jamie goode's wine blog

Sunday, January 22, 2006

Some random wine-related thoughts I've been thinking over the last few days.
  • It's been interesting to spend time with producers who are already successful, but who are looking to improve what they are doing. This was the case in Switzerland. There's something life-giving about this desire to excel; to do better. And I was humbled that they should ask the opinion of two young English guys (although perhaps not that they should ask what Sam thinks - he has an MW and plenty of commercial experience).
  • I think I'm going to have to write a book on terroir at some stage. On the one hand it is the unifying theory of fine wine and of crucial importance; on the other, it's perhaps the single most misunderstood (and lied about?) subject in the world of wine.
  • Brett reared its head a couple of times in the Swiss red wines we tried, once to the extent that it was the sole discernable feature of one of them. Just how prevalent is brett? Can it ever be positive? Can winemakers work positively with it? How can it be controlled effectively?

3 Comments:

At 8:12 PM, Blogger Mike said...

Speaking of Brett - did you ever get the Brett analysis on the Syrah tasted in July 2003? (wines tasted in this post http://www.wineanorak.com/spotlight_syrah.htm)

I can't find a further post on your site about it.

Thanks,
Mike

 
At 10:01 AM, Blogger Jamie said...

Mike
Yes, I did, and the results were surprising. Unfortunately, they are also confidential. I wish I could publish them, but I'd be violating someone's trust if I did. All I can say is that several of these quite famous red wines have above threshold levels of 4-ethylphenol. And they aren't bad wines.

 
At 9:39 AM, Anonymous Je said...

On the subject of terroir, I wrote a piece for a local wine mag. Anyone interested can have a look at:
http://www.handtomouth.co.za/2006/01/23/is-terroir-the-truth

I think the term's being abused and is losing cred rapidly!

 

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