Dr Brendan Jansen
5 December 2009
Over the past 7 months here in Italy (and when I was in Rioja last week) I have frequently heard wines described as “modern” or “traditional” in style. I suspect this is a peculiar Old World issue, as “growing up” in the world of Australian wine, most styles were, almost by definition, modern.
What does the distinction mean here? I have come to understand that the term “modern” refers to a style of wine which is different to that produced by the region. It implies new and different winemaking techniques to attain such a style.
In the case of Sangiovese, and Chianti in particular, the traditional style has been a medium bodied wine with fine dusty tannins, high acidity, and bright cherry fruit characters, without any dominant influence of oak treatment. The more modern style involves more heavily extracted wines with deeper and denser fruit, even in the stewed plum spectrum, with use of oak to augment the tannic structure.
The drift to “modernisation” does not always flow towards creating a denser wine. In the case of Barolo for example, while the nebbiolo grape was traditionally fermented on its skins for up to two months and then aged in large oak or chestnut barrels (boti), these days, many producers limit skin contact to around the norm for red wine of about 17 days, leave the wine in wood for the minimum time allowed by law (for it to be classified as a Barolo) and often use small barrels. This results in wine that is far more approachable when young, and drinkable earlier than the 10 or twenty years one would have had to wait in the past.
What should we make of this drift towards the norm (part of what is sometimes referred to the “Parkerisation” of wine)? (By the way, I met Robert Parker as I was one who assisted at his grand Tasting at the Winefuture conference in Spain – a Grenache tasting with 538 people! More of that at a later date…).
Firstly, the positives. It has brought winemaking in the Old World into the 21st century, so that areas like Bordeaux are in fact the leaders in innovation when it comes to wine technology. There has been a revolution in quality (not solely because of this tendency to change of style of course). Spain is a fantastic example. The wines I tasted from Rioja, Ribera del Duero, Toro and other regions were fantastic. A far cry from the fruit-less, partially oxidised Gran Riservas of the past. In fact the old distinctions of “crianza, riserva, …etc” are becoming defunct. Use of American oak has given way to use of French oak in Spain.
Marques de Riscal now has a new line of wines, with flashy new and modern labelling, very different to their traditional wines (which they still produce of course). In a previous post I mentioned Chianti Classici of a more traditional style, and those of a more modern disposition.
Are there any negatives to these developments? In my opinion there certainly are. It is clear that many wines are being manufactured (and I use the word deliberately) to suit some sort of international palate. To be honest I find it difficult to distinguish a Sangiovese from a Temperanillo from a Shiraz on occasion, when made in a rich, fruit- and oak-laden style. I, for one, was first attracted to Old World wines because they were NOT fruit bombs, with 14.5%+ alcohol, but instead had complex, savoury characters without the fruit and oak dominating. (Hopefully, for the purposes of the Master of Wine tasting examinations, traditional and iconic examples of certain regions will still make an appearance!)
The phenomenon has also resulted in more “international” varieties being planted (not at the expense, I hope, of rare and quirky autochthonous* vines). What a shame if the wines of Bierzo in Spain (with varieties like Mencia), or a the wines of the Mount Etna region in Sicily (Nerello Mascalese) were to be relegated in consumers’ choice and never ever sampled… Is this the death of terrior!
What are your thoughts?
Until next time, ciao!
Brendan Jansen
* Editors Note – According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, autochthonous is an adjective meaning “(of an inhabitant of a place) indigenous rather descended