[quote=“Berry Crawford”]Jay McInerney’s books are just compilations of his articles and I generally found them interesting and well written. I havnt bough the most recent one though so maybe that one is different.
I agree it wasn’t well edited but I thought it was written just fine. The only thing I didn’t like about the article is that Bonne seems to be making a moral judgment regarding bigger wines. While I generally don’t go for the exuberant style I don’t think people who make it or like it are less sophisticated, I just think its a different style and a valid one. I will style buy the book though and hope it does well because I think it would be nice if the pendulum swung back a little bit and there was more of a balance between the different styles.[/quote
I agree after I read the " sophisticated palate " part I knew I wouldn’t be interested. He’s implying people that don’t agree with his palate have unsophisticated palates, so Parker, Laube, Pobega don’t have different palates just unsophisticated palates who knows maybe a few more years and they’ll develop them
Thanks guys:
Sorry it has been so long since my last post. Michael and I can take criticism as well as anyone and I don’t take the criticism of Kosta Browne personally. I know the work, passion and honesty my partners and I put into our brand. But it is a continuing shame to see such respected wine industry representatives denigrate others in order to make a point. If your viewpoint doesn’t hold water on its own, then that is your shortcoming, not ours. I realize that there are many wine drinkers whose pendulum has a huge swing as they ride fads and trends. Remember ABC? A movement that included wine drinkers that so gorged themselves on trendy Chardonnays that they got burnt out or simply wanted to look more sophisticated. But that absolutism soon proved to be amateurish and lazy. But I guess absolutism and the if-your-not-with-us-you’re-against-us culture sells books. Hell, I think I’ll even buy a copy.
Thanks for chiming in, Dan. I sorta took the label “irrational exuberance” as a compliment. But I guess I was wrong.
But maybe Jon said that and then rolled his eyes…which would give the expression a whole nuther meaning. I wasn’t
there, though.
Tom
I didn’t “feel the love” either. IMHO his list at the end was giving a few examples of Big Flavor - which he’d pretty much held up as what’s wrong with California wine.
Adam and Dan made great points. I’d like to add that the thing that bothers me most about articles like Jon’s is the continued assertion that what we (and Adam, and Dan)do is somehow anti-terroir. That’s simply not true. We’re obsessed with terroir. It’s why we source fruit from so many sites, and continue to strive to find the truest representation of each site. It’s taken time, since everything was so new. And we didn’t always make the perfect choices. But we also didn’t have the luxury of stepping into 300 year old delineated sites like in Burgundy. We had to experiment. We had to take risks.
And we kept an open mind when it came to what true California terroir is, as it relates to each vineyard. It’s easy to forget that the Cotes du Nuits could fit entirely within an area the size of the Santa Lucia Highlands. And yet people expect all California Pinot from areas up to 400 miles apart to exhibit the same characteristics - and not just any ones, but ones that match Burgundy. That’s absurd to me. And IMHO the exact opposite of what terroir is all about.
I believe California can be many things - and all correct. I’m in awe of Josh Jensen and what he accomplished, especially given that almost no one believed that good Pinot could be grown in North America when he started out. It was people like Josh, and Richard Graff, and Richard Sanford that made what we do possible. Those guys are my heroes. And their attempts to find locations that could produce more Burgundian style Pinots is a completely valid approach to terroir. Hell, every vineyard owner is searching for some set of characteristics of the site when planting a specific variety. Anyone with even a shred of sanity wouldn’t randomly pick a site and plant fruit. My take is that some focus on trying to produce a certain style, and seek out locations that might best create that style of wine. But others find areas they think will support the variety, and are willing to see what that site wants to produce. I find the latter group no less worthy of admiration than the first. Both are taking risks trying to find a unique and special spot. So as much as I admire people like Josh Jensen, Richard Graff, Richard Sanford, and David Hirsch… I also admire Gary Pisoni, Gary Franscioni, and all the other growers whos site produce richer style Pinots. To me it’s NEVER been an issue of what Pinot Noir is supposed to be, but rather what it can be.
But whatever Pinot is now, for most of us, it wasn’t driven by critics or “easy money”. It was, and is, a continuing learning curve in an industry that is still in its infancy compared to the Old World.
There is scant evidence that Bonne himself knew what he meant by that comment. He just thought that it sounded cool and hip and trendy. As they say in Texas, i think that Mr. Bonne is all hat and no cattle much of the time. He mistakes himself for somebody that people outside the greater SF area know or care about…
I’m willing to give any wine writer the benefit of the doubt, but after several encounters with Mr. Bonne I’m not convinced to take him seriously enough to buy a book. Saying that he works for the Chronicle should be a detriment…the only reason it’s still around is because people in the bay area need something to line their compost bin. He might hobnob at the Pebble Beach Food and Wine Classic, or fly to Bordeaux on a boondoggle, but that doesn’t qualify him in my mind. “Moderated numerous panels”? I’d find a panel hosted by almost any serious berserker more interesting. Yes, he has been in an enviable position, but whether he has taken adequate advantage of that fact in order to be of benefit to us readers remains to be seen.
Wow. Just read the article. What a bunch of drivel. Here’s the one from above: “Labels like Loring, Aubert, and that ultimate example of irrational exuberance, Kosta Browne, favored among Pinot NOVICES…” (emphasis mine). Oh, and : “At the same time, veterans like Draper and Corison were discovering a new popularity among an EDUCATED, and often much YOUNGER, set of customers.”
