The "popification" of wine
June 1 2011, 9:28 PM
I bought some Moscato this week. This apparently is the new, trendy grape
varietal that is selling well. I hated it. Before that, I was in the mood for a quick, cold bottle of oaky chardonnay,
but all that was available was Yellow Tail. I bought that and I hated it,
too. In both cases, the best thing to have with either one is a really sweet
cookie which would allow you to mask the taste of the wine. Reading that, you might think: what a wine snob. But I am always happy to
have a bottle of montepulciano with spaghetti and meatballs, or some white
fish with a bit of lemon and a glass of vinho verde or a torrentes. None of
those varietals are expensive, and the Italians make incredibly cheap reds
that a perfect with a midweek plate of pasta. Not only that, but those
wines are often very basic. So why pick on the other wines? I can see why people like those wines, or shiraz from Australia, for that
matter. In all cases, it is the trend for wine to taste more and more like
soda pop. The idea is to make the wine as appealing as possible, and to do
that, the simplest approach is to try and make it direct and unchallenging.
In general, there is nothing wrong with making an appealing wine. One time
the French dominated wine sales and they did so by pushing a very
unappealing product. Now they are working to be very competitive, and they
make a lot of wine that is great value. Not only that, but with a few
exceptions, the French don't make pop wine. They still make plonk, but
compared to other countries, especially Australia, they seem to strive to
make a better wine. But while I like the old world wines, it is the new world wines which
appear to be ascendent, and they are rising up on these pop wines. I worry
that we have gone from plonk to pop, at least for the wine that most people
buy. That is too bad. I get tired of these wines with their high alcohol content
and their candylike flavour. I suspect eventually everyone will. I hope.
Perhaps then the wines produced will be more interesting, with better
varietals used and better value provided. We still have a way to go.
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Sent from my BlackBerry Handheld.
varietal that is selling well. I hated it. Before that, I was in the mood for a quick, cold bottle of oaky chardonnay,
but all that was available was Yellow Tail. I bought that and I hated it,
too. In both cases, the best thing to have with either one is a really sweet
cookie which would allow you to mask the taste of the wine. Reading that, you might think: what a wine snob. But I am always happy to
have a bottle of montepulciano with spaghetti and meatballs, or some white
fish with a bit of lemon and a glass of vinho verde or a torrentes. None of
those varietals are expensive, and the Italians make incredibly cheap reds
that a perfect with a midweek plate of pasta. Not only that, but those
wines are often very basic. So why pick on the other wines? I can see why people like those wines, or shiraz from Australia, for that
matter. In all cases, it is the trend for wine to taste more and more like
soda pop. The idea is to make the wine as appealing as possible, and to do
that, the simplest approach is to try and make it direct and unchallenging.
In general, there is nothing wrong with making an appealing wine. One time
the French dominated wine sales and they did so by pushing a very
unappealing product. Now they are working to be very competitive, and they
make a lot of wine that is great value. Not only that, but with a few
exceptions, the French don't make pop wine. They still make plonk, but
compared to other countries, especially Australia, they seem to strive to
make a better wine. But while I like the old world wines, it is the new world wines which
appear to be ascendent, and they are rising up on these pop wines. I worry
that we have gone from plonk to pop, at least for the wine that most people
buy. That is too bad. I get tired of these wines with their high alcohol content
and their candylike flavour. I suspect eventually everyone will. I hope.
Perhaps then the wines produced will be more interesting, with better
varietals used and better value provided. We still have a way to go.
-----------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Handheld.