Your post reminds me of something I heard in Burgundy a couple of years ago. According to his mother Chantal (who gave us a tour at Amiot), Leon Amiot has told her that prior generations had overcome phylloxera to keep making great wines in Burgundy and the challenge of his generation will be to figure out how to continue to grow great grapes given climate change. Love the attitude. With all the new challenges in the major wine growing regions as a result of climate changes, my guess is that it will be the guys who innovate to uphold tradition who will be the ones who succeed in making great wines going forward.
One of the things Randall Graham is working on at Popelouchum is trying to create genetic diversity within the varieties Timoraso and Serine by self-crossing and selecting. That is looking, in part, to climate change.
Of course others have made crosses in the past to attempt to mimic cooler climate grapes that do well in warmer climates. We know Pinotage isn’t the future of Burgundy, but the idea of new varieties that have the same character and can syand up to new challenges and deliver in quality is a noble aim. People are working on that.
Some well known grapes could succeed as introductions to established regions. Some of the Bryan Harrington introductions to California that got planted a couple years ago are obscure, but make promising wine in their home region; dry farmed in hot climate.
The only experimental Bordeaux introduction that I’m sold on is Touriga Nacional. Definitely a top tier variety that can excel both as a stand alone grape and contribute immensely as a small percentage in a blend. But, it’s personality shows. There would need to be differentiation if it were used there, and I don’t see it happening until absolutely necessary.
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And TY for the explanation.
So, essentially, what is being said, the Pomerols we used to love are no longer being made, but instead the wines have morphed to a much more alcoholic heavier style, and lack the complexity I found in the old wines. For me, even for my beloved VCC in recent vintages have been far less interesting than some of the older wines. There are obvious exceptions such as 2014, but I can’t think of a recent must buy example (2021 VCC which I had hoped might be quite good, but was quite dilute).
The obvious solution for people like me, who love the old Pomerols is to backfill as quickly as possible, as prices can only rise.
What do you think of the 2019 VCC, Mark?
From the VCC tasting
2019 along with 2016 were successful wines from the modern era. That being said, they were certainly more opulent, had some grip and acidity, but I preferred the brightness and precision of some of the older vintages.
They were served alongside 2018 (Not so good; I ended up selling every bottle after the tasting) and 2015 which was slightly better, and blossomed with the food.
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2014 was just so dominate for me.
Thank you for this. Makes a lot more sense than the original press releases.
Where is the logic? Forcing the vines to develop deeper roots for reaching the level of ground water and irrigation are both the same. Helping the vines to get the water they need. I understand that it would be foolish to avoid deeper roots due to too generous and frequently added water but it is certainly possible to manage the situation without discussing the issue in black and white.