In article >,
Max Hauser > wrote:
>
>The "average American" doesn't know either what the heck Cabernet Sauvignon
>means, until learning the phrase. The line of argument here seems to
>presume, without saying it or examining it, that US newcomers learn only
>about varietal naming when learning about wine, and that this is OK. Yet it
>has always been in the newcomer's *own interest* to learn some cross-section
>of wine names, not just one sub-set of them. Probably most of the separate
>wine labels available in the US are from outside the US and use their own,
>much longer-established nomenclature. If there is no interest in learning
>some range of wine names, then is this effectively an argument about
>catering to ignorance, or laziness? (I don't think that's the whole story
>in international varietal naming, but I am referring to the remarks above.


I think what opponents are missing is that even serious wine drinkers
sometimes have trouble identifying what varietals are in many French wines.
As someone else stated, the blend (in blends) can even vary from year to
year. It's not catering to ignorance or laziness to put the varietals on the
label. Some very knowledgeable people are sometimes wrong about the varietals
in even Bordeaux (there are some left bank merlots and right bank cabs), let alone
'complicated' wines like Chateauneuf Du Pape.


The real question is whether it is relevant and informative to list the cepage
on the (back of) the label. Many (most?) California wines (that are blends)
do just this. Those that are not usually list the varietal on the front. I,
personally, find this interesting. As I said earlier in this thread, some wine
drinkers do not care at all what's in the bottle as long as they like it.
Given that some people care and others do not, it seems to make sense to me
to list the cepage somewhere on the bottle.


In Robert Parker's review of the esteemed 2000 Chateau Margaux, he relates
that the wine is 90% cab and 10% merlot and most profiles of Margaux's vineyards
do relate the number of acres under vine of each varietal. Therefore, it is
not just neophyte wine drinkers who are interested in this information. It
would be much nicer to have the information printed on the bottle than to have
to research the composition, which is sometimes difficult for more obscure
wines. Those who don't care don't have to read the back label and those who
do can have the information at their fingertips.


Dimitri