The Booklovers' Guide to Wine

by Patrick Alexander

  The formation of the European Union in the 1970s gave increased legal power to European winemakers who objected to the indiscriminate use of regional names like Champagne and Burgundy. At the same time, wine writers like Frank Schoonmaker and winemakers like Robert Mondavi encouraged the Alsace tradition of classifying and labeling the wines by their constituent grape. Consequently, for the past forty years, all New World wines have been identified by their grape varietal rather than their terroir. Today, even some French wines are identifying the varietal on the label in order to compete in the US market.

  Marketing: While many European vineyards, especially in Burgundy, remain small family-owned affairs, many of the New World vineyards are owned by large corporations. The recent international increase in wine consumption leading to the dramatic globalization of the wine industry has led to vast economies of scale. In order to secure a contract with Costco or Tesco—who will need to stock the shelves of hundreds of their retailers—the wine producer needs to guarantee the delivery of thousands of bottles of consistently identical and dependable wine. This means that small independent wineries cannot compete with giant corporations. Consequently, especially in the New World, there has been rapid consolidation in the industry, with large international conglomerates owning lots of different brands in many different countries. Constellation Brands, for example, owns ninety-one different wine brands, including Mondavi in California, Kim Crawford in New Zealand, and Ruffino in Italy. The quintessential French company Pernod owns the quintessential Australian Shiraz producer, Jacob’s Creek, and the quintessential Australian beer producer, Fosters (through its Treasury Estates subsidiary) owns that jewel of Napa Valley wineries, Beringer. The consumer may believe that he is getting a cute bottle of French artisanal wine from the Languedoc when he buys a bottle of Red Bicyclette, but the winery is actually owned, controlled, and marketed by E&J Gallo, California’s largest producer of jug-wines.

  Figure 6: Selection of major wine brands sold in the USA by owner

  Constellation Brands (91 brands), including: Woodbridge, Rex Goliath, Kim Crawford, Blackstone, Simi, Estancia, Covey Run, Ste. Chapelle, Mondavi, Ruffino

  E&J Gallo (50 brands), including: Alamos, Ecco Domani, Black Swan, Indigo Hills, Turning Leaf, Canyon Road, Martini, Barefoot, Carlo Rossi, Red Bicyclette

  Foster’s Treasury Wine Estates (50 brands), including: Beringer, Château St. Jean, Greg Norman, Lindeman’s, Matua Valley, Penfolds, Rosémount, Souverain, Stags’ Leap, Wolf Blass

  Trinchero Estates (26 brands), including: Sutter Home, Ménage à Trois, Trinity Oaks, The Bandit, The Show, Napa Cellars, Reynolds, Little Boomey, Terra D’Oro, Three Thieves

  Bronco (110 Brands), including: Charles Shaw, Two Buck Chuck, Estrella, Rutherford Vintners, Fox Hollow, Fat Cat, Crane Lake, Forest Glen, JW Morris, Red Truck

  Ste Michelle (15 brands), including: Château Ste. Michelle, Stag’s Leap, Colombia Crest, Snoqualmie, Northstar, Red Diamond, Col Solare, Villa Mt. Eden, Red Diamond, 14 Hands, Ethos Reserve

  In his fascinating book Wine Politics, Tyler Colman quotes a senior French wine industry official in 2000, saying, “We don’t make wine to please consumers. We make wines that are typical of their terroirs. Fortunately for us, consumers like them.” Unfortunately for that arrogant official, the times are a-changing, and consumers are no longer dependent on the dictates of French bureaucrats. The Aussies have joined the game. While the winemakers of Burgundy fine tune their Appellation laws and wine labels to differentiate one side of a hill from another, and German winemakers create consumer confusion with labels mixing Grosslage with Einzellagen, the Australians cut straight to the chase with pictures of sweet, cuddly animals.

  In 2005, the Old World conglomerate LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey) sold six hundred thousand cases of wine at an average price of $44, making $26 million. However, in the same year, the New World newcomer, Yellowtail, sold seven million cases of wine at an average cost of $6, making $42 million.

