I recently got my hands on a copy of Tor Kenward's Reflections of a Vintner and was stopped dead in my tracks by its two (count them, two) Forewords by wine and food industry stalwarts Robert M. Parker, Jr., and Thomas Keller. Parker's Foreword, comparing California wines of the 70s and 80s to the wines of the 90s, and identifying the root cause(s) of the departure, was especially intriguing and launched me down an investigatory rabbit hole.
Parker's basic thesis was that California wines of the 90s were far superior to the wines of the 70s and 80s largely because of the region's response to the phylloxera infestation of the 1980s. Parker's view of the greatness of the wines of the 90s is not universally accepted so, herein, I will explore his thesis and selected competing views.
The chart below illustrates Parker's perspective on the wines of the 70s and 80s.
Parker was not alone in this assessment. According to Greg Byrne (Wine surges in popularity ..., Santa Fe New Mexican, 7/15/09), in the 1970s and 1980s, many Napa wineries picked too early in an attempt to emulate the wines of Bordeaux. The standard practice was to harvest grapes based on sugar ripeness -- pick at 23.6 degrees Brix in order to yield 12.6% alcohol in the fermented wine. This path, according to Byrne, was littered with overly tannic, underripe, harsh wines.
The wines of the 90s, according to Parker, were the cat's meow, due, in large part, to producer-responses to the mid-80s Phylloxera epidemic.
Parker's views, as regards the wines of the 90s, were not universally held. According to Byrne, the lack of rain in Napa in September and October allowed for much longer hang time and phenolically ripe fruit. It also brought along, however, higher sugar levels, lower acidity, darker color, and richer flavors. By marrying this style of wine with young oak, the Napa winemaker was now promoting power and exuberance over elegance and finesse. Byrne feels that too many winemakers went too far down this path.
While Byrne saw viticultural practices, as it related to phenolic ripeness, as the Napa problem, Gilman (California Classicism, The World of Fine Wine, Issue 35, 2012) saw the problem as the industry's pursuit of cellar-based technology solutions aimed at closing the "Bordeaux gap." In addition, phylloxera had caused widespread replantings in the 1990s and cellar manipulation was used to paper over resulting problems such as young juice in the mix, improperly sited vines, and the pursuit of high yields by the growers in order to meet high demand.
Adding fire to the flame was Robert Parker himself assigning high scores to these wines and an unquestioning public snapping up the wines at every turn, based exclusively on these scores. This created a vicious cycle with existing wineries adjusting their wines in pursuit of points and new entrants applying the formula from day one.
The industry seemed to be in a "bad place" by the end of the 1990s. Gilman has characterized that place: high-alcohol wines made from late-picked fruit, vinified with residual sugar, sprinkled with winemaking additives, and matured in expensive new oak. "Phenolic ripeness became the mantra behind which this was all concealed." Alcohol levels had gotten so high that a number of post-fermentation mechanisms were created for mitigation purposes; likewise, technical solutions were employed to address acid deficiency.
I think Parker would have been better served by focusing on Tor's contribution to the lore and accomplishments of Napa than reminding us of the trauma of the time for balanced-wine adherents.
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