Mistral Winds & Matthew Fritz

Mistral (Masterly) Winds are strong cold northwesterly winds that greatly affect the French viticulture in Provence and the Languedoc region as a whole.  Languedoc is where a third of the wines of France come from and Provence is the worldwide model for Rose.  Depending on location, the winds can either be beneficial or harmful to vineyards.  They range from 40 mph to 115 mph and can last for a day or two to more than a week.

Camargue is a natural region south of the city of Arles encompassing the Rhone River delta at the Mediterranean Sea.  It's sizable expanse includes many lakes and marshes providing habitat for its unique flora and fauna.  This region, which has been protected since 1970, faces the brunt of the strongest Mistral Winds.

While the winds don't start in the Rhone Valley it is there that their speed accelerates and their temperatures drop.  Coming from Chicago we are familiar with wind tunnels through highrise buildings.  The Rhone does that but it also channels in the colder air dropping downward from the mountains, further driving the force of the winds. 

Just like the river delta, the winds fan out at land's end with the stronger ones seeming to head eastward toward Provence while the French Basque region gets relatively mild breezes.  While the winds can happen at any time of the year, the winter and spring seasons have the strongest, most dangerous winds.

So why are we writing about the winds of France?  Because similar winds have helped to create one of the finest Pinot Noir venues of California.  Santa Lucia Highlands is an eighteen mile long ribbon of land carved out of the Central Coast wine appellation in 1991.   It lies thirty-five minutes southeast of Monterey Bay in a diagonal groove between the Santa Lucia Mountains to the west and the Gavilan Mountains to the east.  The appellation, of course, is so named because it's on the Santa Lucia side of the groove with eastern facing vineyards.

Matthew Fritz is a wine company formed by the collaboration of Matthew Bonanno and Fritz Stuhlmuller, two gentlemen whose last names are synonymous with high quality California wines.  The Bonanno and Stuhlmuller family wineries lie respectively in Napa and Alexander Valleys, two of the finest venues in the state. 

Pinot Noir, being a cool weather grape, prefers northern latitudes.  In this case, however, it's the Mistral-like winds from the bay that brought Matthew Fritz to Santa Lucia Highlands for their fine pinot.