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French Wine

post #1 of 22
5/30/08 at 2:20pm
Thread Starter 
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/com...cle4029465.ece

Not sure if this a good or bad thing.
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post #2 of 22
5/30/08 at 2:34pm
The French just need to batten down the hatches and wait for Robert Parker to die. Then there won't be this pressure for them the change well-established appellations that have a an inherent logic based on centuries of experience.

Parker is the force behind the market wanting more fruity wines. That being said, I wonder if such a change would affect anything besides the lowest quality wines.
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post #3 of 22
5/30/08 at 2:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by HORNS View Post
The French just need to batten down the hatches and wait for Robert Parker to die. Then there won't be this pressure for them the change well-established appellations that have a an inherent logic based on centuries of experience.

Parker is the force behind the market wanting more fruity wines. That being said, I wonder if such a change would affect anything besides the lowest quality wines.

I don't really think your analysis is correct. While I'm no fan of Parker, he did singlehandedly reintroduce the world to Hermitage and the wines of the Northern Rhone. He also championed such unknown blockbusters as Le Tertre Roteboeuf. These are hardly what people would describe as "fruity" wines, although they have great fruit.

I think the real problem is that people's taste have become accustomed to the sweet and the bland. One only need look at the proliferation of drinks such as Appletinis, Mudslides etc, or the ascendancy of vodka as the most popular spirit to see the trend towards unsophisticated drinking. Another example would be the way cognac and gin makers have introduced "dumbed down" bland products in order to try to retain market share. I think it is this trend more than anything that any wine reviewer has said that is driving the trend towards less interesting wines.
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post #4 of 22
5/30/08 at 2:55pm
Without a doubt, my tidy little nugget of analysis in no way sums up what is going on. However, for the wine market, I do think that Parker has had so much influence that it has felt major pressure to change due to his tastes being the benchmark for much of this industry.

But, like you said, general tastes of the consumer evolve regardless. . .
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post #5 of 22
5/30/08 at 3:02pm
I always thought Parker favored more strong tannin wines. It seems every time I follow his advice and buy a wine highly rated by him, it turns out to be a wine with high tannins, and not necessarily sweet.
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post #6 of 22
5/30/08 at 3:11pm
He loves fruit. While the Rhone wines were under the radar and he brought these to the general publics attention, his overall preferences have been fruitier and more decadent wines, but that does not translate to sweetness, necessarily.

French wines are not really fruity and decadent by California standards - they are more austere and sometimes require a meal to really bring out their greatest qualities. Thus, many winemakers, unfortunately, have tried tweaking their wines withing the guidelines to make them more presentable and therefore more highly rated by Parker. This is why I have my opinion. And yes it's just an opinion!
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post #7 of 22
5/30/08 at 9:38pm
Totally agree. Parker has done some good things, but also warped regional tastes to fit the international market. When he was still writing, I preferred Clive Coates as a good counterbalance especially on Burgundy, which Parker never really understood. Without naming each other, Parker and Coates did some serious pissing on each other with respect to recent vintages of Chateau Pavie. It will be interesting to pull a few corks in 10 years and see who was right.
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post #8 of 22
5/30/08 at 10:01pm
interesting...
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post #9 of 22
5/30/08 at 11:52pm
I totally agree Parker has influenced wine makers, world wide, to fall into line with his tastes, which tend to be fruit forward. I do not think he created things like the Aussie and NZ fruitbombs called "Shiraz", but he certainly preached the gospel. I do think he pushed Cali wines towards a more fruit forward taste and I think, for Cabs in particular, this has led to a lessoning of the wine.

Great, huge wines that used to build for structure and age are now fruit forward and ready to drink in just a few years. Great houses, like Mondavi and George de Latour have fallen into this. People like Peay, which build their wines to last, are now the exception rather than the rule.

No doubt this has hit many French wines too. International winery "consultants" try and get wines to match into the new world taste profile of wines. Terrior is no longer the watch word but rather the vinification technique.

