits’ geological locations. However, winemakers in the Rhône Valley did not feel as if the new rules were strong enough. So lawmakers met with Baron Le Roy and worked together to help establish another set of rules that would outline a code of conduct and honesty, and ultimately shape the future of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Tune in for more.
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“Wine 101” was produced, recorded, and edited by yours truly, Keith Beavers, at the VinePair headquarters in New York City. I want to give a big old shout-out to co-founders Adam Teeter and Josh Malin for creating VinePair. Big shout-out to Danielle Grinberg, the art director of VinePair, for creating the most awesome logo for this podcast. Also, Darby Cicci for the theme song. And I want to thank the entire VinePair staff for helping me learn something new every day. See you next week.
*Image retrieved from creativenature.nl via stock.adobe.com
The article Wine 101: Rhone Part III: The Baron and the Senator appeared first on VinePair.