Same Ol'...Same Ol'

WINE TALK
1

Interesting. Two writers decry the lack of Calif wines on US wine lists, especially for restaurants who “buy local”. JonBonne’s article is much better written and lacks the polemics of Asimov’s, who uses it to, once again, decry the high alcohols in Calif wines. It’s a tiresome rant. Bonne makes a valid point that good-drinking wines from Europe are generally more affordable. But if the restaurants mantra is “buy local”, I think it would not be too difficult to put together an all-Calif list that was also affordable…those wines are out there…often made by “intuition and blind luck” for “thirsty pagans”.
Tom

Asimov

Bonne

2

Tom,

Actually, I never thought of it, but it is true that there are very few CA wines on restaurant lists. I’m sure the high alcohol is the principal reason, as it would be quite easy to deal with local distributors, etc, but it’s so hard to match well with food.

On the other hand, wine bars, where food is not expected to be served (but sometimes is), there is a preponderance of CA wines…

3

Interesting. In the wine nirvana I live in known as Ohio, it seems the lists are 90% Californian. I always argue for a smattering of Ohio wines as “buy local”.

4

For a lot of restaurants that don’t carry much wine or don’t have an emphasis on a wine program I could imagine that wines from Chile/AU/EU might be cheaper than US wines in the sub $10 cat

5

Unless you are at ultra fine dining establishments, most of the restaurants I’ve been to in the OC area are dominated by California wines.

6

Could the real culprit be the incredibly high prices for middling California wines?

7

[winner.gif]

The Cotes du Rhone example is a great one. How many of these are on domestic wines lists in abundance vs. the higher priced CA Syrah and or/Rhone blend?

At the same time, I have a hard time with the premise of both articles, to tell you the truth. I just don’t think the average diner really cares about food matches, acidity, tannin, alc. levels, etc., that us “geeks”, or the authors, care about. For the majority of diners, it is all about price. And CA falls flat on its face in that fight.