Changing Classification of Wine

[palo]

I'm not sure if this is happening all over, but it seems to be here in Ontario. Wines are being classified by "style" instead of geographic origin.

Is this being done to make wine more "accessible" or as a marketing tool? Is this being done elsewhere?

p

[ChrisTaylor]

By "style" do you mean varietal? e.g. placing the words 'pinot noir' in a more prominent place on the label than 'a wine from Central Otago'? I'm no expert on wine, but isn't that basically standard practice for New World winemakers? In Australia, at least, there's no one to tell you that you're only supposed to make certain kinds of wine in certain ways in certain places. You can make whatever you like, wherever you like. You'll (probably) mention the region on the label--Margaret River, Yarra Valley, etc--but always in a less prominent spot than the varietal(s) of grapes that you used to make the wine.

[Paul Bacino]

No..

 

I think he means..  sweet to dry  / lighter to bolder  /  white to red

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classification_of_wine

 

If so,  then we have a few wine Boutiques  , that do this.

 

Personally  I'm thinking its marketing,  helps the novice /  drinkers

 

Cheers  Paul

Edited April 1, 2015 by Paul Bacino (log)

[palo]

Actually I'm not sure what I'm referring to. It's more spspecific than white/red, sweet/dry etc, more towards the pinot origin, merlot etc. I'm referring to the past practice of referring to wines in terms of region predominantly, such as Burgandy, Bordeaux etc.

p

[cdh]

Do you mean that places that made homage wines in-the-style-of-<famous appellation> are ditching that and being more descriptive?  The Californian Rhine wines becoming California sweet rieslings and such like?

[AlaMoi]

we have a PA State Store that recently relocated to new and fancy digs.  ueber posh . . .

 

wines are separated by sections ala

"Imported"

"German"

"California"

"Australian"

 

as well as separate sections for

"Chardonnay"

"Reds"

"Sweet Wines"

etc. and el nonsenso

 

the PA WineBurroKrats have invented categories like

"Chairman's Select"

"Collector's Corner"

 

and then they have posh elegant 'racks' against the wall.  one could think these are the higher end product.

wrong.  TwoBuckChuck wines in the fancy racks and $45/bottle wines in corrugated cases stacked on the floor.

 

so, in PA, "Know Before You Go" because "they" been there, are there, and have no clue.

[Midlife]

There are two US national franchise wine retail operations that have been doing this for years. They present their inventory by flavor profile (sweet, fruity, etc.). As a somewhat knowledgeable wine consumer I am really turned off by this mostly because it's based on someone else's decision as to what the dominate palate profile of the wine might be.  But............. I don't pay much attention to where I find the bottle anyway, so I guess the issue for me is that I have to look almost everywhere in the shop to see what they have because that flavor presentation is useless to me.

[rotuts]

correct

 

can't drink a label.