The Inside Story from Italian Wine Merchants

Pursuing Wine with Joy in Our Hearts

The Communal Energy of Wine

Over the last month I made a point to visit many retailers in my local Chicago market. I was surprised by how many abrupt individuals I ran into. I was also surprised that my industry teems with people who are so quick to dismiss credible products altogether or are eager to tear down the success of another in an effort to make their own work seem better. My intention today is to implore all of us wine professionals to relinquish those unpleasant behaviors and to rediscover those passionate qualities that drew us to wine in the beginning.

For many of us, our love for wine, our joy in sharing it with old and new friends, and our appreciation for the craft of winemaking all worked together to draw us to the industry. Somewhere in some people’s professional journeys, however, many wine professionals seem to have lost their ways. Their thoughts are colored by conflict, their comments tainted with bitterness, and their posture shaped by contempt. They seem to have lost their sense of joy.

Over the years, I have been fortunate to work with many open-minded individuals who approach wine with a high degree of respect, a dose of humility and a passion for the experience. I call these people “soul friends.” I am proud to say that my colleagues at IWM all possess these qualities. On the other hand, I’ve also had the regrettable experience of coming in contact with individuals who can be abrasive, obtuse and argumentative. I call these people acquaintances.

I firmly believe that our lives pose enough challenges and enough conflict that I don’t need to bring this cantankerous behavior into the one area in my life that I look to for joy. Furthermore, I don’t care to share my wine experiences with people who act churlishly. Certainly, many of these people have a considerable amount of knowledge, many hold respectable positions in our industry, and some are even celebrated for their deportment. However, I decided remain pure to what made me pursue wine in the first place: the artistic and communal energy that it fosters.

The haters, those who feed off of the negative energy, have a product whose essence reflects their candor: vinegar.  I say, leave the wine to the lovers. We appreciate it.

Presenting a Place in a Bottle

Nicolas Joly Visits IWM

This week at IWM we welcomed the esteemed Loire producer Nicolas Joly.  Joly is famous within the wine community for his staunch promotion of the winegrowing and winemaking principles of biodynamics.  Joly not only practices biodynamics in his vineyards and winery, but he also personally lives the principles.  This effectively means that he believes in harnessing the “life forces” of the universe by first trying to understand, and then trying to provide for the natural needs of all things, his vines coming first and foremost.  His goal is to express his appellation to its fullest extent in each bottle of his wine.

Nicolas Joly: Two Very Different Ways of Achieving a Wine from Inside IWM on Vimeo.

Joly claims, “It is not that the wine is in biodynamics that is it good,” and I appreciated his admission, especially phrased as it is in his charming English. I’ve heard many wine professionals and fanatics wax rhapsodic over how biodynamic wines are always better in quality, and I respectfully disagree.  It may be true that if you look at the whole of the wine world and then at the whole of the biodynamic wine world, the greater percentage of higher quality wines certainly sits in the biodynamic camp.  However, I’ve tasted more than a few biodynamic wines that are wanting in one way or another.  (I’d further say that you can’t make an absolutely true blanket statement about wine.)  Joly went on to explain that the holistic approach is what brings it all together. He observed that “When you are seeing the forces, pulling the right forces into place,” you naturally create quality.  Perhaps Joly is right and perhaps he is not, but I do know that his life forces were seamlessly aligned when he created his 2007s.  They are showing brilliantly!

In order to fully harness his appellation, Joly strictly avoids adding anything to the winegrowing and winemaking process that is not totally organic and naturally part of the appellation.  He explains that when winegrowers don’t abide to this strict biodynamic code, the wine is no longer an honest reflection of its appellation.  These additions could be oak chips, enzymes, or they could be the biggest enemy—yeasts, especially aromatic yeasts (mon Dieu!).  Having heard some pretty extreme philosophies on this topic of additives from other producers, such as the protest that Rainer Lingenfelder launched at growers who trucked in water from a nearby lake to hydrate their vines during the persistent heat of 2003, I found Joly’s ideas pretty easy to accept.

Nicolas Joly: What Happens in the Cellar from Inside IWM on Vimeo.

