All things change, and many of the changes may be seen only in retrospect.
Some issues are in structural elements of society that once were this way and now are that way. Sexual mores have certainly changed from the days when a “well-turned ankle” was witnessed as a risque, eyebrow-raising episode.
Other things are simply gone. Corsets; mustache wax; spats, even the typewriter all have been supplanted.
Most changes in the last two decades have taken place in far less time than change once did. The advent of the internet speeds data flow to all corners of the world in seconds.
One definition of high technology includes the speed with which change occurs. Once an audio cassette or Betamax or a laser disc player is seen as a magical, mystical invention. But soon they are replaced by computers or the internet whose functions are infinitely greater.
So it is with wine. Over decades, winemaking and grape-growing changes have been nearly as rapid as change in other fields. Yet consumers can’t witness the changes. Bottle to bottle, changes are so minute that they don’t seem to be changes at all.
Technically, wine is better than ever. We have fewer bottles with the flaws of the past. But wine also is a lot less interesting than it once was.
I’m not suggesting that we need or want the spoilage components of the past. Again, the internet spreads technology to areas where wine once was made with only rudimentary ideas.
A key difference between the wines of the past and today, at least in California, is the use of sugar or substitutes in red wine. Many red wines today are sweet.
Red wine once was routinely dry. The problem with such austere wines was that they didn’t appeal to those who wanted their wines to be tasty immediately. They were referring to wines they could sip without any connection to the dining table.
Great wine such as early 1970s cabernets from Napa had a sort of richness of fruit, but also had the requisite tannins and acids to allow the wines to age. This was fine for the small coterie of us who bought these wines to age.
But as wine buyers grew in number, the age-worthy and dinner-table wines of the 1970s were roundly criticized for their roughness, tartness, and sheer lack of enjoyment in a walk-around setting.
Few people drank cabernet or merlot at pool parties in the 1970s; lighter white wines seemed all the rage.
As a result, sweetness began to creep into California red wines about 25 years ago. Softness in reds covers up the tannins that always have been part of most California wines. The use of sugar in red wine combined with lower acidity means earlier drinkability.
But then aging is compromised and so is food compatibility. When you craft a wine with a different structural profile, with an emphasis on ultra-ripeness, the result will be a different sort of wine, changing it from classic (food-friendly) to modern (sipping alone).
As a result, we’ve seen an evolution toward more sweetness in reds and a reduction in the time such wines need in the cellar. Which means that we get less complex wines. The changes we’ve seen are not necessarily for the better.
No wine of the week.
