Happy Vines, Happy Wines
12-Bottle Sampler
by Dustin Soiseth
Archaeological evidence suggests that humans have been making wine for over eight millennia, and cultivating grapevines for a few thousand years prior to that. It’s quite a relationship, and the other day I came across an interesting explanation for this long-term love affair. A winemaker suggested that our affinity for the fruit of the vine stems (pun intended) from the fact that both humans and grapevines like the same spots on earth. If you stand in a vineyard you’ll just naturally feel good, and the vines feel it, too. Setting aside the merits of this particular theory, we take it as an article of faith here at KLWM that a sense of place is an essential component of good wine. Whether it’s a grape that thrives in a singular location—think Arneis grown on the foggy hillsides of the Langhe—or a blend that defines a region, like Grenache-based reds from the rocky vineyards of the southern Rhône, some of our favorite wines are inextricably linked to their places of origin. Jacquère in Savoie, Sangiovese in Tuscany, Dolcetto in Piedmont—all are examples of a vine that really loves a particular spot on planet Earth.
Whether it’s a grape that thrives in a singular location or a blend that defines a region, some of our favorite wines are inextricably linked to their places of origin.
More from the December 2025 Newsletter
by Allyson Noman
We’re hosting the second year of our Summer Market on Saturday, July 19, and we’re ready to bring you more! More food, more music, more new (and f...
by Jennifer Oakes
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by Madison H. Brown
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by Tom Wolf
It is impossible not to get excited about the prospect of what this overachieving vignaiolo can do with some of the region’s more venerate...
by Anthony Lynch
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by Tom Wolf and Meghan Foley
Putting a chill on our favorite reds heightens the wine’s floral side while also rendering its bright fruit notes even more refreshing and vivid. If...
by Chris Santini
You may have heard saxophonist King Curtis revealing the recipe for his famous Memphis Soul Stew: a half teacup of bass, a pound of fatback drums, fou...
On the first Monday of April 2006, Kendrick Thomas was preparing to leave his home outside Le Caniveau in Provence for a flight to Alsace, in what is ...
