Wine quality: Can it be regulated?
by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On
One of the most pressing issues facing the regional wine business, especially as it grows in popularity, is maintaining quality. Making 3,000 cases a wine of year is much easier than making 50,000 cases, a problem that any business in any field faces when it grows quickly. In addition, regional wine must deal with the grand metaphysical question of its existence: If a regional producer makes wine with grapes that aren't from the region, is it still regional wine?
Complicating matters even more is that the two questions are related. If business is so good that you need to make more wine, and California grapes are so cheap (which they are, thanks to the recession), then why not make your regional wine with California grapes? Who will be the wiser?
This is something that Russ Kane addressed over the weekend on his Vintage Texas blog, calling for the creation of a Texas Wine Quality Alliance to give Texas wines a Good Housekeeping seal of approval. It is not a new idea; wineries in other states, including Pennsylvania, have considered something similar. And there is much to be said for the proposal, since poor quality and regional wine made with non-regional grapes are among the biggest problems facing the regional wine business.
But it's an idea that probably won't work. Read why, after the jump:
There was a spirited discussion on Russ' blog (even I took part). The general consensus was that Russ' TxQA is a fine idea, and should be implemented immediately. I have my doubts, and they center around three things:
First, that wine quality programs, whether private or public, generally don't work well. The best known is France's Bordeaux classification system, which does mostly work — except when someone sues over their ranking. It's also worth noting that the most famous Bordeaux classification has had one winery change class since it started in 1855. And most of the rest don't even work that well. The Italian DOCG system, as my pal Alfonso Cevola has noted, is full of holes, and it's not unusual for a wine classified IGT, the lowest tier, to be of better quality than a higher-ranked DOCG wine. The Canadian VQA system is even screwier. Canadian liquor regulations have made it possible for wines made in Canada with non-Canadian grapes to be accorded almost the same status as VQA wines.
Second, that people like Russ and I see a quality assurance program as about quality. Most winemakers, I'm afraid, would see it as about marketing. That is a philosophical divide that cannot be breached, and would lead to the sort of wrangling that would neuter the program. One of the problems with Italy's DOCG is that it is used as a marketing tool, and regions sometimes get classified regardless of overall quality
Third, that a program like this requires someone to vet the wines for varietal character, drinkability, and the like. Part of the process can be done in the lab, where the wines would be tested for flaws like cork taint and volatile acidity. And lab results would be difficult to challenge if they eliminated a wine from the program. But the poor slobs who would have to taste the wines? I can't even begin to imagine the backlash they'd face if their panel turned down a wine. That's why I wouldn't participate, and no one is more devoted to regional wine than I am.
And none of this takes into account paying for a quality system. Most regional wineries don't like to spend the money to send samples to people like me. Why would they want to pay even more for a quality process like this?
In fact, we have a quality system in place, and it's called the appellation system. In Napa and Sonoma, and a couple of other places in the U.S., the region's name on the label means there is quality wine in the bottle. That's because those areas understand the importance of appellation, and do what they must to protect it. Appellation, sadly, means much less almost everywhere else. When regional wine understands the importance of appellation, and when it focuses on using quality, locally-grown grapes to make quality, local wine, many of the problems that Russ denotes won't be problems any more.