Does anyone have a category in their cellar that in hindsight they would swap out for something completely different but comparable?
For instance, I have a some high-end, collectors-level domestic Syrah (Sine Qua Non, Cayuse, etc.) that given the opportunity I would happily trade for higher-end Rioja. I don’t have anything against the wines in my cellar and I still love Rhone and domestic Rhone, but if I could wave a magic wand over the ones I listed and make them Lopez de Heredia, Ygay Gran Reserva, etc. I would.
But in today’s world would Napa producers (or US wine zealots) allow such a term to become a wine idiom?
Although I (obviously) understand what people mean by “domestic Rhone”, I’m a linguistic prescriptivist in the sense that at the very least, people should respect some regional stylistic characteristics when using this kind of wine lingo. Instead of having “domestic Rhones”, “Puglian Napa Cabs” or “Catalan lambics”, I think people should prefer to use terms like “domestic Rhone blends”, “Puglian Napa Cab clones” or “Catalan lambic-style beers”.
IMO by using a term of an established style for a completely unrelated style, you are not only benefiting from the existing clout of that established style, you are also unwittingly diluting the term. This seems like it is very obvious for the European people, but a completely incomprehensible concept for many (fortunately not all) American people.
Of course there are no rules and you are free to use whatever terms you want to (unless they happen to be protected by the law).
As a US citizen who loves Rhone wines, I can attest that I do not think of domestic Rhone as meaning more than made of varieties typical of the Rhone. When one of them actually tastes like say a Southern Rhone, I think of it is a notable exception. If cabs weren’t produced everywhere, or if puglia cabs tasted more like Napa than Bordeaux, I wouldn’t see any reason to object to the term.
I would happily trade out a good portion of my sweet wines for something else - we simply never get to them! (what in the hell am I going to do with a magnum of 1977 Dow?)
To the OP — I traded a small portion of my cellar (SQN and MacD) for Dom and Cristal that I will enjoy with my kids. Prior to that, I sold off my N. Rhône wines and reinvested in… Champagne drinkers, which I do think I have enjoyed more than I would have the reds.
Sure.
I’d swap almost everything for GC Burgundies. Except maybe some domestic Pinots.
Anyone game? Lots of vintage Port, old Bordeaux, the B’s of Italy, classic CA Cabs, best of WA, inc. Cayuse, Rasa, Reynvaan, not too shabby Rieslings inc. JJ Prum, Molitor, Donhoff etc., Loire whites and reds…
