The Pursuit of Wine Appreciation

When I first decided to pursue the pleasures of Wine Appreciation, it became apparent that it was far more complex than one friend’s advice, which was as simple as ABC: “Always Buy Cabernet, Always Buy Chardonnay.” (He was serious.) And while a number of wine drinkers I’m chummy with are still in that paradigm, I found it too confining, too generic, and not the least bit fulfilling.

But I needed a roadmap, something to guide me on how to better understand wine.  The first route was sorting out and comprehending each of wine’s underlying components—acidity, sweetness, body (alcohol) and tannins. I soon realized that each of those is determined by (drum roll please!) the underlying grape from which the wine is made.

And once I “learned the grape(s),” I came to understand why, say, a Merlot is unlike a Pinot Noir, which is unlike a Cabernet, which is unlike a Grenache. And the same holds for Chardonnay versus, say, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling or Semillon. That was crucial, inasmuch as the American and New World approach to labelling and distinguishing wines was, and is, by varietal—the underlying grape.

However, that was of limited help when trying to decode how European wines differentiated themselves, not only between countries, but between various regions within the same country.  Experienced enthusiasts know the answer lies in the notion of “Appellation,” which, among other viti and vinicultural details, identifies a wine’s provenance or place of origin.  

Back in “dem olden days,” Old World wine drinkers were unaware (or likely didn’t care) about the varietal makeup, they simply wanted to know if it was, say, an authentic St. Julien from Bordeaux, a Rioja from Spain or a Chianti from Italy.  In other words, was it authentic, the “real thing?” The Appellation system was a method of guaranteeing the wine was not a knockoff, but it ultimately also became a marker of quality.   

And, of course, subsequent off ramps and side trips lead me to a few more discoveries about European wines. Some are categorized and distinguished by length of aging time in bottle and barrel (Spain). Others are distinguished by sweetness level (Germany). A select few are distinguished by the “hierarchy of quality” within the appellation (France’s Bordeaux and Burgundy). And most are additionally distinguished by the appellation’s underlying grapes.

But that information made it clear to me that simply “learning the grape(s) was not sufficient for closing in on sources and quality levels of American wines. My U-turn took me to the notion of America’s Viticultural Areas (AVAs), which, while not identical to, is a distinct nod to Europe’s appellation system. 

In general, an AVA is a “designated wine region, with unique geographic features, including distinctive and identifiable combinations of soil, climate and local wine character.” As of this writing, there are 261 established AVAs in America. California has 143, and for you curious few, Napa Valley has 16 distinct sub-AVAs.

With about 800 wineries dispersed throughout Napa Valley’s sixteen areas, wine buyers, and winegrowers alike, are faced with the issue (and challenge) of differentiating wines; (Cabernet, for example) from others located within Napa Valley, as well the remaining 127 California AVAs, (not to mention all other American AVAs that offer Cabernet).

And so, one eventually may have to deal with quandaries like these: Is, say, a Stags Leap AVA Cabernet really all that different from those in Oak Knoll or Oakville AVAs?  Or Howell Mountain from Diamond Mountain?  Or are Pinot Noirs from several different AVAs all that unique and distinctive?  Well, yes … and no, depending how discriminating your palate is.

But assuming all that, what else can you, and a winegrower, do to differentiate one Cabernet (or any other varietal) from another; one that has the characteristics and qualities that you might desire?  Alas, there are a few more keystrokes left in this pursuit, so please stay tuned.