Well, the obvious difference is the one on the right is empty! A slightly closer look tells us the wine on the left is a Merlot and the wine (fomer wine) on the right is a Zinfandel. These are both California wines. Let's take a closer look.
The Merlot is produced by Mayacamas Vineyards on the steep slopes of Mt. Veeder, above Napa Valley. It is classified as a Napa Valley wine. You might recall an earlier post about another Mt. Veeder producer, Wing Canyon Vineyards. Importantly, notice the vintage is 1995.
The Zinfandel is by Christopher Creek Winery, a producer in Sonoma County. This wine is from the 2008 vintage. The winegrowing appellation, the area where the grapes were grown, is Dry Creek Valley in Sonoma County, north of Healdsburg.
Beginning in the 1990s, many producers began to refine viticultural and winemaking techniques to create wines with bolder, richer flavors that are approachable and ready to drink upon release. The historical model of wines is that they need time to evolve, to settle down, and for their complexity and subtle nuances to reveal themselves. Well, Americans often expect to drink wines right away. It has been said that the average length of time Americans age their wines is 20 minutes on the car seat! It's a cute expression, but there is some truth in it.
Our culture often treats wine as a leisure beverage, to be enjoyed over casual conversation or relaxation, with or without food, what I sometimes call patio wine. Wines with strong tannins or high acidity don't always lend themselves to this style of consumption. Softer, rounder, richer, bolder flavors work well for this. Europeans, on the other hand, have long viewed wine as first and foremost a beverage to enjoy at the table with food. For this purpose, structure with tannins and acidity complement food, enhancing the dining experience, sort of 1 + 1 = 3.
Influential wine critics, especially James Laube, who reviews most California wines for Wine Spectator, and Robert Parker, who publishes the Wine Advocate, usually award high scores to the rich, ripe style. That drives sales when consumers read their reviews and see those little shelf talkers in wine shops. Faced with a bewildering array of wines, a high score means at least somebody liked it, so that wine gets selected.
The wheels on the bus go round and round. Many people like easy, soft, bold, rich wines. Laube and Parker bless them with high scores. Consumers choose the wines with big numbers. Producers must sell their wines in a very competitive market, so they try to make wines that will get high scores... Riper wines have higher sugar levels. Yeast ferments sugar to alcohol in the winemaking process, so higher sugar translates to higher alcohol. Let's look at these two wines again more closely.
Mayacamas Vineyards is a very traditional producer. Their wines are made in a traditional style, more like Bordeaux than Napa Valley in some ways, even now. But look at the alcohol level on the label of this 1995 Merlot, 12.5%. This is a wine that rewards cellaring and really needs at least a few years to show itself fully. If you want to sip this wine by the pool, go ahead. You might like it on its own...it is lovely, perfumed with violets, currant, and mineral notes. But if you want to drink this wine over a long, lingering dinner of, say, beef tenderloin, grilled to medium rare perfection, or rack of lamb with mint, shared with friends or a special person, then you are in for a treat.
To be fair, Zinfandel is not Merlot. It often requires higher sugars for adequate ripeness. I recently read an article that quoted Paul Draper, one of the most noted Zinfandel experts, as saying that any Zinfandel under 14% alcohol has been artificially manipulated to lower the level. So, it may not be completely fair to compare a 1995 Merlot with a 2008 Zinfandel, but it is a good example of how some wines have turned into monsters of jammy fruit and high alcohol. Fifteen point nine percent! Lots of people love this style and to them, I say that's great. Drink the wines you like. If you like it, it's good wine. Zinfandel is great with comfort food....think pizza, burgers, nachos, ribs...and it's not usually highly expensive.
My problem with a wine like this is it leaves me fatigued after a glass or so. Mary and I like to share a bottle of wine most evenings with dinner, talking about our day, enjoying each other's companionship, living life as we love it. But after a bottle of a wine with alcohol this high, we just feel washed out and sleepy afterward. As you saw in the first photo, it is an empty bottle. Here are my notes on the wine.
The wine was not undrinkable, but it had the usual overblown, raisiny or pruney qualities of the modern style of too many California wines, especially Zinfandel. The nose was dark plum, raisins, chocolate, and toast from the barrel. The palate was full-bodied, low in acidity, with mocha-infused flavors of dark fruit, plum, jammy marmalade. Not all that complex and not very friendly with food. It was hedonistic and many people like this style, but I am not among them. Modestly complex, a bit hot on the palate from the alcohol, not well balanced to me, medium length. 15.9% alcohol.
Ok, choose your style. Maybe you like them both. A lush, fruit-foward wine for simple relaxation and more restrained and elegant wines for dinner occasions. Diversity of wine and wine preferences is wonderful. I'm hoping the pendulum is beginning to swing back to a happy medium toward somewhat lower alcohols and better structure, but different wine styles will always be with us. And that's as it should be.
And for the record, Mary and I have enjoyed many, many Christopher Creek wines on many, many occasions and look forward to doing so again.
That's it for today. Thanks for following the blog! Don't forget to visit us again at Cèpage et Cuisine. In the meantime,
Cheers!
Brian♥Mary
No comments:
Post a Comment