The National Wine
UnClub
Newsletter
What Next?
Hello to all. I have to admit - I'm feeling a considerable bit of depression these days; anxiousness about the state of the world. I'm sure that most of you are feeling this way at some level as well. How can it be otherwise with our country now embarked upon a conflict of uncertain proportions? This nagging sense of foreboding is just a natural reaction to current events and we should all recognize that it's not a personal defect; just a heightened awareness of what's afoot on our troubled globe.
As a young man, Bob Dylan sang: "The Times they are a-changin'". Is this a good thing or is it bad? I, for one, can't tell currently; I believe the right thing will emerge, although I think things are possibly going to get worse before they get better. Something like a boil that has to come to a head before it can be lanced which then allows for a proper healing afterwards. The point here is that the issue at hand must be addressed or no healing can occur.
A lot of people are asking me lately about how the wine business is faring; are people buying French wine or are they boycotting these products? First, let me say that the wine business is alive and well in America today. Americans have discovered wine's genteel character, both intense and subtle at the same time when the wine is good. Liquor products (excluding specialties and premiums) continue to slide in popularity while fine wine has come to the fore as the American beverage of choice (particularly with meals).
On the question of customers boycotting French wine, I must say that some have chosen to avoid all alcohol-related products of French manufacture, including Grey Goose vodka, French Cognac, and of course, all French wines. This I believe is their right, and I fully appreciate the reason for the sentiment. Other wine enthusiasts continue to buy French wines with abandon; not because they perceive these wines as French products, but rather because they just happen to be the wines they have preferred for years, politics never entering the thought process during their purchase.
Wine for me has always been a symbol of life, a means and a reason to come together for people who love the simple joys of everyday living: a meal shared with friends and family in a safe and secure surround of home-like atmosphere. I've shared moments like this with people from both France and Spain. I've also experienced moments in these countries when I felt quite unsafe. However, the moment I meet a winery owner and his family, despite language barriers, we become fast friends, if only for a few hours while we share food, drink, and comradery.
Europe as a whole has added so much to the enculturation of the United States; just from the standpoint of various cuisines and styles of wine, let alone the diverse world of European architecture, art, and science. Americans have embraced the beauty of the Old World to create our own version of culture as it is today. This is the overall beauty of our relationship, and I predict this will continue, despite our differences.
Winemaking in the United States is still a learning process, augmented quite healthily by visits made by American vignerons to the vineyards of Europe. Because it is the vineyard that counts in the Old World, with the winemaker's skills a distant second place consideration. In California, the reverse is held to be true by most wineries. Here a superstar winemaker can try his/her hand at a multitude of grape types and wine styles in the same vineyard plot, contrasted by Europe, where approved vineyard varietals and wine styles are codified into strict laws.
The exchange of ideas between Californians and their European counterparts has also inspired a reverse trend exemplified most dramatically in Tuscany, where non-traditional varietals like Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Syrah are commonly blended with the traditional Tuscan Sangiovese to produce some of the world's finest wines, known here as 'super Tuscans'. This change is a good thing, ushering the Chianti area's old-school vignerons into the new era of fine wine.
As we move cautiously forward with our brave new world order, let us not forget the beautiful, the practical, and the absolutely essential nature of our cultural relationships. Certainly this has very little to do with the self-aggrandizing politics we see so prevalent on the world stage today.
Cheers!
Donald W. White