When Mr. Paschina took over, the vineyard consisted mainly of merlot, cabernet sauvignon, riesling and pinot noir grapes, popular varieties in the United States at the time.
Owners Roberto and Lis let a beautifully restored two-bedroom cottage with fantastic views over vineyards and olive groves to the mountains.
The most dramatic section of the gorge runs from Bingen to the vicinity of Koblenz; hilltop castles look down over vineyards to picturesque valley towns.
These are often silly or corny: glasses of wine shattering in slow motion, as if they had been shot; a bad jazzy song or two; sped-up footage of clouds over vineyards.
Four acres are now turned over to vineyards, and produce Merlot, Meritage, and "other wines known for their subtlety and simplicity".
The amount of New Zealand land given over to vineyards swelled from 7,410 hectares, or 18,310 acres, in 1997 to an estimated 31,057 hectares as of June.
Mr. Thunevin is certainly an antidote to the pessimism, born of nostalgia, that sometimes seems to hang over French vineyards, despite the recognized greatness of the country's wines.
It's well known that apple orchards are in steep decline in Northern California, as more and more land is given over to vineyards, and I felt as if I had ignored them in their time of need.
By 1891, there were over 600 vineyards in the valley.
There are good Merlots, of course, but the grape's meteoric success in the 1990s prompted the bottling of an ocean of simple, undistinguished red and the planting-over of vineyards better suited to other grapes).