Then his train of thought moved to sulfur additions, and I was pleasantly surprised that Joly was not completely against adding sulfur.  He does, however, point out the sulfur must be natural and not a product from the oil industry, and I agree.  First, small amounts of sulfur are naturally produced by yeast during the fermentation process.  Second, as Joly points out, “If you ship far away, your wine should have it” because most wines without added sulfur don’t travel well.  Joly recollected more than a few bottles he has opened that were not in good condition because the winemakers refused to add sulfur, and by doing so, denied their consumers a better bottle of wine.

But, enough of my “Cliffs Notes.”  Click into our videos to hear from the man himself!

What’s More Important Than Terroir?

Quite a Bit, Actually

For years, the concept of terroir has been heralded as the most important component in determining the quality of a wine. A word that encompasses a broad territory, “terroir” is not merely the soil in which the wine is grown, but also the drainage of that soil, the direction the vineyard faces, the microclimate where the grapes grow, and even natural elements like surrounding flora and fauna.  These various and sundry factors will influence the quality of the fruit that’s growing on the vine. Moreover, an individual vineyard’s idiosyncratic terroir helps to explain how the same winemaker using the same technique in different plots can make wines of differing quality. This umbrella concept of “terroir” began in Bordeaux to help explain the extraordinary nature of the region’s wines, and because Bordeaux has long been the best-travelled and most famous wine-producing region, this notion soon gained acceptance around the world. However, I am not sure that terroir is the single most important component in determining a wine today.

There are a few reasons why I’d make that startling claim. For one thing, many parts of the world are showing a modern style of winemaking that is creating a certain homogenization of wine.  Wines are cleaner, more consistent and, to a certain extent, remarkably similar. These wines have maximum ripeness and thus high alcohol, a generous amount of oak and a rich texture. Many wine aficionados would argue that wines have been “Parkerized.”

However, I must ask a question: can we say that the influence of Robert Parker is so great that he has caused people around the world to change the way they are making wine today? While I would suggest that Parker’s influence is considerable, I do believe this is an easy answer to a far more complex situation. In response to “Parkerization,” I have to raise the visage of the wine consultant, like Michel Rolland, who is the most successful consultant in this profession. Wine consultants suggest ways that producers can tweak their wines in order to make them more recognizable, marketable and profitable. Certainly the role of the wine consultant has played an enormous role in shaping the manner in which producers around the world make their wines.

Germane to the question of terrior is the criticism that these international-style wines are void of terroir. It would seem as though these international wine consultants are able to produce their 90+ rated wines without sensitivity for the land.  If the terroir were the most important component in shaping the wine, it would not play a secondary role or be eliminated from the final expression, and wines that seem like they could have hailed from anywhere—as opposed to clearly Toscana, clearly Brda, clearly Burgundy, or clearly Sonoma—would get far lower scores. They also wouldn’t sell as well.

To take the argument one step further, Burgundy is an area where terroir is cherished. The terroir is evident in each bottle. However, in one grand cru vineyard there may be as many as 60 different producers. While the location of the vines in the producers’ vineyards will have an impact on the overall quality, it is the vinification technique of the winemaker that will ultimately shape how the wine tastes. And it’s on that point, the point of the producer, where we get to the heart of the matter. While the terroir plays a critical role is determining the raw material that the winemaker works with, the winemaker makes the ultimate statement.

Perhaps the best illustration for the importance of the producer’s hand would be Josko Gravner. In the genesis of his winemaking career, he was known as the leader of the modern movement, using technology to shape the manner in which his wine was produced. Then he did a 180 and began to embrace a totally opposite, ancient technique using clay amphorae to make his spectacular wines. In both cases, his wines were true to the region in which they were produced, but the technique was completely different. The resulting wines were also very different.

While terroir is a critical component in shaping the overall quality of a wine, it will only determine the parameters of what a wine can be. Ultimately, the person making the wine will determine the final product.  There are winemakers who are more gifted than others. There are people who have a passion, a conviction that allows them to take extraordinary raw material and give it a wine apotheosis. This is the artistry of the process. This is where a talent combines with material to create something extraordinary.  More importantly, I would argue that wine is ineffably complex: there are so many unique components that will influence the overall quality of the wine that it is more important to learn to appreciate the wine for its individuality rather than to predetermine what made it special.