In Europe, the old world, a wine is judged on how well it represents the place where the wine was made. A wine from Burgundy, France, for example, is not judged on much it tastes like Pinot Noir (the exclusive red grape of Burgundy) but on how well it represents the village or vineyard where the grapes were grown. This concept is known as terroir, and it’s the cornerstone of European wine production. It originates from centuries of trial-and-error efforts to produce the very best wines a place has to offer. It includes matching the vineyard sites that have the best soils, altitudes, and exposure to the sun with a particular grape best suited to those conditions. In addition, over many generations the winemakers honed their vineyard practices and winemaking techniques to coax the best from each vine.
Eventually these specific sites and the areas around them began to exhibit a sense of place that distinguished them from other wine areas even a short distance away. As time went on this became the standard by which the quality of a wine was measured. The French base their Appellation d’Origine Controlee system on these very principles. It ‘s the reason that most wines in France and throughout Europe are named for the place the grapes were grown and not for the grape from which the wine was made.
Conversely, in the New world, which includes North America, South America, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia, a wine is judged on how well it behaves like the grape from which it was made. A merlot from the Napa Valley, then, is not judged how well it tastes like a Napa Valley wine but solely on its merits as a merlot. As a result, New World wines are usually named for the grape used to make the wine. (Federal law requires that a wine contain at least seventy-five percent of the grape named on the label.)
The reason the New World, led by the United States, approached wind production from this entirely different perspective is that winemakers here did not have centuries of tradition and trial and error to guide their wine industry. Nor did they have the cultural wine-drinking habits that Europe had. Keep in mind that buying, selling, and consuming wine was a crime for thirteen years during Prohibition. The new world wine industry on began to take shape after World War II.
But what the New World did have was innovation and technology, and it applied them with earnest. New vineyard techniques and winemaking technology, including temperature-controlled fermenting tanks, helped bring wine production out of its dark age. And the whole world has benefitted.
Today, the “terroirists ” of the Old World and technologists of the New World are slowly melding philosophies. French wine growers, for example, use stainless-steel tanks that are temperature-controlled and run by computers. They have also put into practice many of the vineyard innovations discovered by Australian and Americans. For their part, the New World wine growers now pay special attention to each vineyard site and do what is necessary to preserve those distinctions in the wine. It is not an overstatement to say that because of the bringing together of these two strong and relevant philosophies, the world has entered into what can only be considered a Golden Age of wine production.
(abridged from “the art of wine taste” by Richard Kinssies)
Eventually these specific sites and the areas around them began to exhibit a sense of place that distinguished them from other wine areas even a short distance away. As time went on this became the standard by which the quality of a wine was measured. The French base their Appellation d’Origine Controlee system on these very principles. It ‘s the reason that most wines in France and throughout Europe are named for the place the grapes were grown and not for the grape from which the wine was made.
Conversely, in the New world, which includes North America, South America, South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia, a wine is judged on how well it behaves like the grape from which it was made. A merlot from the Napa Valley, then, is not judged how well it tastes like a Napa Valley wine but solely on its merits as a merlot. As a result, New World wines are usually named for the grape used to make the wine. (Federal law requires that a wine contain at least seventy-five percent of the grape named on the label.)
The reason the New World, led by the United States, approached wind production from this entirely different perspective is that winemakers here did not have centuries of tradition and trial and error to guide their wine industry. Nor did they have the cultural wine-drinking habits that Europe had. Keep in mind that buying, selling, and consuming wine was a crime for thirteen years during Prohibition. The new world wine industry on began to take shape after World War II.
But what the New World did have was innovation and technology, and it applied them with earnest. New vineyard techniques and winemaking technology, including temperature-controlled fermenting tanks, helped bring wine production out of its dark age. And the whole world has benefitted.
Today, the “terroirists ” of the Old World and technologists of the New World are slowly melding philosophies. French wine growers, for example, use stainless-steel tanks that are temperature-controlled and run by computers. They have also put into practice many of the vineyard innovations discovered by Australian and Americans. For their part, the New World wine growers now pay special attention to each vineyard site and do what is necessary to preserve those distinctions in the wine. It is not an overstatement to say that because of the bringing together of these two strong and relevant philosophies, the world has entered into what can only be considered a Golden Age of wine production.
(abridged from “the art of wine taste” by Richard Kinssies)
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