Alcohol levels and fine wine
The internet wine community has recently devoted considerable time to a debate centered on how much alcohol is too much when it comes to fine wine. Alder Yarrow at Vinography started quite a discussion with his inflammatory post, Stop whining about high alcohol wines.
Opposing sides stated their arguments in the comments. The low alcohol camp is for tradition and “the way things should be”. The high alcohol camp is for innovation and “the way things are becoming”. Both sides have some good points, but as often is the case, I think the truth lies somewhere in the no man’s land between the two camps.
But the thing that strikes me most about this debate is that on both sides there seems to exist some well-thought out and strongly held beliefs that do not appear to have room for each other.
Which leads then to the question, how do we define fine wine? Is fine wine defined by the palates of a few, or is it decided by the market as a whole? Does fine wine have to age, or can it be just great at release? Does fine wine have to go with food? It seems like the answer to these questions depends very strongly on which of the two camps discussed above that you fall into.
So, how do you define fine wine?
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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I suggest you read Thor’s comments at:
http://oenologic.blogspot.com/2008/04/whining-about-whining-about-high.html
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