By Aillinn Brennan • Special to The Cardinal
Vintage
From now through the Fall harvest, the 2021 vintage is being picked and fermented! Some years go better for wine growing than others. Vintage is important because it denotes the growing conditions of the grapes for that particular year, in a particular place. Factors such as the weather, climate change, wild fires, and drought all inform how a particular vintage will end up tasting. Wine critics put out charts with numeric ratings for vintages by region.
A Wines Report Card
Ever see the pictures of fancy wine people, in a fancy hotel banquet hall with dozens of glasses of wine in front of them, swirling, sniffing, tasting and then spitting it out? They are evaluating wines. On wine labels you might come across a little round label that says “90 points” with some guy’s name on it like “James Suckling” or “Robert Parker.” You also might come across points and the name of a publication like “Wine Enthusiast” or “Wine Spectator.”
In the wine world you are striving for an “A” 90 or above. In Robert Parker’s rating system, 96-100 are “extraordinary,” 90 to 95 are” outstanding.” Anything less that 59 is “appalling,” you’ll never see a sticker for those ones! Look for those ratings stickers with a 90 or above and you found a fine wine!
Knowing Where It’s From: Region, Sub-Region, Appellation
Specific regions and appellations, the village the grapes are from, can also point you toward a fine wine. The French wine region of Burgundy is famous for its Pino Noir wines. Within Burgundy there are sub-regions, and within the sub -regions are villages or appellations which must adhere to strict laws.
Time To Shop!
Let’s look for some red Burgundy. Robert Parker gave the 2016 vintage of Côtes de Nuit (a Sub-Region of Burgundy) 97 points! A red, 2016, Cote de Nuits, from the appellation “Côtes de Nuit – Villages” goes for around $35. Not bad for an “extraordinary” wine. The grapes for this wine were sourced from multiple vineyards from within that appellation.
In Burgundy, some of the appellations produce some of the most expensive wines in the world. Those wines come from specific vineyards within a famous appellation. Continuing to shop for Côte de Nuit, in the appellation of Vosne-Romanée, and the vineyard of Romanée St Vivant, that bottle of Pino Noir will cost around two thousand dollars depending on the vintage! Thirty-six dollars, two thousand dollars, they are both fine wines!
“California,” Red Wine
Not so fine. 85 percent of wine produced in the United states comes from California. Regional designation is important to finding a fine American wine. California wines are popular and most people grab-and-go with a Kendall Jackson, or Woodbridge “California” cabernet. If you just see the word California on the label, that means the grapes used to produce the wine can come from any AVA, American Viticultural Area, in the entire state which is huge, and produces vast numbers of grapes.
Think massive scale production, machine harvested grapes and swimming pool size vats of wine. It’s not necessarily a negative judgement on the wine, but “fine” has to be more special, about a specific place. It’s a macro, micro situation.
Next time, take a closer to look at the label and you’ll likely find one within the same price point with a regional designation such “Central Coast” or “Alexander Valley” or “Lodi.” AVA’s within famed Napa Valley produce some of the world’s finest wines
Vintage, points, regions, appellation, AVA! Now you’re ready to peruse like a pro next time you go shopping for wine. Happy new vintage!
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