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What do you base your opinion on?

Posted by jimbill on October 24, 2011 at 20:31:51:
Mike, by your own admisssion you don't drink wines outside of California.

Now I see where you are branching out to Washington. Be sure to try Saviah and Seven Hills.

But I'm talking about Bourdeaux and Barolo from the late '60s and early '70s. California made a few, BV "George LaTour" comes to mind. Upon release they were hard to drink. The tannins could almost pucker your mouth. But given a few years they changed. Not just mellowing, but adding dimensions.

It wasn't just terrior, it was blending practices, heavier tannins, not picking the grapes at maximimum ripeness. I'm sure there was a lot more than this that the wine makers were doing to make their wine complex, but these stand out in my mind.

But wine became more popular in the mid '80s and people new to wine didn't want to wait for these wines to come into their own. Wineries had to make a profit to stay in business so they went with the new flow.

Sutter Home white zin brought a whole lot of people into the game. Then Australia made reds accessible by dropping the tight tannins and holding the grapes until ultimate ripeness, making a "sweet" red. The rest of the wine world followed suit. Luckily this practise is starting to back down. But nowhere near to the old style.

There are still a few holdouts for the old style, but it is a very small percentage.

But who cares? Wine is for enjoyment and if more people are enjoying them then that is a good thing.