I love many wines, with Pinot being my favorite varietal. There is much good wine to drink. However, I do agree Parker has a certain taste profile he tends to favor and that this has led to a pursuit of that profile by many wineries, both new and old.
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post #10 of 22
6/1/08 at 11:30am
The wines referred to in this article are the < $8 per bottle wines, which in most cases are industrial swill / plonk, and have nothing to do with Parker. Do you really think the people that are buying this stuff have been influenced by Robert Parker, or have even heard of him?

The French are getting their clocks cleaned in this < $8 per bottle category (ususal suspects -- Australia, Chile, U.S.) particularly outside of Europe. Hence the reason for the change, to be able to better compete in this category.
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post #11 of 22
6/1/08 at 12:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tbabes View Post
The wines referred to in this article are the < $8 per bottle wines, which in most cases are industrial swill / plonk, and have nothing to do with Parker. Do you really think the people that are buying this stuff have been influenced by Robert Parker, or have even heard of him? The French are getting their clocks cleaned in this < $8 per bottle category (ususal suspects -- Australia, Chile, U.S.) particularly outside of Europe. Hence the reason for the change, to be able to better compete in this category.
People do not have to have heard of Parker to be influenced by him. People buying less expensive wine will be influenced by "opinion makers" who probably know exactly who Parker is. These opinion makers will probably expose less informed people to wine in the Parker profile, so they will seek cheaper wines that mimic the profile. Also, the reason these blends, using non-traditional (for France) methods of instilling flavor are being produced to compete with the more Parker-esque profile being promulgated. Lastly, you think Parker is not rating those wines from the New World, Spain and Italy? Think again. Just pick up a Wine Spectator.
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post #12 of 22
6/5/08 at 8:25pm
IMO France already has a market for "Entry Level Wines" -- for example, there are many good Rhone varietals in a broad swath of flavor profiles which are both inexpensive and appealing to inexperienced wine drinkers (read: easy to quaff).

However, I respect that France producers are at a disadvantage worldwide in terms of how they market their wine. Labeling it as a "Wine of France" with the varietal (as opposed to the old AOC system -- which is not being abandoned, by the way) will entice more consumers to trying French wines and into purchasing the varietals they like best. While the impact of terrior will decrease, but as wine production has increased in France the AOC system isn't as good a measure of quality and terrior as it once was.
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post #13 of 22
6/5/08 at 8:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by saint View Post
He also championed such unknown blockbusters as Le Tertre Roteboeuf.

Francois Mitjavile is one of the truly warm and charming men in this world. However his success came, he deserves every ounce of it. A really wonderful man.
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post #14 of 22
6/9/08 at 1:35am
Parker is only relevant to Bordeaux, California and perhaps the Rhone. No one I know in wine circles takes anything he says on Australia, NZ, Spain, Germany, Italy, Champagne and, most importantly, Burgundy with any seriousness.

His high scores for super turbo charged Aussie wines had all us Aussies in raptures, esp. Noon, Mollydooker, Greenock Creek and the awful wines of Clarendon Hills (if you don't believe me try the wiens after about 5 years--> they are uniformly awful and falling apart).

In fact I would argue that Parker's influence is waning, even on Bdx given his predilection these days for bigger wines from the right bank and garagiste estates.

For Burgundy, give me Allen Meadows any day. A good all round critic I find is Stephen Tanzer...tough but fair and not prone to over-the-top rantings and scores.

I find Coates, Jancis et al next to useless. Need to break out of that old British tradition of rating wiens within their hierarchy (eg. a premier cru burg CAN be much better than a Grand Cru)
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post #15 of 22
6/9/08 at 11:56am
Zubberah:

An Aussie with some strong wine knowledge it seems. A valuable chance for us chaps from N. America to get some insight on Aussie stuff.

What are your favorite pinots and cabs from Australia and NZ? I have been enjoying various varietals from McClaren Vail and there's a fairly inexpensive pinot from NZ called Akurua that I enjoy as a daily drinker. Looking forward to getting some suggestions from you.

What's your take on Molly and it's rocketship ride in notoriety?
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