  Yellowtail is a family owned Australian wine company that only began exporting to the United States in 2000, and which branded itself with brightly colored images of a cute Wallaby. In 2001, it sold 112,000 cases, a number that jumped to 7.5 million in 2005, helped by distribution through Costco. Yellow Tail has enjoyed similar success in the UK, which, in 2000, began importing more wine from Australia than from France. And in 2005, Yellowtail sold more wine to the US than all the French producers combined. Both research and experience demonstrates that most consumers today, especially when buying New World wines, want to buy wine by grape variety and brand name. Young consumers in particular tend to avoid what they consider to be confusing and pretentious wine labels, characteristic of some Old World wine bottles. Terroir and provenance have been surpassed by cute and cuddly.

  Argentina

  Both Chile and Argentina were colonized in the sixteenth century by Spanish Conquistadores and Catholic missionaries who planted Spanish vines from the region of Cadiz. In Chile, the vine was called the Pais while in Argentina, the vine was called Criolla Chica. But apart from sharing this same original vine, the history and the wine culture of the two nations have nothing more in common. In Chile, there was always a focus on good-quality wines for the aristocratic landowners, and the winemaking methods were dominated by French, especially Bordeaux, traditions. In Argentina, with a large population of wine drinking workers from Spain and Italy, the focus was always on quantity rather than quality, and the winemaking traditions were traditionally Spanish. In Chile, the earliest vineyards were close to the capital city of Santiago, but in Argentina the capital of Buenos Aires is at least seven hundred miles from the nearest vineyards, on the far west of the country in Mendoza Province, high in the Andes.

  As a result, the Argentinean wine industry was fragmented between those who grew the grapes in the Andes, those who transported the grapes across the pampas to the East Coast, and those in Buenos Aires who turned the grapes into wine. The farmers had no motivation to strive for quality; they were paid a fixed amount per ton of grapes, and the grapes of all the neighboring farmers would be mixed together. The farmers’ only motivation was to grow as much Criolla Chica grapes as possible. The Criolla vine is very vigorous and prolific, and can produce many clusters weighing as much as nine pounds each. If a few leaves or twigs, or even a dead field mouse was added to the mix, then that would simply add to the weight that the farmer delivered and was paid for. The transporters initially used horse-drawn wagons to cross the pampas, and later trains and trucks; they too had no interest in quality. They too were paid by the ton when they delivered their loads to the wineries of Buenos Aires.

  Finally, the wine producers themselves had no motivation to focus on quality. They had a vast domestic market of thirsty workers who would drink whatever they were offered. There was no export market, as the domestic market was insatiable, if not unquenchable. Rather than worry about quality, the wineries focused on size and quantity. In the early twentieth century, for example, the Giol winery, covering 260 hectares, was proudly known as the largest winery in the world, and boasted huge tile-covered pools to store the grape juice and vast, monumental barrels to store the wine. During its time of glory, the winery would produce almost three hundred thousand hectoliters of wine annually; it had eight basements, a thousand oak barrels, giant casks, two enormous sinks for mixing four thousand bottle blends, and 270 fermentation casks. Four hundred workers and operators were employed there and built their houses around the winery. In all Argentinian wineries of this period, the emphasis was never on taste or quality, but always on size and quantity. And the thirsty gauchos out on the plains and the immigrant workers in the vast factories around Buenos Aires happily drank it all up, with an average per capita consumption of twenty-four gallons, or 120 bottles per head. If the Europeans and North Americans disdained Argentinian wine, who cared? Let them buy Chilean wine.

  This happy state of affairs came to an end towards the
close of the twentieth century. Not only had Argentina suffered decades of political, social, and economic turmoil, but in the final decade of the century, an even worse disaster struck. Young people stopped drinking wine.

  This was not just an Argentinian phenomenon. It was occurring worldwide, especially in traditional wine-consuming countries. Young people were finding alternatives to wine drinking, switching to fancy cocktails, recreational drugs, craft beers, or simple caffeinated-sodas like Coca-Cola. But while the French and Italians could export their wines to make up for the declining domestic youth market, the Argentinians were unable to export. Their wine was awful, and nobody outside the country wanted to drink it.

