What New World winemakers SHOULD be doing
I’m pretty clearly an “Old World” wine lover. There are lots of reasons why I favor Old World over New World wines, but that’s mostly another post entirely. The one factor here that DOES play into the idea at hand is the concept of “originality”. The ancient historical trail of viticulture and wine production in the Old World has afforded farmers and winemakers the opportunity to FULLY understand their respective terroirs, as well as the ability to take advantage of thousands of varietal crossings and mutations that have given the world the wealth of grape varieties that populate Old World vineyards. Every country (and region and sub-region in many cases) has at very least a “signature” grape variety that may be cultivated elsewhere, and often features a variety or multiple varieties that grow nowhere else in the world…
On this front the New World can NEVER compete, so why try? Why play someone else’s game when you can invent your own? This essentially leaves the New World winemaker with a fantastic opportunity - a viticultural “tabula rasa” on which he or she can limn his or her own wine with the grape varieties that he or she likes and/or the ones that work best for his or her terroir, right?
So why do so few New World winemakers do it? In most cases, I think it’s simply fear of economic failure. I think we’re all aware of the tremendous fiscal pressures placed on winemakers, especially in the New World where so many winemakers are in hock (pardon the pun) up their eyes with loans, mortgages, etc. In the Old World so many of the estates are so old that they have long ago been paid for, so the debt load is much less steep…
So it’s understandable why a START-UP winery might want to make Bordeaux blends to assure some interest in their work through familiarity, but far too many old, established New World wineries are still imitating someone else’s wine…it’s like being the world’s best cover band - you can make a good or even GREAT living with it, but you’ll NEVER be included in the same SENTENCE as The Beatles, or Big Star, or The Dead Kennedys, or Tortoise…
So here’s the simple RX: MAKE YOUR OWN GODDAMNED WINE! If you follow the herd, you’ve got some cover just until the fashions change, at which point changing directions mid-stream becomes very painful - just ask anyone who was making a living making Merlot-based wines pre-Sideways!
In a nutshell, learn your terroir, and plant a range of grapes from the world palette of varieties that well complement each other. Once you’ve established “your” blend, no one can take it from you…Pine Ridge’s white Chenin Blanc/Viognier blend or Bonny Doone’s “Big House Red” are two perfect examples of this approach…To me, this suggested tack is just a clear case of how NOT having a tradition to follow allows a far greater degree of personal expression through the types of wine that you choose to make…jeez, isn’t this why most people came to the New World in the first place?!
Tom Ciocco
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A related question for New World winemakers: How about some food-friendly wines in the $10-15 range? I suppose this is not going to happen anytime soon if they can keep selling those Bordeaux and Rhone varietals for 5 times that price. Most of my wine purchases are for the everyday glass or two with dinner. I haven’t found many New World wines that can come close to French and Italian wines in either QPR or food-friendliness in this price range. So, I’ve also become an Old World fan. I did recently have a Pitch Cabernet from Washington State that I enjoyed. Be happy to hear other suggestions.
Comment by NickG — December 19, 2006 @ 10:52 pm
I like the general gist of the comment but have to say that if a snake-oil salesman like Randal Graham gets included in the mix I have to object. He is a media-sharp scam artist making fake wines in every imaginable category. If you ask me, they all taste like bubblegum. Good wine, even excellent wine can be made in the 10-15 range. It demands picking before the grapes are dead (leaving sufficient acidity for liveliness and lower levels of alcohol), using wild yeasts instead of cultured monsters, and staying away from excessive extraction, maceration, oxigination, fake wood tannins and acidifiers, etc. Originality can only come once basic solid non-interventionist winemaking is going on. In other words, real farm products versus “Whole Foods.”
Comment by phig — December 21, 2006 @ 12:53 pm
Phig-
In using the Big House red as an example, I realized that I was opening a good-sized can of controversy. In general, I agree with your assessment of Bonnie Doon, but frankly, I’ve also had far worse wines from California. My point in using Big House Red is that at least BD is doing its own thing. BTW, if you haven’t tried Olde Telegram, give it a whirl - I thought it was pretty solid, but also certainly pricier than most other BD wines.
100% with you on the second point as well…unfortunately, the California/Australian wine industry has created a monster of a sugar/fruit/flab consumer. If you give more authentic wines to folks weaned on these syrup wines, you hear descriptors like “thin” “light” “sour” “bitter”…but then again, if you were raised on Spaghetti-Ohs and Pizza Hut, and you
went to Abruzzo and your hosts were laying down plates of puntarelle and snails with asparagus tips and mint, you’d also be pretty confused…Like I’ve said in other posts, too many people are drinking wine for the wrong reasons, and I am NOT in the camp that says “People drinking bad/fake wine is better than people not drinking wine at all”. For me, there’s a certain level of commitment to really UNDERSTANDING what wine is, and if you’re not willing to take the time, I’d advise you to stick with Tab or Tang. Though I’ve never played a round in my life, it seems to me that being a “casual” wine drinker is akin to being someone who “dabbles” in golf; i.e., if you’re not going to give the pursuit X amount of your attention, you’re best off just leaving it alone.
TOM CIOCCO
Comment by admin — December 21, 2006 @ 2:08 pm