00:00:03.350 - 00:00:20.290

Roy Andries. De Groot is blind, but this fact has not kept him from leading a very active and productive life. He is a world traveler, often seeing things the rest of us might miss and he's a writer specializing in food. He is an editor on several

00:00:20.290 - 00:00:37.620

well known american magazines and he's also considered an expert on wine. Wine has become an important industry in the United States. And recently I talked with mr de Groot about this thriving business, I asked him what's happened that this young country has developed so much interest

00:00:37.810 - 00:00:53.300

in wine. Well, there has been a virtual explosion in wine drinking all over the world. I think this is probably since the end of World War two people have wanted to drink wine and one when once they start drinking it, they find it delightful as the

00:00:53.300 - 00:01:07.960

french say, a day without wine is like a day without sunshine. And so it's become the accepted thing and that is happening more and more in this country as well, not only with older people who are turning to wine, but also with young people who are

00:01:07.960 - 00:01:24.060

starting quite young now liking wine, which I think is an awfully good thing because I think it there's been very little alcoholism in real hard rock alcoholism in countries which drink a great deal of wine because I think it's the spirits that that lead to the

00:01:24.060 - 00:01:37.700

alcohol alcoholism, I don't think wine is addictive or anything like that. I think wine is just a charming, very low alcohol after all, there's not, you don't get much alcohol if you drink a glass of wine and yet it is something lovely, something that makes the

00:01:37.700 - 00:01:53.850

food taste better and makes a festive occasion out of almost any meal. What is there about the state of California that has made it such a good place for wine growers? Well, wine is, is grown. Many people don't realize that the United States is one of

00:01:53.850 - 00:02:11.260

the most important wine producing countries in the world. Italy not France, but Italy is the largest producer of wine in the world and France I think comes second and the United States is now pretty clearly a third. We make wine in various parts of the country.

00:02:11.260 - 00:02:30.420

There's wine made in New York in in Ohio, in Maryland. But the principal wine, something like 200 million gallons, 90% of all wine is made in California and that is because the weather, the climate, the soil are right for growing what are known as the, the

00:02:30.420 - 00:02:50.170

noble grapes there are in the world, there are about 2000 different varieties of grapes that make wine. But the great wines, the fine wines, the noble wines are all made from a variety of grape um that that is indigenous to France and that is known in

00:02:50.170 - 00:03:09.810

the latin name as Vitis vinifera and those are the grapes that are used for wine. Now. The other great section of grapes which make wines also known as la brusca and those are the, Those are the, the indigenous grapes that were here centuries ago that grow

00:03:09.810 - 00:03:25.860

in New York and grow in Ohio. But the soil, the winters in those places are so cold that the rather delicate noble grapes do not grow there easily, but in California they grow perfectly. And the history of California and wine, as you know, is about 200

00:03:25.860 - 00:03:42.040

years old. The Dominicans and the Jesuits brought the wine grape up from Mexico when Mexico was still a colony of spain, When California in fact was a colony of spain and they planted a rather poor black grape. But then came the immigrants from europe among them

00:03:42.040 - 00:04:02.000

an extraordinary Hungarian called Colonel harassed and Hungarian nobleman Who saw the future of California as a place to grow wine and went with the approval of the state legislature of California in the early days he went to Europe and he collected about 60,000 different routes of

00:04:02.010 - 00:04:20.930

vines which he brought over. And that was the start of growing the noble grapes, the venus vinifera in California. I'm talking this morning with Roy de Groot and we're discussing wine and what a big industry it is here in the United States. We're going to pause

00:04:20.930 - 00:05:03.130

now for some music. Oscar Peterson is at the piano to play this cat, beloved and then we'll continue our conversation. Jazz pianist Oscar Peterson playing this can't be love our guest on this morning's breakfast show is Roy Andres de Groot. He is often seen

00:05:03.130 - 00:05:18.165

on television here in the United States. He is the food editor for esquire magazine and several other magazines as well. And he is known as a wine expert and we are talking about wine because it's one of the big industries here in the United States, especially

00:05:18.165 - 00:05:38.115

out in California and in new york state. Mr de Groot tell us about the modern irrigation system for wine growing in California. The true grapevine for the important grape vines are very delicate plants really, although their sturdy bushes, they're sturdy, sturdy plants yet they are delicate

00:05:38.115 - 00:05:52.600

and they require certain amount of minerals and calcium in the soil. They require not too much water, not too little water. They require early morning mists and mists late at night. They require certain humidity in the air and that is found perfectly in some of the

00:05:52.600 - 00:06:08.440

northern valleys of California. However, the demand is now so great that in vast other areas in more southerly parts of California, they are growing grapes under what is known as irrigation. That is they, this is one of the marvels of american technology in the wine business

