Wine Myths and Reality Vendange Press 2010 Copyright © 2010 by Benjamin Lewin ISBN: 0983729239 This electronic version is identical to the book in print, except that the information in the figures has been updated to 2015. All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Vendange Press. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of the book. All enquiries should be directed to [email protected]. Contents I growing grapes 1 The Spread of the Grapevine 2 Cultivating the Vineyard 3 The Mystique of Terroir 4 Vintage Variation and Global Warming II making wine 5 Turning Grape Juice into Wine 6 The Alchemist’s Delight 7 A Thousand Cultivars Bloom III the world market 8 Global Wine Trends 9 The International Wine Trade 10 Fraud and Scandal IV the New World 11 North America: The Varietal Engine 12 Australia & New Zealand: Pushing The Envelope 13 Up And Coming in the Southern Hemisphere? V the Old World 14 Bordeaux and Burgundy: Classic Rivals 15 Three Parts of Gaul: North, Rhône, and Languedoc 16 Italy: Cool North and Hot South 17 The Iberian Peninsula 18 The Hapsburg Empire: Driving on Sugar 19 From Aperitif to Dessert 20 Truth in Labeling Bibliography Notes Preface Winemaking is not a matter of chance: the completely natural result of fermenting grapes would be vinegar. Every decision you make (or fail to make) in the vineyard or winery affects the style and quality of the wine that finally emerges in the bottle. Wine does not make itself. Never before has there been so much opportunity for the winemaker to direct viticulture and vinification to shape the wine. Wine has never been technically better, but these new possibilities create the dilemma of whether making better wine narrows differences between places, making wines more similar, so their character is lost. Heated arguments occur wherever there is a history of winemaking as to whether today’s wine is better than yesterday’s or has lost its soul. Increased opportunity to manipulate the process leads to the question of how far you can go before wine ceases to be natural and becomes an industrial product. With all these conflicting forces, the question becomes: how and why did the wine in the bottle you buy today come to be like it is. “How” reflects what use the winemaker has made of his ability to influence the process; “why” reflects a mélange of historical, social, and economic forces. The reasons why Bordeaux tastes different from Burgundy, why Barolo is distinct from Rioja, why New World wines are more powerful than European wines, not to mention why wines everywhere have changed so greatly in recent decades, reflect an interplay of factors going far beyond the simple facts of what types of grapes are grown in each place. Never has there been so much experimentation with grape growing or wine making, and so much innovation in wine styles. Yet at the same time, the focus has been sharpening on a small number of varieties at the expense of diversity. Has this led to more or less choice for the consumer? Many myths stand in the way of understanding why wine is like it is, myths about viticulture, myths about winemaking, myths about the historical verities of wine. I’m interested in the context of each wine, not just how it is made, but also why the winemaker decided to make it like that. “Why” extends beyond the individual winemaker into asking what issues determine the success (or otherwise) of each wine region. The basic question I want to ask in this book is what’s really going on when they make wine? This is not a muckraking book or an exposé, but I do want to debunk myths about wine and to set the record straight by throwing light on issues that have been murky or misunderstood. I believe in the value of transparency. And if the results are not always pleasing, the solution is to change production methods or to educate the consumer, rather than to cover up. When I mentioned the theme of this book to one of my MW colleagues, he was vaguely horrified. “Oh dear,” he said, “you don’t want to do that. It will destroy the romantic image.” Perhaps it is its ancient origins that give wine its mythic aura. Or perhaps its central role in hospitality. Or the fact that every year is different. Or perhaps it’s the halo effect of top wines that have become collectible items. Possibly it’s no more than a great marketing success in making wine appear an artisanal product whatever its real origins. For whatever reason, the world of wine has an unusual gap between perception and reality. When asked if they would like to try an organic wine, many consumers are puzzled. “Isn’t all wine organic?” they often ask. Well, no, it isn’t. Most of it is an industrial product. Most people think of wine as resulting directly from the fermentation of grapes. But wine production has never been entirely natural. In ancient times, herbs and spices were used for flavoring; in modern times adding sugar before fermentation was introduced to increase alcohol levels, and extraneous notes are introduced by exposure to oak or by other manipulations. In fact, manipulation during and after fermentation is extensive, and wine owes much of its flavor to decisions made by winemakers trying to satisfy the consumer market. What goes into the bottle, what you actually drink when you open a bottle of wine, is determined not just by the vagaries of vintage and the hazards of winemaking, but also by market forces. Perhaps twenty or thirty years ago, the wine you were offered was what the producer wanted to make, or possibly what he was able to make. The transition to a consumer-driven market has caused a sweeping change, with wines tailored to demand. And of course the wine market is distorted by the iniquities of taxation like any other product, in fact, more than any other product, because alcoholic products are so attractive as targets for taxation. On top of this is the generally hostile attitude of the European Union to any form of alcohol consumption. The wine you drink depends on the interplay of all these forces. Many of the wines of the Old World have long histories that still significantly impact the wines of today. Most of the wines of the New World are much more recent creations without the same historical constraints. Viticulture and vinification have evolved enormously in the past couple of decades, giving the winemaker far more control over the state of his grapes and what happens to them after harvest. Consumers, especially those who have come recently into wine, are driving a trend towards wines that are fruitier, and that can be drunk sooner than those of the past. Formidable export drives from new wine-producing countries have made new choices in wine widely available. Markets generally have become more open, with wine sold in supermarkets rather than specialist stores. Technological changes in grape growing and winemaking have combined with new sources for production and more open markets to change the face of wine, from plonk sold in 5 liter containers to rare bottles that can be had only on allocation by a happy few. I begin where it all starts: with the grape. From there we go to how grape juice is turned into wine, to the nature of the international wine trade and its consequences for the consumer, and finally in detail to the wines themselves of the New and Old Worlds, where we look at the effects of contemporary forces in each country on its production of wine. This book makes no attempt to be comprehensive: it is not an encyclopedia, but rather an account of trend setters, driving forces—the factors determining why wine is like it is. At the end of the day, we should see why plonk is different from fine wine, what determines the flavor profiles of different wines, how New World wines differ from Old World wines, what global warming is going to do to wine production, and how all these various forces will impact wine production in the future. Sometimes there are no answers, but the questions are thought-provoking. This book is intended for anyone interested in why wine tastes as it does. If you don’t care about the fine details, it can be read entirely without reference to the charts or notes. (If they look intimidating, just ignore them.) But assertions without support have little conviction, so charts contain supporting information for those who are interested in any particular aspect, and the notes give sources for those who would like to be sure I didn’t just make it all up. One of the pleasures of writing this book has been many fascinating interaction with winemakers and others in many regions, with far too many people to thank individually for interesting discussions, not to mention hospitality and tastings, but I must thank Kip Kumler, Jim Lapsley, Peter Sichel, Helio San Miguel, Liz Thach, and Vincenzo Zampi whose insightful comments on the book helped to improve it greatly. And as always, I was accompanied around the world of wine by my indefatigable traveling and tasting companion, without whom this would scarcely have been possible. Benjamin Lewin MW