OK
You can choose one of the following two options and ONLY the following options to get a case of wine from.
1 - Top notch vineyard, crappy winemaker
2 - Crappy vineyard, top notch winemaker
Which do you choose and why ?
I personally would go with 2, if the winemaker is an idiot it doesn’t matter how great the fruit is
Top vineyards don’t sell fruit to second rate winemakers
Tough one - really difficult to find real examples. Contrary to Mike I could name some top vineyards going to crappy winemakers, but can’t imagine anyone I consider a top winemaker, making wine from a crappy vineyard. Or if they do, perhaps they make the vineyard’s reputation. I guess that’s #2 for me.
Agreed. But given the OP’s narrow options, number 1 is the way to go. You cannot create a great vineyard site, in my opinion. If you don’t have a good combination of soil and weather, forget about the wine.
Its not a real life question
What im asking is whats more important, the fruit or the guy making it
Im proof that you are incorrect
Berry, I’m proof that you are a good winemaker!
I guess you don’t buy Burgundy or German wine.
My point is that good vineyards and winemakers tend to attract.
Take Carlisle. Have you ever had a bad one? But Mike sources from the best vineyards in the state.
a lot of crappy winemakers own great vineyards.
Time will tell.
Seriously though, my niche of Foothill Zinfandel is not really a grape type that’s highly in-demand from winemakers and in a few cases I had nearly to beg to get some grapes. For the most part people are doing me favors because I buy in small enough quantities that its almost more trouble than its worth for them. Especially since Im getting grapes at less brix than all their other customers so its a logistical pain in the ass for everyone involved. Plus if I f*ck up, it hurts their brand in theory.
I think France should seize all the Chambertin grapes from Damoy and give it to Fourier or someone. Groffier Amoureuses should go to Bertheau.
#2
So sad, and very true (especially in Burgundy, which I can only assume you are referencing here)
FWIW, I think you can do a lot worse than Damoy in Chambertin and Groffier in Amoureuses (I don’t like Groffier either, I just think you can do a lot worse.)
Camus
What im asking is whats more important, the fruit or the guy making it
The guy making the fruit? That’s God yo. Hard to be more important than him.
Of course, fruit isn’t necessarily the vineyard - as others mentioned, you can sometimes improve a vineyard - better clones or varieties, different planting densities, orientation, etc.
But assuming you got 2 loads of fruit and 2 winemakers, one good and one bad in each case, I’d say it’s the winemaker. If the fruit is spoiled, moldy, rotten, or unripe, the winemaker probably can’t save it. But the guy with great fruit can mess it up. If the fruit is not any of those things but it’s just not superb, the winemaker can craft something OK out of it and the other guy can still mess up his good fruit.
That’s not how it usually works though.
Pavie and Angelus come to mind.
Touche
That would be true of me. Though I will gladly drink your white Burgundy, you may enjoy the rest without me. I probably just have not developed the palate for that yet, focusing out of necessity (and originally, desire) on Cabernet.