In Pursuit of Balance

WINE TALK
41

It may have changed but I looked to submit my Pinot Noir in year two of IPOB and was told it had to be sub 14.

42

Thank you for giving me company in the “well and truly lost” room. [wink.gif]

There’s already a name for those rocket fuel lovers - coined by Jay Hack: the Pro-Flavor Bourgeoisie Brigade.

43

I’ve been to the tastings from that second year (2012) through last year. There were definitely 14+ wines poured in 2012 and I can pretty much guarantee that’s been the case every year - not a lot of them but they’ve always been a part of the group. Perhaps IPOB felt they already had enough producers with 14+ wines in the group and haven’t looked to add more - it’s certainly up to them as to which producers and wines they choose to include in the group. But just how they decide who’s in and who’s out has always been something of a mystery, and that’s one of the main gripes I’ve heard about the group from a number of people.

44

I go back and forth between Loren’s view and David’s view. There is nothing wrong with like-minded winemakers banding together to celebrate and to promote their style. But I think most of us do recognize a distinct elitist vibe from Parr, IPOB and that overall movement, kind of similar to the vibe you get from indie film snobs or from people who go on and on about how Europeans are soooo much more cultured and sophisticated than dullard Americans.

For example, this article from the WSJ entitled “The Wine Club for Cool (and Well Balanced) Kids,” which includes the following:

California is no longer a punch line among New York’s wine cognoscenti, who generally reserve their praise for earthy Burgundies and high-acidity Mosel Rieslings. The day after the Pearl & Ash festivities, some of the city’s top somms, including Raj Vaidya of Daniel and Paul Grieco of Hearth Restaurant, were rubbing elbows at the group’s tasting in TriBeCa.

. . .

These Californians are making wines for people who wouldn’t be caught dead drinking California wines, winning over tastemakers like the young Manhattan and Brooklyn sommeliers who would flock to their tasting the day after the snowstorm.

http://www.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052702304914204579392923398134680-lMyQjAxMTA0MDIwNDEyNDQyWj

So I can kind of see it both ways. Anyway, I like most of the wines on that IPOB roster which I’ve tried and I buy regularly from a number of them, but not to the exclusion of good wines in other styles, plus I’ve never been that comfortable with the elitist vibe that tends to hover around that movement. That’s just me, though, and I am willing to admit that I am capable of being elitist about certain things at certain times myself.

45

Other than maybe Raj, it’s not a movement. It’s a group of producers that puts on tastings that help them market their wine.

-Al

46

Its whatever you want it to be, Al.
IPOB is the Rorschach blot of American wine geekdom.

47

Some of the initial outcry undoubtedly stems from the fact that, at least from what I can figure out, IPOB was the first tasting which limited wines to a certain style. Other tastings, such as the Hospice du Rhone (or Pinot Days or ZAP), were open to wines of all styles as long as they were produced from the requisite grape type.
Other criticism has been directed towards the name itself – In Pursuit of Balance – and the belief that it implies that other wines are not in balance. The “In Pursuit of Alcohol” analogy is not particularly good, but “In Pursuit of Flavor” might be a name that would draw some outcry on the opposite side of the fence.
I really like some of the wines that are part of the tastings. I don’t like others as much. Most are well made. From that POV, its like any other tasting.
That’s my $.02.

Adam Lee
Siduri Wines

48

Duuuuude,

What is their little writeup and/or other words and actions leads to any of your reactions above? If you’re not worked up, like, at all, you’re using the wrong words to convey your equanimity.

Is it only that they’ve attached the “balance” label to (what was at least initially) a group of wines defined largely by not exceeding a maximum (14%) ABV?

Some of y’all purple drankers claim IPOB has gone way over some line and compare them to terrorists. I imagine we’d have no trouble dredging up plenty who feel they haven’t gone far enough, that they’re corporate whore sellouts. [snort.gif]

Eh, drink and let drink, I sez. If some other folks think they’re cooler and have a small following who agree, well, so what.

49

I admire the leaders of this organization for their talent in winemaking & grape growing.
They’re also models of objectivity, modesty, altruism.
We need people like that these days - who lead by example, who bring everyone together.

50

It wasn’t this particular write up. There’s been plenty of articles in the past that included interviews where non-“balanced” wineries were trashed. IT’s been discussed before with link(s) to the article(s).

51

I think this is true, but it also seems to be about promoting Mr. Parr. Every time I begin to think he may disappear from our lives somebody posts about him or IPOB.

52

Guess I would argue that point, David. He, to my perception, seems to have stepped
into the background. But everyone knows that Raj is the wizard standing behind the
green curtain (think Wizard of Oz).
Tom

53

Well Chris Seiber’s post made it into the article covering the final IPOB event.

