Wine Enthusiast Magazine
SubscribeI learned a few months ago that there’s a new demographic group out there: localvores. Sometimes spelled locavores, these people try to eat locally produced food. Some, like the San Francisco Bay Area’s Locavores draw a 100-mile radius around their home, and vow not to cross that line when it comes to groceries.
Whether herbivore or carnivore or ominivore, the localvore believes that it’s good for the environment to eat locally, and not incidentally you’re more likely to get food at its prime natural ripeness and freshness if you’re only sourcing locally.
It seems that a similar desire is changing the wines that some people drink, too.
In terms of food, the idea makes a lot of sense for the health of the planet and local economies. Locally grown, caught or raised food can be harvested when at its ripest, taken to the farmer’s market or local produce stand that same day and be consumed that same night. That should mean that its most healthful properties are still intact, as well as its freshest flavors.
Barbara Kingsolver’s recent book on the subject, “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life,” generated a lot of talk. Food & Wine magazine published a feature not long ago about how to eat like a localvore, with recipes.
Eating locally also means a great savings in petroleum products when you consider what’s not needed to get that food to market: packaging material, diesel fuels for ships and trucks, heating and cooling for distribution warehouses and so on.
And it provides another green benefit in reducing carbon emissions from the manufacture of packaging, the burning of the diesel and probably several other things I’m not thinking of.
In the realm of wine, localvores are helping make local wineries into real competitors with out of state and out of country wineries. Bill Cascio of the big multi-state wine distributor Glazer’s, observed this earlier this year in a seminar for the Napa Valley Grapegrowers.
Speaking about the competition that California wineries face from overseas (imports are eating California’s lunch in terms of market share) Cascio said that ocalvores loyal to their state’s wines are making the other 49 states competitors with California, too.”
I couldn’t find any movement online about wine localvores (localvinovores?) but I’d love to hear about any. Do you make a point of drinking local wine and if you do, why? Is it out of community loyalty? Price? Or maybe some of the same reasons as the food localvores.
Filed under: Restaurants and Food
6 Comments
October 19th, 2007 at 4:57:50 PM
I think I would consider myself a localvinovore for multiple reasons. First, I’m a big fan of supporting the local economy, especially when that economy is not in the lead. My local area, the Willamette Valley, pales in comparison to California in wine recognition, but the wines coming from the local area are really wonderful. Additionally, many of the local-area wineries are still mom-and-pop operations, and so going to a tasting room and meeting the winemaker is not out of the quetion.
An additional reason for my localvinovoria is my lack of exposure to anything else. I’ve only been drinking wine for 2-3 years now. When getting serious about any subject (wine or otherwise), you need to have a base of knowledge. My base of knowledge has been Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris from the Willamette Valley. Now that I’ve established the base, now I’m expanding in all directions, but my “old reliable” will always been WV Pinot. My blog is almost entirely about WV topics, both because that is what I am comfortable with, but also because there wasn’t a voice for the “little guy” when talking about wine.
October 20th, 2007 at 11:32:53 AM
Localvinovoria is a bit of a mouthful . . . instead of Localvore how about Localpour?!
October 21st, 2007 at 11:41:25 AM
If you think about it, the human race was all localvores for its entire history until the advent of commerce and trade. I think it would be very hard to go backwards. We in California could get by during the winter, but what would people in, say, North Dakota eat? I guess they could “put up” their summer produce in cans, but would you really want to eat canned tomato sauce and root vegetables from Oct-June? Same with wine. It’s nice to support the local wine community if you live [as John P. does] in wine country. But what are you supposed to drink if you live in Northern Maine? Fermented maple syrup? [Mmmmmm....] Sometimes I think these indigenous green-oriented schemes are overly romantic and not very practical.
October 21st, 2007 at 9:03:52 PM
I drink mostly local wines. I imagine if you lived in Santa Barbara you would, too!
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:10:01 AM
“Made in America, Paid in America” has become my mantra. I was born, raised, and spent a great deal of my adult life in Central Maine. … Thanks for the memory, Steve, as I did get to watch a neighbor craft maple syrup (and it was intoxicating!), but more importantly, I watched a manufacturing community become crippled by the “forward thinkers” who became disenchanted by all the ecological restrictions and labor union wage demands… Off they all went to third world countries, where child labor laws, miniscule wages, and no restrictions on environmental pollution played well into coffers. Now, as we have huge recalls on led paint in children’s toys, I’m not amazed or dazed, and can only wonder how the vineyards are maintained in those countries… and choose to drink “American.”
These are the thoughts that create localism. I have vivid memories of my grandmother canning whatever came out of her garden. When I lived in Maine, I grew my own vegetables, foraged for wild berries and froze them for winter enjoyment, did the entire “purist” thing, because that’s how people in those states live.
Things that are made in America will cost more in the purchase price, but will save money in the long run, because you won’t have the medical expenses associated with trying to correct a body that’s full of synthetics… Don’t get me started….
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:11:25 AM
That’s lead paint… God, how I hate when that happens!