The Bubbly Professor Tackles Topography

Topography: the study of the surface of the earth and how it creates the underlying foundation of a landscape. Sounds like a long, boring chapter in Geography 101.

However, to students of wine and spirits, topography is destiny. Studying the paths of rivers can help us understand the wine and spirits regions through which they pass. Climate, a major determinant in what grapes grow where, can be inferred from terrain and latitude. Current events—whether they be political, cultural, or changes in wine laws—are easier to understand if you understand the physical geography of a region. Physical geography can even determine the boundaries of a region, a country, or a kingdom.

So—to put it bluntly—I have been studying a lot of topography of late. So much so that I made a list of all the landforms, waterways, and winds I have studied (as witnessed by the sloppy reams of notes that surround me and the two-foot stack of new flashcards at my feet).

The list that follows is a short-hand cheat sheet I created to try to transform this mess into some kind of taxonomy. You can download a pdf version of the list here: The Bubbly Professor Tackles Topography or check it out below.

• France
  • Land: Western Alps, Massif Central, Vosges Mountains, Pyrenees, Auvergne Mountains, Jura Mountains, Morvan Massif, Mont Blanc
  • Water: Rhône River, Moselle River, Rhine River, Loire River, Cher River, Charente River, Garonne River, Dordogne River, Gironde River (Estuary), Seine River, Marne River, Hérault River, Saône River, Aube River, Atlantic Ocean, Bay of Biscay, Mediterranean Sea, English Channel
  • Wind: Gulf Stream, Mistral, Tramontane 

• Italy
  • Land: Italian Alps, Apennines, Dolomites, Mount Etna, Mount Vesuvius, Mont Blanc
  • Water: Arno River, Po River, Tiber River, Tanaro River, Adige River, Piave River, Tagliamento River, Sesia River, Lake Garda, Lake Como, Mediterranean Sea, Gulf of Venice
  • Wind: Sirocco winds, Grecale Winds 

• Spain:
  • Land: Pyrenees, Meseta Central, Picos de Europa, Sierra Nevada, Cantabrian Mountains, Sistema Ibérico, Montes de Toledo, Sierra de Gredos, Sierra de Guadaramma, Sistema Penibértico, Canary Islands, Balearic Islands
  • Water: Ebro River, Duero River, Tagus River, Guadiana River, Guadalquivir River, Rías Baixas, Rías Altas, Atlantic Ocean, Bay of Biscay, Gulf of Cadiz, Mediterranean Sea
  • Wind: Garbinada Winds, Cierzo Winds, Levante, Poniente

• Portugal
  • Land: Serra da Estrela, Montes de Toledo, Sintra Mountain, Azores, Madeira Island
  • Water: Minho River, Douro River, Tagus (Tejo) River, Guadiana River, Sado River, Mondego River, Ave River, Gulf of Cadiz, Atlantic Ocean
  • Wind: Portugal Current

• Austria
  • Land: Central Alps, Pannonian Basin, Bohemian Forest
  • Water: Danube River, Lake Neusiedl (Neuisiedlsee)
  • Wind: Alpine Föhn (Nordföhn,  Südföhn)

• Germany
  • Land: Black Forest, German/Bavarian Alps, Ore Mountains, Haardt Hills
  • Water: Rhine River, Mosel River, Saar River, Ahr River, Saale River, Unstrut River, Main River, Neckar River, Elbe River, Lake Constance (Bodensee)
  • Wind: Alpine Föhn (Nordföhn,  Südföhn), Böhmwind (Bohemian Wind) 

• California/North Coast
  • Land: Coastal Mountains, Mayacamas Range, Vaca Range, Klamath Mountains, Diablo Range
  • Water: Napa River, Russian River, Dry Creek, Sonoma Creek, Navarro River, Lake Berryessa, Clear Lake, Lake Sonoma, San Pablo Bay/San Francisco Bay, Pacific Ocean, Sacramento River
  • Wind: Petaluma Gap, Chalk Hill Gap, Diablo Winds (named for Mount Diablo) 

• California/Central Coast, Central Valley and Southern California
  • Land: Gabilan Mountains, Santa Cruz Mountains, Santa Lucia Range, Inner Coast Range, Diablo Range, Sierra Nevada, San Gabriel Mountains, San Bernardino Mountains
  • Water: Nacimento River, Lake Nacimento, Salinas River, Santa Ynez River, San Francisco Bay, Monterey Bay, Pacific Ocean, Sacramento River, San Joaquin River, Los Angeles River, Arroyo Seco, San Gabriel River, San Diego River, Santa Margarita River
  • Wind: Santa Ana Winds, Salinas River Valley Winds, Sacramento Delta Breezes, Templeton Gap, Sundowner, Norte Winds

