WHERE'S THE GRAPE ?
WHERE'S THE RED FRUIT in the grape?
Why does more and more red wine made from just about any grape taste similar to me and less like liquid red wine made from grapes and more like lab experiments where the liquids taste to me dull, matted, without life, without bright fruit : listless, like cardboard and dried dusty woods and hollowed out flavors that lack both lively, brilliant flesh and fruit?
WHERE HAVE SOME OF US GONE WRONG? Is this the heritage we want to leave our children growing up thinking is wine?
WHERE'S THE FRUIT ? Does it all have to taste so lifeless and drab and like all the structure and the body without any heart, soul or flow of alive fruit of the grape(s)?
I'M TERRIBLY BUMMED because I think that I am in an ever-growing smaller group of people that share my horror, my concern.
THIS IS SERIOUS, we've got a problem, we are duping our children, our neighbors, or cities and states with a whole lot of chemical experiments made somewhere along the way creating flavors and tastes that I find hard, lifeless, matted and very much like dusty-old cardboard soaked with things that are not what they seem and made to trick our taste buds into reminding us of things that they should actually and out to be! Ouch!
LET THE SHIT / GRAPE SKINS / OPINIONS FLY NOW that disagree with me and object seriously! I mean, after all, who the fuck am I to make such bold, groundless, unsupported accusations , defamation's, tarnishing's of winemakers/ owners and their wines character!
WHAT CHARACTER?!? They simply don't have ones that taste like alive, bright, assertive flavors of both structure and with both a solid skin as well as flesh for the grapes to inhabit, soar, roar, rant, rush, crush, and titillate and brush our tongues and palates !
I'M SORRY, I'm the last one that wants to sound this call for clarity, purity, character and original personality of traits and soils typical to both grape origin and place where they are grown. But it's got to happen. We've lost our vision : we,ve sold-out to in many cases the making of a product that we used to call once wine and which now more and more and more and more is beginning in the case of reds to taste pretty boring and very much like all the others.
I WAS BORED, DEPRESSED, UNIMPRESSED and mad at the two dry red Cabernet Sauvignons that I opened last night ( Sunday, July 12th, 2009 ) to have with my wonderful steaks that I grilled outside on our back deck ) to enjoy with my family. I was the only one drinking the reds but with both wines I did not feel like I was drinking red wine alive with red berry, cherry, toasted berry, roasted red grape flavors. It simply did not have any real life and it was too dusty dry and dull.
I don't really want to list the two wines here : one came from Chile and one came from California. One was organic and they were both recent vintages of 2007 or 2008. I will go look at the bottles. I will say that is simply not the first time. I think I began to notice this last year when I was at the beach with my family and I tasted some California Zinfandel. I could not drink it and told my family to dump it as I reached for another bottle to open.
THESE ARE SERIOUS AND BOLD STATEMENTS on my part and I share with you all because I have very heavy concerns about the direction we are all going in if in fact there are many wines available that fit this description and which I would object to just as I have these three. Actually, I tried an American Pinot Noir that also I remember tasting much like these.
THIS IS SIMPLY MY OPINION AND REALLY STRONG REACTION TO THESE WINES. I have no idea how many others of you out there might be in agreement with me. I send this mostly to start a dialogue: to hear the many and varied and strong-opinioned sides. This is meant to create that and to hear where we all stand on this issue. For many there may be plenty out there that in fact like very much these wines that I have just criticized. I know that. I know that I may only judge for my own palate. I am not trying to assert my opinion as the only one, the only one that counts and matters.
SO : HERE GOES EVERYTHING , READY OR NOT ? HERE I COME ! CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW ?!?
We need to bring the grace back into wine making. We need to make wine the old-fashioned way : for fewer people, with more focus on the wine and the foods that it will go with and less emphasis on mass-producing wines for the masses. Everything should not be on a large scale, everything should not be hype and fad and cute labels and everything should not have to be so immediate. Let people commit to drinking wine and having to work some, give some of themselves to learn and appreciate the particulars of each individual wine.
It's now Wednesday morning as I post this finally : Wed. August 26th, 2009 at 10:12 AM. I was inspired by this morning's article by Dave McIntyre in the Washington Post newspaper about Richard Sanford and his wines that he makes at ALMA ROSA " With Organic Focus, Vintner Is A Quiet Revolutionary " : that's the title of Dave's article in the Food section today. I think I would like Richard a lot and I am going to call immediately when I get to the store about getting some of his Santa Rita Pinot Gris 2008 and Pinot Blanc 2007!
Cheers, TONY
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment