Rant: Is it just me?

[Thomas]

That's right Hotwine, that is because the Europeans do not produce wine for drinking; they produce it for dining. Having said that, I am nervous about what is going on in European wine production today.

Just last April I had a long conversation with one of the winemakers at Bolla, in Verona. He put forward a new line of wines: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, et al, that tasted like they could have been produced at a Napa winery with a hyper-investment in oak and tannins. I asked the man why it was that he would choose to obliterate the wonderful local flavors of Valpolicella and Bardolino. He replied that the Bolla company aims these new wines at the American market.

Similarly, look at what has happened in Tuscany. There are wines coming out of Tuscany that should be taxed on weight rather than volume, and they bear little relationship to the marvelous wines of Siena, or other places in the region--marvelous with food, that is.

France will slowly slip in that direction too--especially in the south where good bargains still prevail. Watch what happens as Languedoc discovers the American wood market!

Germany might escape the problem because theirs is not a red wine culture; but as IK noted elsewhere, the prices for their wine have abandoned all reason.