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Captain Caveman
29 posts
Aug 14, 2007
11 months, 2 weeks ago
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1Re: Least favorite wine producing country:
So, I must admit I'm just plain old pickin on France. I've often said, France makes many of the greatest wines on Earth... and they probably make most of the worst, too.
But then again they make a ton of wine there too, so you have to put it into perspective with production levels.
This isn't really a very fair question. And any educated wine lover will tell you, details like producer, vineyard site , and winemaking style are far more improtant factors on quality than which political boundaries a winery falls in.
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John
50 posts
Aug 16, 2007
11 months, 1 week ago
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2Re: Least favorite wine producing country:
For me, France consistently produces wines that are too dry and mineral/earth oriented than I can handle. I'm aware that they are the godfathers of modern wine techniques, etc., etc., but apparently I've lived in California for too long.
For both cabs and pinots, I'd almost always rather have a high end CA producer than a French equiv. Especially on the Pinot side ... let the flames begin.
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Captain Caveman
29 posts
Aug 17, 2007
11 months, 1 week ago
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3Re: Least favorite wine producing country:
I'd encourage you to try any of the excellent wines from North Berkeley Imports or anoher negociant that specializes in importing small lots from France. Chances are if you're finding the French wines you've had too dry and earthy, you're drinking the wrong wines. If we are talking about the big rot-gut bottlings by the major French wine companies, most are no better than the big industrialy produced wines of anywhere else, and almost all of those tend to be dry and earthy or sweet and insipid, no matter where they come from. But great Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Syrah is produced in France that will rival any from California or Australia if you know where to look, but once agin producer is everything, and picking blind is almost a sure fire recipe for disaster.
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Captain Caveman
29 posts
Aug 17, 2007
11 months, 1 week ago
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4Re: Least favorite wine producing country:
A few years (and several degrees of knowlege) ago I would have picked Chile as the absolute King of Krap, hands down. For while they have always had good potential for grape growing, the unfortunate fact of the matter is that due to their low price points, most of Chile's decent stuff was too inexpensive to justify refridgerated transport. This resulted in lots of inexpensively made bulk wines that were treated to long cellaring in equatorial container ships.
Fast forward a few short years, and now thanks to a few relatively expensive, yet commercially very successful wines, overall quality (as well as serious consumer interest) has really turned around. You can now get good wines that actually justify the TLC required to get them to your door in good shape. I'd rather spend the $10 or 15 bucks these wines cost now to get a drinkable bottle, than to have to buy a case of $3 or $4 wines just to find one or two that isn't baked.
Once again quality, and specifically the drive to higher quality, has served us all well here.
If you have strong aversions to wines of one country or another, based strictly on geographic origin, I'd suggest you should either taste a broader range of wines from these huge, diverse regions each with a myriad of styles, or increase your average bottle price so you aren't making a judement based on the lowest common denominator.
Without tasting the inividual wine in question, making a deciscion that you won't like a wine because of the country it comes from makes about as much sense as refusing to try it because of the color of the bottle or the picture on the label. It is a knee-jerk reaction based on ignorance and fear, and has little basis on what the stuff inside actually tastes like, or whether or not it will appeal to your taste.
One thing I can say has held undeniably true throughout the ten plus years I've been a professional wine taster and writer, is that the more wines I taste, the more wines I find that I like...what ever the country, appelation, or varietal. Of course, the more wines I taste, the more wines I find that I don't like too, but I wouldn't know that either until I taseted each and every wine. In almost any region, with almost any varietal there are good and bad examples to be had. Furthermore, even among well made wines, there are a great diversity of styles, some of which I like better than others. On the whole I would conclude that Guilt and Credit are due in equal measures to every winemaking nation, but not in equal meassure to every winemaker, vigneron, or vintage.
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Captain Caveman
29 posts
Sep 07, 2007
10 months, 3 weeks ago
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5Re: Least favorite wine producing country:
After what probably amounts to way too much thought, a question struck me: Is it the least favorite country that produces wine? Or is it the country from which your least favorite wines hail from that we're supposed to bash? Because there is a difference.
And what about Croatia? They make a ton of wine there and have a long tradition of winemaking, but as yet I have not tasted any Croatian wines worth recommending.
Or Russia? I've had some good one's and some bad one's from there.
They are also experimenting with vinifera varietals in China now, too.
Politics and wine gets very touchy with some people, and at dinner I try to keep the two as seated as distantly as possible. As modern wine consumers it's easy to qualify something as 'a this' or 'a that', but with wine it's all about exceptions and individuals.
Keep your palate open, it will take you places.
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Arby
4 posts
Oct 23, 2007
9 months ago
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6Re: Least favorite wine producing country:
I'd have to buck the trend here & say South Africa... I've tried about 10 Pinotages from various vineyards/producers, and all have just been too harsh and unbalanced. I don't have a highly discerning palate (read: I like a LOT of stuff other's find only so so), but just can't get behind South Africa's premier varietal.
Somebody prove me wrong, please!!!
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