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Jan 26, 2010: Low alcohol wines: time to lighten up a little
IN a few months, Bordeaux will offer the first tastes of its highly touted 2009 vintage to members of the trade and wine writers. All concerned will debate which are the best bottles and no doubt lament the high prices they foresee for the top-classified wines. Such is business in Bordeaux. Regardless of the periodic upheavals that shake out the Bordeaux trade, the region continues to pour out an enormous amount of wine annually. Yet most of that wine is routinely ignored in the public discussion of Bordeaux. Instead, the spotlight is on the top tier, the leading chateaux that account for a very small percentage of the Bordeaux production and yet receive 99 percent of the world’s attention. But what about the other Bordeaux? When I was a graduate student in the early 1980s, wines from this other Bordeaux were the cheap wines of choice. Whites, in 1.5-liter bottles, were labeled Entre-Deux-Mers, for the large swatch of land between two rivers, the Dordogne and the Garonne. The cheapest reds were plain Bordeaux, from the most marginal of territories, or sometimes Bordeaux Supérieur, a modest improvement, and, if we were splurging, Haut-Médoc, a definite step up. These were reliable, sturdy wines, pleasingly raspy and dry. Today, these wines face far greater competition from inexpensive bottles coming from all over the world. Now, the preference is often wines that are softer and more velvety than was traditional in Bordeaux. Many of those producers in the other Bordeaux are languishing. Nonetheless, a recent wine panel tasting of 20 bottles of Bordeaux, in a range of $10 to $20, showed that the other side of Bordeaux still has a good deal to offer. While these wines are not exactly consistent, and they are by no means great, they still offer a taste of what makes Bordeaux singular among regions making wines from the primary Bordeaux grapes: cabernet sauvignon, merlot and cabernet franc. For the tasting, Florence Fabricant and I were joined by Chris Goodhart, who oversees wine programs at Keith McNally’s restaurants, and Michael Madrigale, the sommelier at Bar Boulud.
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“Bordeaux does have terroir, even at the lower end of the spectrum, and this tasting confirmed it,” Michael said. Chris, who said his restaurants sold a lot of Bordeaux by the glass, agreed with Michael. “It’s too easy to dismiss Bordeaux,” he said. “For cabernet and merlot, Bordeaux is still the most interesting place in the world.” I had more mixed feelings about the wines. Though these wines are modestly priced, they may no longer serve as introductory bottles, as in my grad-school days. With their high acidity and tannins, these inexpensive Bordeaux may shock palates accustomed to plush, ultra-ripe flavors. They almost demand to be served with food. On the other hand, for palates weary of easygoing, opulent textures, the best of these wines are fine alternatives, modest wines that will go well with meaty braises and roasts. Still, the tasting was disquieting. Too many bottles simply weren’t very good, and I couldn’t help but think that for the same price I could find more interesting wines from other regions, like the Loire, Beaujolais or through much of Italy, Spain and Portugal. I hadn’t approached this tasting with particular confidence. I have been making the case for some time now that the greatest values in wine can be found in the $10 to $20 price range, but Bordeaux never really fit into that calculation. The idea is that when you look away from the high-status areas, you can find all sorts of distinctive, delicious wines that don’t require a prestige tax for the name.
Προσθήκη:
26/1/2010 Για παλαιότερες δημοσιεύσεις κάντε κλικ εδώ. |
