Winophilia

Can you name one or two up-and-coming producers in your region that you believe will be stars in the near future? What do they specialize in, why do you like them, and what wines should Winophilia readers look for? 

Chester Osborn, d’Arenberg (McLaren Vale, Australia). The relatively new noise right now in McLaren Vale is S.C. Pannell. Stephen Pannell is ex-chief winemaker of Hardy’s. He is winning quite a few awards, especially for reds, but his whites are very good also. He works well with grenache and blends and also with nebbiolo. So far he doesn’t export much. READ MORE »

Should wine’s first duty be to pleasure the senses or to stimulate the brain?

Manfred Krankl, Sine Qua Non (Central Coast, California). My knee-jerk reaction is to say “pleasure the senses” because to me, at the very core of it all, that is what wine’s essential function is. Particularly if one ventures beyond the very high-end wine market. I know a number of people who are not wine geeks; they do not study the subject or get too deeply into it all and so they certainly don’t spend much money on wine, but they still get a lot of pleasure from a rather simple bottle. READ MORE »

Should wine’s first duty be to pleasure the senses or to simulate the brain?

Jeremy Seysses, Domaine Dujac (Burgundy, France) and Domaine de Triennes (Provence, France). This is easier to answer than previous questions! To pleasure the senses. A truly great wine, for me, generates an emotional response, not an intellectual one. Emotion comes through the senses. There is no simple recipe to obtain this result, unfortunately. READ MORE »

Some winemakers view wine critics as a necessary (or unnecessary)  evil. Others have benefited commercially—often significantly—from positive reviews. Whichever category you’re in, can you recall a time when you received criticism for one or more of your wines and made changes in response? What was said about your wine(s), and what actions did you take as a result of the criticism?

Joel Peterson, Ravenswood Winery  (Sonoma, California). I consider wine writers necessary, not a necessary evil, or necessarily evil, though there have been times when I felt I should revise this opinion. I have certainly benefited more from positive reviews than I’ve been adversely affected by negative reviews. The take-away lesson from wine critics is that they have different tastes and different points of view. Paraphrasing Lincoln, “you can’t please all of the critics all of the time. READ MORE »