Wine group suggests lowering vintage standards

[Carolyn Tillie]

In this morning's Napa News

A fight is brewing between the Wine Institute and independent grape growers over what percentage of grapes must come from the vintage year that appears on a bottle of wine.

The Wine Institute, the powerful lobbying arm of California's nearly 800 wineries, has suggested lowering the percentage of grapes required to come from the vintage year shown on a wine bottle from 95 percent to 85 percent.

[Brad Ballinger]

The change to 85 percent would help improve wine quality by giving vintners more flexibility when blending their wine, according to Horiuchi.

Eh? This is a bit of a copout. But it would help stem the tide of people who buy vintages and not wines -- albeit a barely perceptible amount.

Rep. Mike Thompson, D- St. Helena, serves as chairman of the Wine Caucus, a group of congressmen who deal with wine-related legislative and regulatory issues. He said it was premature to comment on the matter. However, Thompson said he saw how it would give winemakers a little more latitude: "If you've got a bad vintage year, then you can put a little more in now and make up the difference."

Going more to the point, a bit. About people who buy on vintage.