2012 HomeWorld
Middletown High School Orchestra
Theatre Guild's "Wittenberg"
Home > Blogs > Uncorked > Archives > 2007 > August > 02
Thursday, August 2, 2007
High-alcohol wines ignite controversy
First, if you’re looking for Restaurant Week reviews, click here. But for now, we move on.
The wine blogosphere has been abuzz for the past week over the letter that Napa Valley winemaker Randy Dunn sent to media and others in the wine community decrying the proliferation of high-alcohol wines (click on “continue reading” below to see Randy’s letter).
Two observations — perhaps a bit contradictory, but observations nonetheless:
— Dunn is absolutely right. Many California wines — and some European wines from hot-climate wine-growing regions — have pushed the “ripeness” envelope too far, and high sugar content translates into high-alcohol wines (if fermented dry). The wines can taste impressive at first sip, but are tiring if not exhausting to drink through a meal. And the high-alcohol wines coming from Santa Barbara, Paso Robles and other areas of California that boast nearly 12-month growing seasons don’t seem to age well at all.
— On the other hand, isn’t it a bit ironic that many of the winemakers who are outspoken against high-alcohol wines grow grapes in areas that don’t lend themselves to ultra-ripe grapes to begin with? I know some winemakers in other parts of the U.S., including Ohio, who are jumping onto this anti-high-alcohol bandwagon. But their growing seasons don’t allow them to ripen their grapes to anywhere near a level that would produce a 15 percent alcohol wine, at least not without help in the cellar.
I’m just sayin’ …
Cheers, and keep those Restaurant Week comments coming!
Mark Fisher
(Click on “contine reading” to read Randy Dunn’s letter.)
It is time for the average wine consumers, as opposed to tasters, to speak up. The current fad of higher and higher alcohol wines should stop. Most wine drinkers do not really appreciate wines that are 15 -16. +% alcohol. They are, in fact, hot and very difficult to enjoy with a meal. About the only dish that seems to put them in their place is a good hot, spicy dish. I don’t believe the average person is so insensitive to flavors and aromas that they must have a 15% Cabernet, Chardonnay, or Pinot Noir to get the aromas and flavors. Influential members of the wine press have lead the score chasing winemakers/owners up the alcohol curve and now I hope that it soon will lead them down. Winemaking is not really much different than cooking. The end product should be enjoyable to consume - not just to taste. Hopefully most who read this don’t think it’s a novel concept that we should be making wines to consume. Would you want to sample a soup, meat dish or other course that is so overpowering that you cannot enjoyably finish what is in front of you? These new wines are made to taste and spit - not to drink. This is all linked to my views on the ever evasive and vanishing terroir; the subtleties of terroir in wines have been melted together in a huge pot called “overripe” or the vogue “physiologically mature” grape. Gone are the individualities of specific regions, replaced by sameness - high alcohol, raisiny, pruney, flabby wines. Likewise, the descriptor “herbaceous” was often used in a positive sense when describing Cabernets. Now it is the kiss of death. Voluptuous - I do remember seeing that only occasionally, but not on the aroma/flavor wheel. So I would like the consumers to take the lead for a change, rather than being led. Ask for wines that are below 14% when you are out to dinner. The reactions are fun, but the results are not good for United States wines. The sommelier usually comes back with a French or New Zealand wine. On the restaurant level, high alcohol wines have reduced the number of bottles sold. It is very simple arithmetic; % alcohol times volume equals satisfaction. If % alcohol goes up, volume must go down for satisfaction to stay the same - or else we all get plastered. Consumers - wake up and get active. Reviewers -please at least include the labeled alcohol percentage in all your reviews, and try to remember that not everyone is spitting.Tweet
Go to my facebook page and click Like to comment.
