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| Visions & Revisions |
Viniculture Clash
01/01/2006
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MacDonald: Locality or terroir or sense of place is
important when you reach a certain level of appreciation. Good wine shows where
it is from when the wine making is not overhanded. As one’s palate becomes more
educated and in tune with a certain region, consumers can appreciate “history”
in the bottle by drinking through the wine they have purchased over the years
and learning what the weather was like during that year in that locale, the
percentage of new wood used and other such minutiae, which is the fun of this
hobby. A 1997 Pinot Noir from Oregon is easy to discern from a 1998; the weather
was totally different.
| “I would not recommend it as an investment for profit motives; it
makes one wary of opening bottles now and then...” |
I think it is possible to find great wines all over
the world, as people are now starting to realize that certain grapes grow better
in certain places. Remember, grape vines are weeds and will grow anywhere.
Getting them to grow effectively is the key.
Where can one find the most sophisticated wine drinkers today? Why?
Barzan: Probably Italy and France, as a percentage of the population. But
some of the most sophisticated drinkers are also British or from the United
States. Robert Parker, Marty Shanken [the publisher of Wine Spectator] and Hugh
Johnson [best-selling wine author] are great examples. They are a smaller
percentage of their population, but they are extremely sophisticated
professionals.
When it comes to the greater population, though, it’s still
Italy and France. It’s part of life there. In the part of Italy I come from, the
Venetian area, we taste wines starting very young. I had my first taste at about
5 years old. We didn’t have any Coca-Colas back then. We didn’t drink wines to
get drunk, of course, but just to taste. I think it’s good for the
body.
MacDonald: You can find them anywhere people are living and taking
their passions with them.
It is estimated that more than 80 percent of the wine sold in the United
States is priced at less than $10 per bottle. In terms of taste and quality, is
there an inherent reason for a $100 bottle of wine to even exist?
Barzan: It
isn’t just the U.S. where the bulk of the population drinks wine that’s less
than $10 a bottle. That’s true in my country as well. I was talking about Coca
Cola; that’s what young people drink. The first time they try wine, they’re 18
years old or so. You can’t give them a great wine; they wouldn’t like it. You
need to start with something sweet and sparkling, something closer to soda.
Maybe at 25, they’ll go for a Valpolicella. Maybe at 30, they’re ready for an
Amarone from Italy, an Opus 1 from California or a Pinot Noir from
Oregon.
Not everybody can pay a lot for wine, even if they like it. But a
higher price can reflect a higher quality, ab-solutely. Some vineyards produce
only a very, very small quantity of grapes, only the highest quality. So they
produce less wine. The market will then set the price. If the market wants
20,000 bottles and only 1,000 were made, the price will go up.
For sure, it
has to be a very different taste. If I’m drinking the top of the Amarones in my
area, they cost a lot of money. But the taste and consistency of these wines
give me a lot of satisfaction, so I’m happy to pay. It is possible to get good
wine for more reasonable prices. The most expensive wine isn’t always the best.
Sometimes wines get overpriced because the market is demanding it. It isn’t
always worth it.
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