Wine Ratings
"Screw the Corks"
Oil/Water...Organic/Sulphur
They Just Don’t Mix
They Just Don’t Mix
To Hybrid Or Not To Hybrid
(forgive me Shakespeare)
(forgive me Shakespeare)
Let's talk wine ratings and descriptions. You have your 10 point, 20 point and your basic 100 point score depending on who is doing the scoring-. You have your hold, drink, drink and hold, never drink. You have your aroma, bouquet, taste, texture, color, finish and aftertaste. Wines are made to taste like limes, lemons, cherries, strawberries, blackberries, peaches, pears, apples but never like grapes. Wines are light bodied, medium-bodied. full-bodied and lacking body. Wines can be yellow, gold, light yellow, light gold, green tinged, pink, salmon, red, burgundy, purple and inky. One color wine is not is white. I have never seen a wine the color of this page. Just another wine mystery. Where am I going with this.? I guess I am trying to say that with all the things going on in the bottle, how can you attach a number to a particular wine? Add to the mix that wine is a living organism and could change a month after it was tasted and rated. Truth be told, if the wine description was done by the winery or the distributor, it could be 6 months to a year since the wine was tasted and the description written. In the meantime, the wine decided to move on and change its properties.
Check out the two tasting notes. The first is from the Wine Spectator and the other from Robert Parker's Wine Advocate.
The culprit is trichloroanisole,(TCA),a compound formed when chlorine used for bleaching reacts to mold already growing in the cork. This causes cork taint which smells like wet cardboard, musty old cellars, dirty socks and left over dirty laundry. It is estimated that anywhere from 5 to 15% of wines today will have cork taint. Another problem is that the demand for corks has become so high that quality has suffered. You used to be able to rely on the corks in wines that need to age for ten to 20 years to be in reasonably good shape when you finally decided the wine was ready to be drunk. Now we find that many are starting to fall apart at 10 to 15 years. It is quite disheartening to have a cork break in half and have the rest crumble into a wine you have saved and nurtured for years. What can we do about this? Realist say forget corks. All wines need screw caps. The traditionalists say screw caps should only be used in cheap wines that are sold in paper bags. Calmer heads express "Go quietly into the night." Conversion should be gradual and limited. Wines that really need no aging such as Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc and most other whites should utilize screw caps. Rosés and reds such as certain Beaujolais should also be counted in the conversion. This will drastically cut back the demand for corks which will enable wines that need to age to enjoy the best quality corks.
One of the first and strongest supporters of the screw cap cause was a collection of New Zealand wineries who formed the New Zealand Screwcap Wine Seal Initiative in 2001. Since New Zealand's best wine is their Sauvignon Blanc, it was a "no brainer."
In California, Randall Graham of Bonny Doon has given up on cork completely. All his wines will be bottles with screw caps until he feels that something better is available.
Even the cork axis of Europe is crumbling. Andre Lurton, a Bordeaux company producing four million bottles of wine a year plans to fit all its white wines with screw caps and may soon offer a red capped also.
In 1990, Congress passed the National Organic Foods Act which put the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in charge of establishing regulations for organic foods and food products. The USDA established the National Organic Standard Board (NOSB) to advise them. Fermented beverages were included in the Organic Foods Act by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). You can see where this is leading; to what I call Government Anarchy. Alas, I am not finished. Next came the National Organic Program (NOP) also part of the USDA. The NOP’s goal has been to set guidelines for the processing and labeling of organic products. According to the NOP and the ATF, there are 4 categories that organic wines can claim: (1)100% Organic, (2)Organic, (3) Made With Organic Ingredients, and (4)Some Organic Ingredients. In order for “Organic” wine to bear the USDA organic seal, it must be made from organically grown grapes and give information as to the certifying agency. A wine in this category cannot have any added sulfites. It may have naturally occurring sulfites, but the total sulfite level must be less than 20 parts per million.
“Made With Organic Grapes” must be made from all organic grapes, but it can include added sulfites.
Now we get to the real confusion. What do organic wine and sulfites have to do with each other? Sulfite or sulfur dioxide is used as a preservative in wines, especially whites. It has strong antimicrobial properties and some antioxidant properties. A very small percent of the population can suffer a sensitivity reaction to them. A wine can make the claim “Sulfite Free’ or “No Added Sulfites as long as if sulfites are added, the total does not surpass 10 parts per million. Above 10 parts per million it must make the statement “Contains Sulfites”. [NOTE: The USDA has finally ruled that organically grown wines could contain a maximum of 100 parts per million in the final product.] Finally to complete the confusion, a wine without sulfites does not automatically make it an organic wine because it is quite possible to make a sulfite-free wine with non-organic grapes.