• Oregon
  • Land: Cascade Mountains, Coastal Range, Mount Hood, Mount Jefferson, Klamath Mountains
  • Water: Willamette River, Rogue River, Applegate River, Umpqua River, Illinois River, Columbia River, Snake River, Walla Walla River
  • Wind: Van Duzer Corridor, Coastal Winds, Coho (Gorge) Winds 

• Washington State
  • Land: Cascade Mountains, Coastal Range, Mount Rainier, Mount Saint Helens
  • Water: Columbia River, Walla Walla River, Yakima River, Snake River, Puget Sound, Pacific Ocean

• New York
  • Land: Niagara Escarpment, Adirondacks, Catskill Mountains, Appalachian Mountains, Hudson Highlands
  • Water: Finger Lakes, Lake Erie, Hudson River, Lake Ontario, Lake Champlain, Long Island Sound, Peconic Bay, Atlantic Ocean

• Canada/British Columbia
  • Land: Coast Mountains, Cascade Mountains, Canadian Rockies, Alberta Plateau, Gulf Islands, Vancouver Island
  • Water: Columbia River, Okanagan River, Fraser River, Kootenay River, Pacific Ocean
  • Wind: Chinook (dry foehn wind, the “snow-eater”), Squamish (Arctic Outflow)

• Canada/Ontario
  • Land: Niagara Escarpment, Prince Edward Island, Midwestern Canadian Shield, Boreal Forests
  • Water: Niagara River, Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, Saint Lawrence River, Pacific Ocean

• South Africa
  • Land: Cape Fold Mountains, Cape Flats, Drakensberg, Simonsberg, Great Escarpment
  • Water: Orange River, Breede River, Erste River, Oliphants River, Berg River, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Walker Bay
  • Wind: Benguela Current, Cape Doctor, Berg Wind (katabatic/descending winds)

• New Zealand
  • Land: Southern Alps, Mount Cook, Volcanic Plateau (North Island), Mount Taranaki, Canterbury Plain, Moeraki Boulders, Marlborough Sounds, Fiordland, Piopiotahi (Milford Sound)
  • Water: Waikato River, Lake Taupo, Waitaki River, Poverty Bay, Bay of Plenty, Cook Strait, Franz Josef Glacier, Fox Glacier, Tasman Sea, Pacific Ocean
  • Wind: Canterbury Northwester, Roaring 40’s, The Barber (Grey District, West Coast)

• Australia
  • Land: Great Dividing Range, Australian Alps, Peterman Ranges, Great Victoria Desert, Nullarbor Plain, Great Sandy Desert, Darling Range, Madonel Ranges, Tasmania, Great Barrier Reef
  • Water: Murrumbidgee River, Murray River, Darling River, Lachlan River, Flinders River, Gascoyne River Goulburn River, Yarra River, Great Australian Bight, Bass Strait, Spencer Gulf, Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, Tasman Sea
  • Wind: Albany Doctor, Brickfielder Wind, Freemantle Doctor, Roaring 40’s, Southerly Buster

• Argentina
  • Land: Andes Mountains, Mount Aconcagua, Altiplano (Andean Plateau), Puna De Atacama (Atacama Plateau), Las Pampas (Argentine Plains), Tierra del Fuego, Falkland Islands
  • Water: Neuquén River, Río Negro, Chubut River, Mendoza River, Tupungato River, Jáchal River, Tunuyán River, San Juan River, Colorado River, Río de la Plata, Iguazu Falls, Atlantic Ocean
  • Wind: Zonda, Sudestada

• Chile
  • Land: Andes Mountains, Ojos Del Salado, Coastal Range (Coastal Cordillera), Central Valley (Intermediate Depression), Atacama Desert, Los Lagos, Chilean Archipelagos/Tierra del Fuego, Chiloé Island, Isla Grande
  • Water: Rapel River, Cachapoal River, Colchagua River, Aconcagua River, Copiapó River, Huasco River, Elqui River, Choapa River, Maipo River, Straits of Magellan, Pacific Ocean
  • Wind: Humboldt Current, Viento Puelche

Please note: this list does not claim to include every landform and waterway that is important to the regions included, nor do I believe that it contains everything that is important in the context of wine and spirits studies. It does, however, represent those items that I came across while studying physical geography for wine and spirits theory classes or exams. I also included a few items that were interesting enough to (imho) be important to understanding a certain region, even if they do not have any direct impact on wine or spirits agriculture or production.

The Bubbly Professor is “Miss Jane” Nickles of Austin, Texas… missjane@prodigy.net