Truth in Labeling

[Rebel Rose]

An interesting and informative piece from the NY Times by Eric Asimov tackles the subject of vintage and varietal percentages in wine, and the U.S. labeling laws.

American winemakers have learned an awful lot in the last 25 years. For example, many of them used to believe that given rich soils and plenty of sun, they could grow whatever kind of grapes they wanted, wherever they wanted, and turn them into wine. As a result, in Napa Valley, pinot noir was planted next to cabernet sauvignon next to zinfandel next to chenin blanc, and an awful lot of pretty bad wine was produced.

Blending may be taking place on the high end as well, for different reasons. Americans have come to equate darker red wines with better red wines, and pinot noir falls on the pale side of the spectrum. Josh Jensen of the Calera Wine Company and other winemakers have said they believe some pinot noir producers are adding syrah to darken their pinot noirs. Again, it's strictly legal, but in the world of pinot noir it's not ethical.

For the most part the article is an easy-to-read discussion of labeling issues, but there are a few inaccuracies:

California has created a category, Meritage, for Bordeaux-style wines that don't meet the varietal threshold,

California did not create the Meritage designation.

The Wine Institute, a trade group, wants the federal government to relax from 95 percent to 85 percent the proportion of wine that must come from a particular vintage in order to place a vintage date on labels.

The change would affect wines from general appellations like California or Napa County, but not those from more prestigious American Viticultural Areas, like Russian River Valley and Napa Valley. The wine institute says American rules, which also govern imported wines, cannot be enforced overseas, so foreign producers can stretch good vintages with wine from bad years.

Apparently, beating them to the punch is the institute's solution.

The idea is to make blending and labeling practices more uniform for exportation purposes, so we have a level playing field against European wines. Also, the practice of blending back vintages is more often utilized in Europe to improve poor vintages with wine reserved from good vintages. No vintner in his right mind is going to dilute an excellent vintage with a crappy one just to have a little more wine. On second thought . . .