  But the wine Gods move in mysterious ways, and the fortuitous timing of this disaster could not have been better. As the wine industry in Chile expanded with astonishing speed, the price of land for vineyards in Chile increased even more so. With their own domestic wine market suddenly collapsing, Argentine wineries and winegrowers were more than happy to sell to foreign investors who’d been priced out of Chile. The injection of foreign capital and the introduction of the latest winemaking technologies from around the world completely revolutionized the Argentine wine industry.

  Led by visionaries such as Nicolás Catena, an isolated and inward-looking nation producing jug wine for the domestic market almost overnight became an export-driven producer of top-quality vintages. Once again, the Rothschilds are leading the way, just as they did in California, Chile, and China. Domaine Baron de Rothschild (Lafite) formed an alliance with Nicolás Catena to produce the award-winning Caro blend of French Cabernet and Argentinian Malbec. By the end of the 1990s, Argentina was exporting more than 3.3 million gallons (12.5 million liters) to the United States, with exports to the UK also strong. Wine experts, such as Karen MacNeil, wrote that the Argentine wine industry had been considered a “sleeping giant” that by the end of the twentieth century was finally waking up.

  Argentinian Varietals: Until recently the most common grape in Argentina was the Criolla Chica, the original grape imported from Spain by the Conquistadores. Following the twenty-first century rebirth of the Argentinian wine industry, Criolla Chica is being replaced with the usual international varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and Shiraz, as well as Tempranillo from Spain.

  However, the crowning glory of Argentinian wine is Malbec. Malbec is one of the six official varietals used to make Bordeaux’s claret, but, except in the region of Cahors in Southwest France, Malbec was never bottled unblended. Malbec was traditionally a blending grape used for its inky-dark color and pronounced tannins. However, in the dry air and high altitudes of the Andes Mountains, in some of the world’s highest vineyards, Malbec has come into its own, and is now the most widely planted varietal in the country. Argentinean Malbecs have a deep color, intense fruity flavors, and a velvety texture but less tannins than the wines of Cahors, which makes them uniquely drinkable at a young age.

  The other splendid wine for which Argentina is justly famous is its white wine, Torrontes. Probably descended from a hybrid of the original Criolla Grande vine of the Conquistadores and the Muscat grape, Torrontes is a deliciously refreshing wine with hints of peaches and nectarines mainly grown in the northern Salta province near the Bolivian border.

  Argentinian Wine Regions: All the Argentinian wine regions are located in the west of the country, in the foothills of the Andes. Because the Andes mountain range forms a rain shadow, the vineyards tend to be dry and receive water from the annual spring snow-melt. Unfortunately, at those rare times when there is rainfall, it tends to come in the form of hailstorms, and a pounding of large hailstones can destroy a whole crop. A combination of the dry air and the high altitude of the vineyards appear to leave the vineyards of Argentina, as in Chile, free of pests and disease. Both countries are thus able to excel in organic farming. Phylloxera never reached Chile, and the form that arrived in Argentina was much weaker than the blight which destroyed the vineyards of Europe.

  By far the largest, most important region is the province of Mendoza, which produces over two-thirds of Argentina’s wine. As of the beginning of the twenty-first century, the vineyard acreage in Mendoza alone was slightly less than half of the entire planted acreage in the United States, and more than the acreage of New Zealand and Australia combined. The first vines were planted in Mendoza by Edmund James Palmer Norton, an English engineer who had helped construct the Transandine Railroad, linking Argentina and Chile over a twelve thousand foot mountain pass. Recognizing the potential of Mendoza for wine, Norton founded the Bodega Norton winery in 1895, and planted it with Malbec vines which he had imported from Bordeaux. Bodega Norton now exports over 1.5 million cases annually. Since Norton’s time, the vineyards have been planted at ever higher altitudes in Mendoza’s Luján de Cuyo and the Uco Valley, and local vintners are studying the effects of increased altitude on the Malbec clones. In 1994, Nicolás Catena was the first to plant a Malbec vineyard in excess of five thousand feet.

