A quote from Max Allen's fine The future makers
Brian Croser: one of Australia's greatest winemakers and a longtime believer in the importance of terroir and site. Certainly relevant in terms of the Loire in view of the controversy over cryoextraction/cryoselection:
'I think there's a reaction building to all the manipulation going on in the industry now,' says Tapanappa winemaker Brian Croser. 'I see this reaction particularly among producers of what I call fine wine. You see, fine wine is – should be – a natural product. The concept of naturalness is an integral part of fine wine. Making fine wine doesn't mean using reverse osmosis, acid addition, tannin addition. It certainly doesn't mean using GMOs. The aim should be to do absolutely nothing to alter the composition of the wine. Naturalness is as important as hedonic quality in fine wine. The consumer needs to believe that the winemaker hasn't mucked around with it.'
Probably the best thing Brian has written for sometime....I hope he is practising what he preaches
ReplyDeleteI would hope so Dave. Not sure he wrote it more likely that he said this as it is a quote from Max's book.
ReplyDeleteWith the same argumentation you could say that e.g. clonal selection of grapes, temperature control in the wine cellar, or even pruning are evil practices, couldn't you?
ReplyDeleteYou could Per and Britt. You could also include picking the grapes and then we would have no wine ...
ReplyDeleteThe question of « limits » is always a burning one. May I try to address this, very briefly ?
ReplyDeleteI would suggest that all the means that simplify or improve a natural process of wine-making are acceptable: temperature control only slows down processes that would happen faster otherwise (and lead to excess), selection of naturally existing yeasts will ensure a smooth and complete fermentation without “camouflaging” the aromatic profile, pre-fermentary cold maceration will extract colour and aroma’s that are there anyway.
On the other hand, reverse osmosis will greatly modify the composition of must/wine, as will other concentrating devices. Adding oenologic tannins, tartaric acid, sugar or concentrated must and, yes, new oak (be it barrels or chips) will modify the chemical composition to a large extent.
Then should it be forbidden, or should one just make mention of their use mandatory? Dunno.
Last: the “natural” evolution of untouched grape juice is towards ...VINEGAR!
Luc. I agree!!
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