Greetings Tim;

In terms of the continental wine scene I would certainly count myself as
REALLY less experienced (perhaps a little less so when it come to my native
Niagara wines) and I must say I have never considered myself terribly anal
retentive... certainly not to 2 decimal points at any rate.... Never the
less, I am interested in information on the contents of the bottle as a
useful tool to give me an INDICATION of what I can expect in the bottle. I
don't think one need drink much wine to quickly realise that not all wines,
blended or "pure" varietal, from all winemakers are created equal. I rather
tend to believe that to most wine drinkers (even in Europe?) Chateau Flim
Flam on the label tells them less than nothing about what the hell is in the
bottle.
Hey, you want the worlds money? Figure out what will attract the worlds
wine drinkers...... Sorry, for me, Flim Flam aint it! Just the facts
ma'am.
--
Regards
Chuck
So much wine; So little time!

To reply, delete NOSPAM from return address


> My point is simply that, even with a single varietal, its identity
> only sets very broad boundaries of taste: terroir, winemaker and his
> method, including use of oak, temperature of fermentation and degree
> of extraction, maceration, use of triage, defeuillage, green
> harvesting, all have such a massively marked effect so that the less
> experienced are more likely to be misled into thinking that, for
> example, the French Pinot Noir labelled wine they liked last week will
> be the same as the one they are offered this week from a different
> grower and/or place. That is why I have such grave doubts about the
> benefits of varietal labelling - it is not informative to the less
> experienced - it is in fact a likely snare and a potential delusion.
> (You will note I have asssumed that the unwary inexperienced buyer is
> looking for another French Pinot Noir - a fortiori, the argument if he
> strays outside national boundaries.) Once you get into blended wines
> the arguments are stronger still that mere percentage blend
> information is even less helpful.
>
> Tim Hartley
>