  The second-largest producing region is San Juan, which, being much hotter and drier than Mendoza, mainly produces fortified wines, brandy, and vermouth.

  In the far north of the country, closer to the equator, is the province of Salta. Salta is home to the highest vineyards in the world, higher even than in Mendoza. Vineyards in Europe are seldom planted higher than sixteen hundred feet, and even in Mendoza are seldom much higher than five thousand feet, but in Salta, vineyards are planted as high as ten thousand feet. Planted at such high altitudes but close to the equator means that the vines are subject to daytime temperatures as high as 100°F, while dropping at night to 50°F. This has the effect of creating extra acidity, while adding complexity, body, and depth to its wines. The most famous wine from Salta and its subregion of Cafayate is Torrontes, a full-bodied but refreshing white wine which has recently started earning well-deserved international recognition and accolades.

  Bolivia: The wine industry in Bolivia is still small but growing, and there is not yet any export infrastructure, which is why it does not have its own chapter in this book. However, it is worth noting that despite its proximity to the equator, the high altitude of its vineyards in the Andes enables it to produce some excellent wines. The high altitude and extreme daily temperature swings have a chemical effect on the wines which cannot be reproduced elsewhere. Even a wine made from the humble Trebbiano grape has been compared to a Puligny-Montrachet, and the Malbecs can be compared with those from Argentina. Certainly a country to watch.

  In 2010, the Argentine government officially declared wine to be the country’s National Drink.

  Australia

  Most English and American introductions to Australian wine came through the classic 1972 Monty Python sketch called “Australian Wines,” with an Australian accented voice-over by Eric Idle:

  “A lot of people in this country pooh-pooh Australian table wines. This is a pity as many fine Australian wines appeal not only to the Australian palate but also to the cognoscenti of Great Britain.

  Black Stump Bordeaux: Black Stump Bordeaux is rightly praised as a peppermint flavoured Burgundy, whilst a good Sydney Syrup can rank with any of the world’s best sugary wines.

  Château Blue: Château Blue, too, has won many prizes; not least for its taste, and its lingering after burn.

  Old Smokey 1968: Old Smokey 1968 has been compared favourably to a Welsh claret, whilst the Australian Wino Society thoroughly recommends a 1970 Coq du Rod Laver, which, believe me, has a kick on it like a mule: 8 bottles of this and you’re really finished. At the opening of the Sydney Bridge Club, they were fishing them out of the main sewers every half an hour.

  Perth Pink: Of the sparkling wines, the most famous is Perth Pink. This is a bottle with a message in, and the message is ‘beware’. This is not a wine for drinking; this is a wine for laying down and avoiding.

  Melbourne Old-and-Yellow: Another good fighting wine is Melbourne Old-and-Yellow,
which is particularly heavy and should be used only for hand-to-hand combat.

  Château Chunder: Quite the reverse is true of Château Chunder, which is an appellation contrôlée, specially grown for those keen on regurgitation; a fine wine which really opens up the sluices at both ends.

  Hobart Muddy: Real emetic fans will also go for a Hobart Muddy, and a prize winning Cuivre Reserve Château Bottled Nuit San Wogga Wogga, which has a bouquet like an aborigine’s armpit.”

  Possibly the Australian wines of the early ‘70s deserved this mockery, but unfortunately the image of loud, ignorant, convict-pee persisted well into the 1990s when it was no longer deserved. Somehow, during those twenty-some years, Australian wine switched from sugar-laced, fortified plonk to some of the most drinkable and successful wines in the world.

  A number of factors brought about this change; following the Second World War, European immigration to Australia increased dramatically and many of these new arrivals, especially from the Mediterranean regions, brought their wine-producing skills with them. At the same time, following the inaugural flight from London to Sydney by BOAC in 1967 (which I happened to be on), young Australians began visiting Europe and becoming exposed to a culture of wine drinking which they brought back home with them. Also in 1967, public licensing hours were extended to 10:00 p.m., thus ending the heavy-drinking culture of Australia’s six o’clock swill. Simultaneously, like UC Davis in California, the Australian Wine Research Institute at the University of Adelaide was fast becoming recognized as one of the world’s leading centers for wine research.