They took a lot of heat, but as somebody who volunteered to help out on a few of the SF interations I am sorry to see it come to an end. Through the years was honored to meet quite a few of the winemakers and tasted my way through fair number of producers whose wines I have really come to enjoy.

Thanks Jasmine and Raj.

54

Knew nothing about this organization when I wrote this story about Joseph Swan

With the title “In pursuit of balance.”

55

The style as I understand it was one that was perhaps more common in the 80’s and early 90’s when it was somewhat more difficult to produce wine of higher alcohol. Yeast didn’t seem to tolerate the higher level of alcohol. So it was common to see most wines in the 13 - 14 % range more often than not and some lower still. I came out of that generation of producers who just made wines of lower levels of alcohol without thinking about it as a style per se. Everyone was just trying to make the best wine we could.

In the latter part of the 90’s wines beyond 15 % became more common and these wines were well received by critics and consumers alike. I watched many startups soar to the top in ratings and commanded prices that many of us only dreamed of. I know I was certainly critical of the style because of the challenges those wines faced in the cellar rather than a style choice. IPOB became a counterpoint of sorts to this other style? of wine-making.

As I see it IPOB some how lost its way and became as some have mentioned a “cool kids club to market and sell wine” rather than about education or seeking to learn something new with regard to understanding how pH and acid and alcohol interact at different variations.
They were however a voice for the kind of wines they wanted to make. Many of the members make some of my favorite wines, many are friends and some even worked in my cellar learning to make wine. I liked the idea of a counterpoint and hoped for more discussion.

For the record I was never a member.

56

“Should wine be merely delicious? Or, as the group asserted, should it be a kind of art?”

I wouldn’t say “merely” delicious. Delicious is an achievement on its own. “Kind of art” is OK because anything that is done to the highest creative standards, and has meaning to us, is art. Despite my preferences in wine and art, I’d say that the principal problem is the word “balance”. Art and wine do not need to be limited by any individual or group’s perception of balance.

P Hickner

57

Very well said, Joe. I think the group had run its course so it was probably a good time to shut it down. It did bring more attention to styles of wine that weren’t being discussed much - and I want to emphasize “styles” rather than “style” since there were certainly different takes on both Chardonnay and Pinot Noir on display, and not only lower-alcohol ones. Other than mostly lower-alcohol wines, common denominators I found over four years of attending and writing about the San Francisco tastings were restrained use of new oak, and lots of whole-cluster fermentation for the Pinots, though as with lower alcohol, there were notable exceptions to these things as well.

I was never sure how much the word on these wines ever did get out to those beyond somms, wine geeks (such as those here on Berserkers), wine writers/bloggers, and a few other curious wine consumers. Obviously, the word was spread by the writers/bloggers who attended, and was spread further by the sometimes inflammatory writing of those who reacted against IPOB. Certainly the rather provocative name of the group, the “manifesto”, etc. helped the group gain attention, both positive and negative, but in the end that sure helped to get their name and their message out there more than it would have otherwise.

I didn’t make it to the final tasting - I’d gotten a notice awhile ago that trade/media passes would be by invitation only, and I wasn’t invited. Fine by me - at this point the IPOB tasting probably wouldn’t have had much new to offer me in any event (and being a very inconsequential wine writer, I was not going to be a high priority for them to invite), though I’m sure the wines overall were top-notch as they had always been in the past.

58

I was a big far of IPOB. I never understood the backlash. I could see how producers would be upset about their wines being inferred as “out of balance”, but at the end of the day, I think the org did a good job selling consumers on a different approach to chardonnay/pinot.

IMO the approach to chardonnay seems to have really resonated throughout the domestic market. I’m not totally sure that can be credited to IPOB, but they certainly came at the right time. I can’t tell you how much I hear about people “loving” unoaked/neutral oak chardonnay, lower ABV, etc. Those wines stand in stark contrast IMO to the type of chardonnay that was popular from California before it.

59

The thing is, that bigger style of Chardonnay is still massively popular among most wine consumers, as are the bigger Pinot Noirs. I don’t see that changing anytime soon. Obviously, lower ABV Pinots, unoaked/neutral oak Chardonnay, etc. in California have been around for years before IPOB, but the group did help expose those styles of wines to a wider audience, even if that’s still a small fraction of the overall wine market.

60

I had a 2008 Twomey RRV PN the last few nights, starting with a slab of lemon/dill salmon. I’d assumed it would be a big fat fleshy wine, in the style of Silver Oak or something, but it wasn’t that way. Carried its 14.2% well. But on the other side it didn’t hold much interest nor complexity, and there was a touch of wood I thought. Overall I consider a mild disappointment and for a comparable price would rather have Kutch’s base pinot. The wife visited Twomey with some friends a while back and thought it was a fun time. So I drank the wine out of a souvenir Twomey embossed stem (which didn’t help).

I overcooked the fish a little too. Sigh.