Will Pinot Noir See a Reverse Sideways Effect?
Friday, August 3, 2012 at 3:00PM In my first column for this site, I touched on the subject of "wine fashion," and how on certain occasions, the overwhelming popularity of a type of grape, or style of wine, can result in a backlash against that grape or style of wine from knowledgeable wine consumers. In nearly all cases that I can think of (Merlot, Chardonnay, etc.), this stems from what Jancis Robinson has termed the "'big equals bad' phenomenon."
As with any blanket statement philosophy, always assuming that "big equals bad," invariably leads to some missed opportunities, as Robinson illustrated with a story from a recent blind tasting where Gallo Moscato was selected by several Masters of Wine over several more expensive artisanally produced Moscatos. However, in general, the wine public has rebelled against large scale wine production because it represents wine that is made for the sake of profit, and generally eschews small scale wine making techniques that bestow quality and character on wine. One of these techniques is the careful sourcing of the grapes. In evaluating the state of Merlot prior to the evisceration of its reputation by the movie Sideways, here is what I wrote about the manner in which the grapes were selected:
As Merlot's popularity increased, countless wineries added Merlot to their repetoire, in the hopes of capitalizing on the growing demand. However, not everyone who attempted to cash in on the increased demand for Merlot was well positioned to do so. The promise of economic gain caused wineries to overlook whether they had the appropriate climate to grow Merlot grapes, and many produced substandard wines as a result of this oversight. The glut of average Merlot that flooded the market, combined with its near universal popularity, led to a backlash against Merlot among the wine conoscenti, and formed the basis for the disparagement of Merlot in the movie Sideways.