So what is the big deal about organic farming?Organic farming methods are without question better for the earth and its inhabitants. The organic farmer’s primary objective is balanced, fertile soil, and the second is to cause no harm.
Healthy soil will produce a healthy plant capable of fighting off disease. Instead of spraying pesticides, they promote biodiversity (growing plants other than vines around the vineyards.) Biodiversity helps the vineyard soil by attracting beneficial flora, fauna and insects. Organic farmers will add to the soil naturally occurring plant or mineral extracts to support biodiversity. They let weeds grow and periodically mow them so the cut weeds rot back into the ground thus providing organic fertilizer. In organic grape growing, one theory is that organic vineyards have more natural resistance to poor weather or pestilence and perform better in poor vintages.
In the winemaking cellar, “organic” suggests minimal processing and no use of chemical additives. The winemakers pay attention to three factors: the use of yeasts, the fining/filtration method and the use of sulphur. Minimizing the use of sulphur dioxide as an antioxidant is strictly observed. The complete elimination of added sulfites, however, usually takes away from the quality of the wines. Early attempts at making an organic wine most often resulted in wines that were not very good. Much has changed since the early attempts of the 1980’s and 1990s thanks to advances in winemaking technology and grape quality, but acceptance by the public is still very slow in coming.
It seems pretty simple to the Pontificator. Develop organic vineyards, but give the winemaker some leeway in the amount of sulphur he uses to stabilize the wine.
Vinifera is common European grape cultivated in many varieties; chief source of Old World wine and table grapes. Classed within this species are the best-known table and wine grape varieties such as Riesling, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Merlot and Gamay.
So what is the problem? Wine purist have always believed that the only true wines had to be made from vinifera. Hybrids were upstarts that would never be considered true wines. In the early days, The wines of the Finger Lakes were looked down upon by the American and the international wine lovers until the area started producing varietal wines made from the vinifera family. (Varietal means the wine is made primarily from one grape variety.) Sadly, even though there are some world class vinifera wines being made in the Finger Lakes, recognition has been slow in coming.
Many grape growers in the region still plant hybrids along with their vinifera and it has proved to be a very smart decision. The newer generation of wine drinkers are still developing their taste in wine and do not follow the purist rule that a wine is not a true wine if it is not made from vinifera.
The American palate has developed much differently than the European wine palate. Americans will drink wine without food which is usually not the case in Europe.
In Europe, children drink wine at a young age when dining. The younger the child the more water is mixed with the wine until he or she is old enough to have all wine with dinner. Young children in America usually are made to drink milk with their food and as they get older they will drink juice or soda. As they get heavier some will drink diet soda. I am sure it is not that simple but it does explain why Europeans like very dry wine with their food and most Americans also like dry but with plenty of fruit.
Tastes are different not only from region to region but also from person to person. If you spend a Saturday or Sunday at a Finger Lakes winery, these facts become obvious. “Favorite” runs the gamut from sweet red hybrids to dry viniferas. The new generation of wine drinkers are speaking volumes about personal taste.
Hybrid or vinifera? Who cares!! As long as the wine taste good wine lovers are content.
89 Points
Racy style, with lots of black cherry, raspberry, tobacco, tar and game notes followed by a smoky, minerally finish. Nice purity and drive. Drink now. 6,000 cases made. –JM Wine Spectator, May 31, 2006 Issue
89 Points
The 2004 Côtes du Rhône is a straightforward, pleasant wine meant for drinking over the next several years. Drink 2006-2009 -RP Wine Advocate, February 26, 2006 Issue
1.The descriptions are different from each other.
2. The Spectator says drink now and the Advocate says drink 2006-2009.
3. Most importantly. The Spectator tasted it in May of 2006 and the Advocate tasted 4 months earlier in February 2006
Now it is 2007. If you bought the same wine at the time of this magazine's publication, it probably tasted different than either of the previous tasting notes. If your favorite wine store generates its own tasting notes, their notes will be closer to how the wine is tasting when you buy it, but remember the proof of what is in the bottle is your own nose and mouth.
"Grand Crew Screwed"
WineTracks Magazine copyright 2007 All Rights Reserved
