Bold and ultraripe
While everyone else in the wine world chatters about the new Robert Parker biography, The Emperor of Wine, and Tony Hendra's review [registration required] of same in the New York Times August 17 Book Review, I'm going to harken back to a little article in the May 19 San Francisco Chronicle: High-end buyers like their wines 'bold and ultraripe'. These kinds of articles are low-hanging fruit, but here goes anyway.
"Consumers said darker wines were more appealing than lighter-colored ones."
The current color fetish is silly. There is no reliable correlation between flavor intensity and color. And it's not necessarily the case that more intense flavor is better. As importer Terry Theise points out, "More is not better; better is better." The second part of this formulation is of course a tautology, though of the koanic kind. The first part is simply true.
"The descriptor 'tangy with crisp acidity,' ... drew more negative reactions than positives among all respondents."
This is probably the most depressing part of the article for me. "Tangy with crisp acidity" practically defines a good white wine (and rosé), and it's a positive attribute in most red wines. I have no quarrel with people who like to drink ripe, jammy wines - as one particular style of wine. To quote Terry Theise again, "Happiness is discovering that you're ticklish in more than one place."
But more generally, I find it depressing when people react negatively to acidity. This is my main quarrel with Robert Parker. That he praises big, ripe wines is fine with me. That he thinks low acidity is a positive characteristic in wine is screwed up! (If you need to be convinced, read Acidity Is Your Friend.)
It seems to me that "tangy with crisp acidity" is exactly the characteristic of many successful new world wines - for example, many of the wines from California's Central Coast. They're rich and high in alcohol, and I don't particularly want to drink them with dinner, but their acidity keeps them from seeming ponderous.
Some 55 percent of high-end wine drinkers were 'very interested' in purchasing a wine described as 'bold and ultraripe.' 'Rich and opulent' didn't have the resonance of 'bold and ultraripe.'"
This part is simply puzzling to me. Why exactly doesn't "rich and opulent" have the resonance of "bold and ultraripe"? I guess it's another facet of "more is better"?
Then again, there are all kinds of problems with this kinds of study. 307 people isn't a large sample, and 79 "high-end consumers" is a particularly dinky group. The article says that the study defines a "high-end consumer" is someone who frequently buys red wines priced more than $15 per bottle. There is of course nothing wrong with drinking under-$15 bottles of wine - red or otherwise - but this seems like a weird definition of "high-end consumer".
Thankfully, most of my CruForge clients, Paul Marcus Wines customers, friends, and dinner guests comprise a much more varied and open-minded group.
"Consumers said darker wines were more appealing than lighter-colored ones."
The current color fetish is silly. There is no reliable correlation between flavor intensity and color. And it's not necessarily the case that more intense flavor is better. As importer Terry Theise points out, "More is not better; better is better." The second part of this formulation is of course a tautology, though of the koanic kind. The first part is simply true.
"The descriptor 'tangy with crisp acidity,' ... drew more negative reactions than positives among all respondents."
This is probably the most depressing part of the article for me. "Tangy with crisp acidity" practically defines a good white wine (and rosé), and it's a positive attribute in most red wines. I have no quarrel with people who like to drink ripe, jammy wines - as one particular style of wine. To quote Terry Theise again, "Happiness is discovering that you're ticklish in more than one place."
But more generally, I find it depressing when people react negatively to acidity. This is my main quarrel with Robert Parker. That he praises big, ripe wines is fine with me. That he thinks low acidity is a positive characteristic in wine is screwed up! (If you need to be convinced, read Acidity Is Your Friend.)
It seems to me that "tangy with crisp acidity" is exactly the characteristic of many successful new world wines - for example, many of the wines from California's Central Coast. They're rich and high in alcohol, and I don't particularly want to drink them with dinner, but their acidity keeps them from seeming ponderous.
Some 55 percent of high-end wine drinkers were 'very interested' in purchasing a wine described as 'bold and ultraripe.' 'Rich and opulent' didn't have the resonance of 'bold and ultraripe.'"
This part is simply puzzling to me. Why exactly doesn't "rich and opulent" have the resonance of "bold and ultraripe"? I guess it's another facet of "more is better"?
Then again, there are all kinds of problems with this kinds of study. 307 people isn't a large sample, and 79 "high-end consumers" is a particularly dinky group. The article says that the study defines a "high-end consumer" is someone who frequently buys red wines priced more than $15 per bottle. There is of course nothing wrong with drinking under-$15 bottles of wine - red or otherwise - but this seems like a weird definition of "high-end consumer".
Thankfully, most of my CruForge clients, Paul Marcus Wines customers, friends, and dinner guests comprise a much more varied and open-minded group.
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