00:06:09.070 - 00:06:28.810

whole I mean literally thousands of acres of of soil have been planted with vines with a vast network of overhead pipes and these pipes go down to thermostat IQ and humidity controlled feelers in the ground and when the ground gets just a bit too dry, then

00:06:28.810 - 00:06:43.460

zing the water comes on and automatic rain falls on the grapes. This is known as the irrigation system which has been absolutely pioneered in this country and it's opened up literally tens of thousands of acres. The vine could not have been grown before because there wasn't

00:06:43.460 - 00:06:59.370

enough rain. Could this be done in other countries on other continents? For example, in places like africa. Could this? Yes, it certainly could be done. It's a question of economics, I think really it's very expensive, of course. Uh but provided the soil were right, it could

00:06:59.370 - 00:07:16.430

be done. It certainly has been pioneered by an extraordinary group of men at the University of California in the hills in the low foothills of the high sierra mountains in California, northern California. There is what is known as the biological station, the, the wine research station

00:07:16.430 - 00:07:34.440

at Davis, about 25 miles from the capital of California, which is sacramento. And there they grow experimental vineyards and a group of men headed by Dr. Harold Berg, who has for 40 years been the top wine authority on the technical side in the United States and

00:07:34.440 - 00:07:51.360

whom I consider as one of the great wine authorities of the world, has developed all these different techniques which help the farm after all, growing vines is really an agricultural business. It's like growing wheat. It's like growing any kind of crop. And the the the vine,

00:07:51.370 - 00:08:06.970

the wine producer is a farmer, he has mud on his boots, but now he has the help of the scientists. And of course now in in since the end of World War Two in the last 20 years or so, there's been extraordinary worldwide communications on wine.

00:08:06.980 - 00:08:24.240

Davis is the headquarters in the United States Montpellier and bordeaux are the headquarters in France, Geisen heim on the rhine in Germany. And they are now making contact also with the wine research facilities in the soviet Union, which is a large wine growing country and all

00:08:24.240 - 00:08:38.830

these experts, all these technical men, all these scientists are virtually in daily contact with each other. And if there's a new development in the United States, it's known in the other countries within a few hours or days. And so all these new developments are taking place,

00:08:38.830 - 00:08:54.320

which help us to get better wine all over the world really, and and we need it. We need every facility to make more wine because the world is demanding more wine. That is our wine going abroad also. Yes, some of it is going abroad, but it's

00:08:54.320 - 00:09:07.360

hard to teach a Frenchman. It's hard to persuade a Frenchman that anything is better than his wine mr de Groot. Before we finish our conversation, I think our listeners would be very much interested to know when you go to a vineyard and I'm sure that you

00:09:07.360 - 00:09:26.010

visited many of them not being able actually to see and going with your seeing eye dog. How do you watch and learn about the wine growing process? Well, I decided to become a writer about wine and to earn my living as a taster of wine when

00:09:26.010 - 00:09:39.430

I became blind about 11 years ago, because that seemed to me the one job that was least affected by blindness because after all, it's a matter of taste and smell uh naturally in vineyards. I use my fingers. I can tell whether a grape is right by

00:09:39.430 - 00:09:54.160

pressing it between my fingers and wine is largely a matter of going into the cellar and tasting the wine and smelling. If you've, if you've never put your nose over a barrel while the wine is fermenting inside. It's an extraordinary experience. You hear all the hiss

00:09:54.160 - 00:10:08.920

of the wine inside, you smell the lovely fruit bouquet that's coming out of the barrel and then the producer gives you a glass and you taste it. And wine is I think one of the most exciting things because it's a natural product, in spite of all

00:10:08.920 - 00:10:25.360

that the scientists have done, it is really between the farmer and nature, really it is, it is. I don't think it'll ever be computerized. I think it's always going to be human judgment are vast immigrant population in California. The Italians, the Spaniards, the french who have

00:10:25.360 - 00:10:39.950

come over have developed that sort of great personal skill which goes from father to son, from family to family, so that the making of wine in California is very much the same as the making of wine in France and spain and italy and south America. There's

00:10:39.950 - 00:10:51.320

a sort of world brotherhood of wine men, I think. And that's a good thing. Any any kind of world brotherhood is a good thing, I think it is. And thank you so much for sharing some of your few short minutes in Washington with us. Mr De

00:10:51.320 - 00:11:02.590

Groot. Great pleasure. I've been talking with Roy Andres de Groot, an expert on wine and a very well known writer in this country. Here now is a song for Sunday, sung by pearl bailey.