TomHill wrote:Interesting article by JamieGoode, as linked in WineTerroirist:
WinesMustBeTrue in which he argues that are wines should not taste "nice" or good, but they must taste "true".
I always sorta thought if the wine in the glass in front of me tasted "good", than that was all that was important. Doh....now I know that that's not the criteria that I should be using...it's supposed to taste "true".
This came up in the two Calif Picpouls I recently tried. I loved the TablasCreek Picpoul because it had this wonderful/powerful aromatics, the likes of which I'd never done did see'd in Picpoul. Alas, now Jamie tells me I should not like this wine because it's not "true"...it doesn't taste anything like a "true" Picpoul de Pinet. Me bad.
Carried to the logical extent, we should should not like Calif Picpoul, or Zin, or Cabernet, or PinotNoir. These are all fake varieties brought in from Europe....they do not taste "true". The only American wine we should like is Concord!! I guess??
Tom [stirthepot.gif]
Tom, I think that you are reading into Jamie's article and particular into "true" something that Jamie didn't intend. I'm sure that Jamie did not mean to say that "true" can only be found in the European regions from where grape varieties originate. Your Picpoul from Tablas Creek is almost certainly be a "true" rendering of that grape from that Californian terroir although very different from and perhaps, for you, superior to a Picpoul de Pinet. From all I read Edmund St.John seems a prime example of "true" wines made in California from European varieties.
Neither "nice" nor "true" strike me as particularly well chosen vocabulary though I struggle to suggest anything better. It seems to me quite an acceptable notion to a serious wine lover that there is a big distinction to be made between
"nice" but largely standardised mass market wines designed to appeal to generations brought up on Coca Cola and sweet soft drinks and
"true" wines which speak clearly with the accent of the terroir and grape with minimum manipulation from the winemaker. He analogy with cheese and his example from Fitou seem well chosen but I hope he is not over-optimistic in suggesting that the producer of "true" wine makes a better living than the neighbour making merely "nice".
That said, I remain sceptical about the likely quality of Californian renderings of European grape varieties such as Mencia, Aglianico, Sagrantino.....until there is proof to the contrary like in the cases of Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel......
