Terroir and the Noösphere – How a French Jesuit paleontologist and a Russian-Ukrainian scientist named Vladimir set the stage for a rising wine culture

Terroir’s dough has been kneaded so much that the large Batard it started out as is looking more like flatbread. It’s been worked too hard.

But sometimes, we must roll the dough into a ball, moisten it, stick it somewhere dark and motionless, and let it rise again with hope for a new start. Or as Eric Asimov, wrote in a recent column, a “new culture.”

And so, all balled up and noöwhere to go, I delved into my post-graduate studies. This time it led me in time, back, to the future.

A Vinous Gordian Knot – the Old World/New World Conundrum

How many of us would really appreciate a greater deciphering of the “New World” vs. “Old World” utterances that have been casually tossed around for as many years as I have been in the wine world? Is North America (and her people) newer than say, Europe and her people? For this observer, to use the phrases Old World or New World, whether it be about wine or a place, doesn’t seem apt. Today, I’m burrowing into this, and, hopefully, not digging my grave.  

This Just In! Wine is Generational...

…as well as regenerational

So, I’ve been looking at this parade from the sky box, of late, and it has eventually dawned on me why there is an endless cacophony among wine lovers. It wasn’t something that snuck up on me. No, it has been there all the time. It was there when I was just starting out. I was just too inexperienced (or immature) to notice it. It is definitely there now. That it is misapprehended by young and old (and I am sure this is the reason), has to do with the interstellar effluvium that our galaxy sailed through in 2016, causing roughly half the people on Earth to think one way, and the other half to think in exact opposition to their contrary counterparts.

All conjecture aside, seriously, it hit me like a bolt of lightning. I was sitting outside with a friend, enjoying a glass of wine (or two), and there it was, simply laid out like tomorrow’s clothes. Wine changes, but the generation that observes and experiences it, changes what wine is, too. Just think about one wine, Port, and how, right now, it really isn’t that popular. But if I were to be stranded on an island, it could be my go-to wine. Probably a tawny.

“The Worst Year in Italian Wine History”

There was this wonderful period, in the mid-to-late 1980’s, when Italy was having a food and wine renaissance. Magazines in America touted it. French supremacy in the dining room, and in the wine cellar, was being challenged by their Italian cousins. The momentum was unheralded. Italian food and wine were climbing new mountains, and once they got to the top, they were singing arias that hadn’t been heard, ever. It was a magical, glorious time to be in the wine trade, and especially the Italian wine trade.

And then, just like the Hindenburg, it all went up in flames.