Hi Miles,

On Sat, 29 Mar 2008 07:44:39 -0700, Miles wrote:

I think most here are missing my point. The way wines are labeled in
the USA works very well to inform the consumer.

Not really. You are assuming that almost the only important factor in
the flavour of a wine is the grape variety from which it is made. The
place and type of soil upon which these grapes are grown isa certaily
AS important and arguably more important for some varietals.

You only have to drink the muck called "Merlot" in most parts of the
the USA (Walla walla is an honourable exception) and contrast that wth
a Pomerol, or a Merlot from Tessin in Switzerland or one from Vilyán
in Hungary.

While I've no objection to mantioning the grapes that have gone to
make up a wine, the US naming procedure leads to as great a likelyhood
of error and customer disappointment as the French, Italian, Spanish
and German model does. The truth is that ignorant buyers will very
possibly be disappointed no matter what system of naming you have.

I feel the way it's done in France etc. is a limitation to the market.

No it isn't. It does on the other hand demand a liny bit of
application in that in the French naming system, you can treat the
name "Pomerol" as a kind of mnemonic for "Merlot", the phrase "red
Burgundy" (despite the odd exceptions) is a mnemonic for Pinot Noir,
and so on. It's really not beyond the wit even of the most limited
varietally fixated drinker to get that. In any case increasingly the
variety IS being mentioned, even if it's not supposed to be.

There may very well be excellent 'Burgundy' style wines made outside the Burgundy region

I've never tasted one. I've taste Pinot Noir wines from most leading
PN growing areas in the world and none of them taste anything like a
half way decent Burgundy. You may not accept that, but anyone here
who's drunk the stuff will agree with me. Not even Domaine Drouhin,
whose family are eminent Burgundy negociants and producers in Beaune,
and who have an excellent estate in theWillamette valley, make a wine
that much resembles a good Burgundy, delicious though it is _in its
own right_. It doesn't NEED the burgundy name and cachet to sell under
its own right. Anymore that does a decent sparkler from Germany or
Spain or California need to pass itself off as Champagne. Actually
it's a silly thing for most of them to do, as most (I'd say about 70%)
true champagnes are awful muck anyway.

That type of limitation doesn't exist in the USA and I prefer it that way.

Fine. Then buy US wines, and let those of us prepared to make the
minimal effort to remember that "Hermitage" means Syrah buy that. But
please don't seek to impose the naming conventions of what is, after
all a very minor wine producing country on other countries which have
been making wine for 2000 years and in quantities that exceed that of
the USA by at least an order of ten.

All the best
Ian