God, he is truly insufferable.
You go, Jon. Today’s young people know so much more about how to appreciate Pinot Noir than us uneducated old futzes.
Certainly influential pioneers, but what about Martin Ray? Bonne didn’t mention him in the article, either. I don’t know how good Paul Masson’s still Pinots were (though I see a reference to him making 3 bottlings annually), but Martin was his protege.
Bonne snubs Ken Burnap, in what sounds like the tasting of one wine. I’ve had a couple each of late '70s SCMV and Calera Pinots, all holding up well at the same quality level. Some good things could be said about David Bruce, too.
Bonne is an enthusiastic and I’d say articulate advocate for what I’d call the third wave of California winemaking - the more recent experimentation with lighter styles and heretofore little used grape varieties. Like most writers or critics he has a distinct point of view, which readers should understand going in. He is upfront about that point of view and I appreciate his insights within his realm of interest.
I must have missed the insights in the subject piece, Mike. And I always enjoy sonething more than bald, haughty assertions from my wine writers. We can get that from Parker, and he can’t even write!
I am incredibly happy that a prominent wine journalist is championing the type of wines I like to drink and make. That said , I understand how producers of bigger wines and the people who like them would be scratching their heads a bit being called unsophisticated.
Berry, to me, this is not about style. (I am in your camp on that count, by the way.) it is about competent writing and editing. I understand that some people will gravitate to writers who champion and validate their own ideas, and I understand Bonne has some local influence. I would wish for you a more open-minded and articulate mouthpiece, and one with a better sense of his own importance (or lack thereof) in the grand scheme of things…
First, on the Ken Burnap SCMV Pinots from the 70s and 80s. I never had a concern about them being too concentrated (or too “Big Flavor”), but rather was always more concerned about the tannin levels. Wes, sounds like they have stood up well? It would be interesting to go back and taste some of them.
Second, Jon makes a point of writing about the “global stage” and how “wine buyers from New York to Tokyo hoisted their noses at the state’s collective style.” Was that really the case? Looking at export numbers it is hard for me to see that: http://www.wineinstitute.org/resources/pressroom/02212013
But I do realize that statistics make liars out of all of us at one time or another. So any thoughts on whether or not that was/is truly the case? In my experience with my own wines, the problem seems to be the pricing of wines when it comes to the export market, not the style (and don’t think that pricing has changed much whether or not the wine be “big flavor” or not). I’d love to hear other thoughts.
Adam, I have always been curious about the export numbers. It seems to be a question of what wines are being exported and where they are going. Are most low-price wines showing up in German and Swedish supermarkets? We can be pretty sure that we are not talking Screagle and SQN, nor any other relatively low-production, high-domestic-demand wines. It has to be that the bulk go to places that are not producing their own…CA reds in Riesling-rich Germany makes sense to me, for instance. But the Germans also have a big appetite for Italian and French wines…
Good question and good thoughts. I met with a potential exporter last week who told me how much he loved our Sauvignon Blanc, how lean, mineral filled, etc. it was. And how it was exactly the type of Sauvignon Blanc that they love in his country. But that they already get that type of wine cheaper from Sancerre and that ours wasn’t “California enough” for him to bring into the market (I asked him what he meant and he said “blousy”). Granted, that is but one example…but it does make me wonder about Jon’s thoughts that CA wines were out of favor on the world stage because they were too “big flavor.”
I would love to see the research on that. The quite obvious truth, had he thought about it a bit, is that there are many places, Italy and France being two, where CA wines have never made it to the global stage, much less having fallen out of favor. The biggest wine-producing countries tend to favor their own wines over imports, just as CA and, increasingly, the rest of the U.S. favors domestic wines over imports.
Well, actually…I’ve attended any number of panels at RR that Jon has moderated and I thought he did
a pretty decent job. He stays in the background and focuses the spotlight on the winemakers and steps
in and asks (sometimes provocative) questions to promote discussion and .
Unlike the one panel I attended moderated by sweet Alice where it was clear that her and her book
was the only reason for having a panel on “natural” winemaking; Jon pretty much stays in the background.
Tom
The (much maligned here) Robert Parker opened consumer’s eyes to the possibility that new world wine could compete with the finest wine from Europe, specifically France.
Bonne, IMO, as much as anyone, is opening eyes to the possibility that California wine is more than a monolithic bucket of high alcohol, overripe Cab and Chard point whores. He is fascinated by a small, but significant recent movement that is changing, at least to some extent, the fine wine landscape in California.
Market perceptions are slow to move and I think Bonne is making a positive contribution.
I certainly hope you are correct. The United States remains 52nd in per capita wine consumption and, as a producer, I can’t help but selfishly hope that more people are brought into wine through any and all voices.
On the other hand, I am afraid that wine may follow the direction of our public discourse…and that when wine styles are presented as a “culture war” (“California Cabernet is due for a culture war” - from Jon’s interview or “AFWE” from Bob or “monolithic bucket of…point whores” from you) it will ultimately prove to be detrimental to everyone involved, with the only winners perhaps being the media which stokes the fires of these battles and temporarily garners higher ratings while doing so.
don’t have different palates just unsophisticated palates who knows maybe a few more years and they’ll develop them![[stirthepothal.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/f/f40faec63ca1018898a40805efbf9f0066a3d205.gif "[stirthepothal.gif]"){kind=small}
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