Interlude

Your West Coast Oenophile tried to post this response to a blog entry from The Wine Curmudgeon, but his Comments form isn’t working (or isn’t compatible with Safari). Oh well, it probably belongs on Sostevinobile anyway.

I started my wine career in 1982, when, for the most part, major wineries were focused on 1.5 L bottlings and conformed to a fairly uniform lineup. Bob White and Bob Red were respectable wines coming out of Woodbridge, Glen Ellen was damn good for its price, and even a place like Château St. Jean offered a $7 Vin Blanc that comprised 50% of its produce. Of course, there was also Gallo Hearty Burgundy, Carlo Rossi, Cribari, Taylor California, and dozens of 51% varietal, 49% Tokay/Thomson Seedless blends.

35 years later, the quality and sophistication of California wine, along with the specificity of its vineyards, varietal plantings and clone selections are inarguably æons beyond what they used to be. What constitutes an ultrapremium wine today is a far cry from what was considered ultrapremium back then.

You would have thought that these advances at the top of the wine pyramid would have have coattail effects on the lowest strata, but just the opposite. Sorry, Fred Franzia, but cheap wine today is incrementally far worse than the cheap wine of a generation ago. Far, far worse…

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