Two signs of the (wine) apocalypse

WINE TALK
1

The little row over a new French wine:

Sign 1 of the apocalypse: A French winery intentionally causes confusion over place of origin
Sign 2 of the apocalypse: A French winery capitalizes on the popularity of NZ wines

What’s next? cassoulet made with kidney beans?

Times Online story

2

This doesn’t mean terroir is unimportant, just that people seem to prefer NZ terroir for SB [stirthepothal.gif]

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3rd sign of the apocalypse: people acting like the NZ style of SB has anything to do with terroir.

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I said that somewhat jokingly but I am serious about the point being made. I am no expert, but I have talked to experts who say that style has a lot more to do with winemaking than site. I have had a SB from the Loire that tasted exactly like NZ SB, which reaffirmed that opinion. One person told me that every winery she visited out there made SB in almost exactly the same way, which gives them all such similar flavor profiles. I do think there are some exciting, terroir driven wines being made out there, I just don’t think it’s happening more with other varieties than with Sauvignon Blanc.

Maybe some winemakers and others more knowledgeable than I am can tell me how wrong I am now. That’s just my limited understanding.

5

Yet another sign of the fact that, regardless of the merits of the argument, the traditional French view of terroir is losing the mindshare battle with simpler more winemaking-style driven wines from around the world…

6

Steve;

Interesting comment. Seems we have these ongoing discussions and beliefs:

  1. The wine is made in the vineyards.
  2. The winemaker is the arbituer of wines.
  3. 50-50 of 1&2.

I’m a bit of a #1 type of guy myself, seeing the winemaker as the compliment of the vineyard. However, in this world of generic, homogenized wines, I see a lot of # 2 being played out, typically ,imo, not for the better.

When the winemaker demands that the fruit hangs until Nov, when everyone else picked in early to mid Oct, that’s a #2 not a #1.

7

I think you have listed the three fundamental “truths” well – and I am probably in the #3 camp. That being said, while I think the “terroirists” have a lot of facts and history on their side, I really think that they are losing the argument in terms of consumer perception.

Terroir matters, but when it is so shrouded in complexity, tainted by a bit of myth, and allowed to be an excuse for sometimes-poor wine making, then most new wine customers, and many long-time customers lose faith in the argument. On the other hand, the “new” winemaker-centric school, generally speaking, offers a much more user-friendly approach – the wines are enjoyable now (not 10 years from now), are simply labeled, are enjoyable and drinkable and full of flavor, and offer greater consistency and less '“risk.” … or at least that is their brand promise.

I think that terroir and user-friendly winemaking can coexist quite well, but I am sure the debate will never end. My concern, though, is that if present trends continue, only a very small percentage of wine geeks will be in the terroir camp and the rest of the world will focus on winemaking… and the terroir-focused wines will suffer for it.

8

Steve;

Excellent comments!

What are the percentages, 95% of wine drinkers never buy wine over $15, 97% never buy wine over $30. So to me the real discussion of terrior is with the so called wine geeks that comprises the 3%. Price seems to drive the other purchases with some QPR considerations for that middle percentage.

Is terrior losing out with the upper 5%. You may well be correct. If one prefers the super ripe, well oaked wine, then often those characteristics are what is sought out. Terrior, except that CA and Aussie weather may make that easier to make than Europe, plays very little of a row in wine selection. Super ripe = super ripe regardless of where it comes from. Can most people tell the difference between an Aussie fruit bomb and a CA fruit bomb, I doubt it.

Is there a danger that as terrior becomes less important to buyers, then winemakers produce fewer and fewer wines based on terrior. The price of those remaining terrior based wines increase and price themselves out of more and more buyers, starting a viscous circle?

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Auggghhhhhh! Not a viscous circle! I hate those! [tease.gif]

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I think the two main characters in Sideways sum up the terroir argument pretty well.

The scene where Miles is trashing a wine while the other guy slugs away and says, “I dunno tastes pretty good to me”

11

A little off-topic, but does this mean that the New Zealanders haven’t registered the phrase “Kiwi” with the World Trade Organization?

Seems like if the New Zealanders were to release some dry, bubbly chardonnay, under the label “Champagne”, then they’d wake up the next morning to see a small fleet of French warships circling around their coast.

12

It does have a lot to do with winemaking but even more so vineyard management…I have been told probably to single biggest contributor to the overall NZ style is leafpulling to hang those grapes in direct sunlight

13

I wonder if this brand will go away due to internal pressure in France…they have gone the extra mile lately to protect their own IP and can’t be happy with one of their own crossing an obvious line

14

What happens if the grapes are in direct sunlight?

And what happens if the grapes are NOT in direct sunlight?

Thanks.

15

Nathan,

I’m not ITB, but I play a scientist on TV. Higher sun exposure increases the concentration of certain flavor molecules, including those associated with aged rieslings (TDN) and several “grassy” aromas. Recent studies find, though, that removing leaves seems to have a not-yet-well-understood effect on these molecules independent from sun exposure. Those in the know please correct me.