Why European Wines? (Part 1)

I get this question a lot, mainly from well-meaning friends and family. They worry about my choice of wines to represent, pointing to currency fluctuations, changing political winds and the rising costs of shipping as examples of the challenges I face. And rightfully so, let's face it, there are still important tracts of this country that resent France for their stance concerning the Iraq war. On the other hand, California and Australian wines are fruity, easy to drink, and sell well.

Except that I don't represent something unless I can drink it. And I don't like most CA wines (note I said "most", not all) and practically all Australian wines that I've tasted so far (yes, I said "all", deal with it).

These days, it seems like everyone and their brother is making wine out West, and the amount of plonk (that's a quasi-technical term meaning crap) being sold is staggering. As in Australia, these wines are super spoofy (another sort of technical term for overly ripe, almost sweet fruit and extraction, also known as "fruit bombs"), acidulated (a real technical term meaning acid's been added to balance the huge fruit's sugars), very oaky (I mean, they're pressing grapes, not trees, right; there have been times when I've practically pulled splinters from my teeth after tasting some of these wines) and very hot (high in alcohol). I mean, how can you eat anything with an oaky, sweet CA Cabernet that's 15-17%/volume? It hammers you over the head, one sip and you'll keel over drunk. It's a meal on it's own!

Worse, the prices for these newcomers, with no history and no experience, are extremely high. Why should you have to pay for some millionaire's development and marketing costs? He was the one who wanted to terrace that granite mountain with dynamite, not you. My God, the first $300 CA Cab just came out from a new winery! WTF???? Are they nuts?

It's not that these winemakers are evil. In fact, I've met many of them and count several as my friends. Heck, one used to be in my tasting group in NYC. These are passionate people, doing the best they can with what Nature is giving them.

But to me, that's the issue.

OK, I'm going to get technical now, so bear with me: in my honest opinion, these areas are not conducive to making balanced wines. There, I said it. To make a good wine, you need to stress the vine. Yet in CA or Australia, the weather's very hot, so the grapes ripen quickly but unevenly, and the soils are rather rich. What you end up with are super sweet, ripe grapes that are not fully mature (especially on the inside and the stems, what's called phenolic maturity), so the balance between acidity and sugars is not in place. In addition, all this sugar leads to lots of heat, as the yeasts devour them and turn them into lots of alcohol. Finally, to control these huge fruit and alcohol profiles, the winemakers use strong new oak, which imparts those vanilla and toasty and practically woody notes to the wines.

Granted, the end product is slightly sweet, fruity and gives you a nice buzz. That's fine if you like and want that. I don't. In fact, we're seeing a sea change in the way Americans consume wine, they are asking for more elegant wines, wines that emphasize finesse rather than power. And I want wines like that, wines that will go with food and won't leave me holding my head the next day. Or worse, praying to the porcelain goddess that same night...

So, long story short, I can't represent in good faith wines that I can't drink. I can't sell something I don't believe in. I want people to taste my wines and go "oooooh", or some variation thereof. Better yet, I want the person at the next table to look up and say "I'll have what she's having".

Next: Because...
Cheers!