Fruitbombs vs. Dirtbombs 1

I have to tip my hat this afternoon to my compatriot Alfonso Cevola, who has written a long, rambling post on the inevitable changes taking place in the Italian wine making industry now that big money has gotten involved in the process. This piece just absolutely blew me away…

He begins with:

25 years of carrying the torch for the Italian team. I feel like someone just pushed me in the ditch.

And it gets better, culminating in this graph:

Sometimes the wines are a reflection of where they come from, in that unique way a wine is when it only has one area where it is comfortable growing. And then sometimes it seems like we are dealing with a perfume manufacturing mentality; crank out another flavor, give us something sexy for the camera, can you show us some skin? More toast. More velvet, more color, more money, more stuff. Less substance.

Who can you turn to? What can you trust in?

…These wines are now like trophies, everything is a treasure, without the hunt. We want a pretty wife; we get the doctor to make her prettier. We want to be cool, we get a fast car. We want to sell, we quote a [Robert Parker] score.

The fact is, I completely understand where the esteemed Mr. Cevola is coming from. The grape, the soil, the climate, have become secondary to producing a certain kind of product, one that will be “more agreeable” to a larger number of palates.

And yet, I can sympathize with the producers point of view, to those who have “jumped on the bandwagon.” Very, very few vineyards have the financial resources to be able to practice unmitigated artisanal wine making. And recent law changes within the European Community only add to their pressures, particularly in hiring statutes that have essentially outlawed the abundant and inexpensive labor at peak harvesting times.

Mr. Cevola argues that the titular pendulum of the piece has swung too far into the realm of popularity, and tragically little remains of the Italian traditions and tastes in the rush to appeal to the American palate:

I think we are at a crossroads and it is a crucial time for the wines of Italy and her relationship to the American market. Where’s a good place to start? How about less marketing pesticide – more plowing in the trenches of the heart.

I believe that Mr. Cevola wants the technical know-how to be blended with something that still conveys a sense of place and authenticity, rather than all vineyards trying to create the next California Cabernet Sauvignon “fruitbomb.”

Update

Not surprisingly, Mr. Cevola is not alone in calling for “balance.” Terroir, the new wine bar in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, has a blaring manifesto on emphasizing terroir over technique.

Popularity: 23% [?]

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