HORNS
Stylish Dinosaur
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2008
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There's no doubt about the mastery of some of these winemakers at creating the wines - especially a wine like d'Yquem that has another huge factor in the quality like boytritis. In my limited knowledge, that seems to be a whole other universe of winemaking - and it certainly shows in their product!Yes, part of the consistency of many wines is out of the hands of humans. But look again at d'Yquem - their 2006 is stellar in a lackluster vintage. They took the time to pick only the grapes that would produce wine up to their standard. I don't have production quotas on me, but I'd be willing to bet they vary their case production from year to year as they alter yield. An exception for d'Yquem may be their '93 that seemed rushed to just make something and it wasn't up to their usual standards.
Many producers will produce wines that can vary heavily from year to year - but the best will take the time and effort to ensure a fantastic wine. Bordeaux is much less terroire based than Burgundy, yet there are always producers that will make a fantastic wine regardless of the vintage (with the washout exceptions). The 1997 Ausone may be another example, I'd argue it's the best wine out of a horrible year for St. Emillion - yet Ausone is always one of the best wines from the right bank.
But still, you can't make great wine from mediocre grapes. Also, I was under the impression that Burgandy was more involved in the negociant system, which allows a greater variability in the quality of grapes a winemaker uses?