Why do so many California wines lack character?

[Felonius]

There has been a lot of discussion lately about California wines tasting the same. Some say that trends in the industry - the almighty RP and WS ratings game, marketing to the lowest common denominator to increase sales, the unwillingness of larger producers to take risks, etc. - have brought this about.

I don't know what trends are causing this "sameness" in California wines, but in my humble opinion, it is happening. So many California wines taste similar to me (big fruit, lots of extraction) with the main distinguishing feature being the amount of oak on the finish. I especially notice it when I contrast California Pinots or Syrahs with Burgundies and Rhone wines. I'm no wine expert, but can often taste a noticeable difference in character even between Burgundies made by the same winemaker, in the same basic area (i.e. Chambolle-Musigny), depending on what plot of land that bottling came from. Further afield, a Chambolle-Musigny is almost always a completely different animal from a Gevrey-Chambertin, which again is usually very different from a Pommard (and all made from 100% the same grape!). I seldom get this kind of character distinction between California Pinots or Syrahs. I rarely drink California cabs, so don't know if they suffer the same plight.

So what I'm curious about is how the California winemakers pull this off. Is it scientific control of the process? Blending techniques? Some other manipulation to produce uniformity?

Also, are they deliberately seeking this uniformity for commercial/economic reasons or what? Do California winemakers talk about these things behind closed doors?

Mr. Grahm, I've been a big fan of your wines since my first sip (a glass of Malvasia many years ago) for their originality and character. Thanks for joining us here, and thanks even more for taking bold positions and a road less traveled with your wines.

[Randall Grahm]

Dear Felonious,

I am quite in agreement with you as to the relative homogeneity of California, indeed of New World wines in general. Apart from the relative standardization of varietals and winemaking styles (cultured yeast, reliance on new oak) I think that one of the chief factors can really be traced back to California's climate and our extremely long and favorable growing season. Because we can harvest grapes that are really ripe, some might say over-ripe, we do. I do believe that highly extracted, super-ripe wines, especially produced w/ cultured yeast tend to really accentuate fruit character over say minerality. Even if there potentially were the expression of terroir in California soils (we will not for the moment talk about all of the viticultural practices that CA grape growers engage in that actively discourage such expression), I honestly don't believe that terroir can really be detected in super-ripe, read 14+%, highly extracted wines that are further tarted up w/ new oak. At 14.5+ w/ lots of new wood, everything tends to taste alike. R.