Friday, May 8, 2009
House Style
A quick follow-up to the comments on house style and knowing what wineries do. No oak on the left of the graph, full malolactic on the top of the graph. Thus, Beringer Sbragia Chardonnay is 75% new Oak and 100% Malolactic conversion. Grigich Hills is 33% new French Oak and no Malolactic. Jordan is pretty close to 50% new oak and 50% Malolactic. I made this chart myself with Photoshop and the google, so this chart is only as good as I am. But it makes the point better than I could in the previous post. The style of winemaking is more important that the climate or the terroir in California. Otherwise Peay on the Sonoma coast and Stony Hill would not be next to each other on the graph. Chardonnay fits this clear pattern of winemaker / owner choices--what kind of Chardonnay do we want to make? This is a very California statement. But it does bring us to ask, when we are tasting Chardonnay , questions of winemaking style of Chardonnay do I like, what style of Chardonnay is this in my glass rather than where are these vines. Of course there are differences between Carneros and Cazadero, but only if the owner and winemaker chose to make a subtler wine that showcases the terroir and that choice becomes the style.
Other California varietals might have very comparative separations but different x / y concepts (No need to talk about how much ML there is in red wine) --I imagine a Zinfandel graph would have alcohol % as one the the components. As I think about what I look for in a Cabernet Franc or a Syrah or a Pinot Noir, even Sauvignon Blanc -- I feel I can communicate what I am looking for in that varietal and why I need this particular wine for the restaurant. But Merlot...it is not there yet.
