On 01/22, the user JerryG wrote:
Gentlemen,
If you are ****NOT*** drinking French wine then you are drinking piss. Stop pretneding that these other wines have redeeming value. Impressionist artists come from France, not Calfornia or Oregon or Chile or Australia. Some goes for wine. Wake up.
Is he right? Is American wine still living in the shadow of Bordeaux and Burgundy? Please discuss.
Grab the feed!
The same argument is made about beer – no good beers come from the United States. It is an argument made by those who have only sampled mass-produced, rice-y America lagers like Budweiser, skipping over the fantastic trend in malty craft beers pioneered by West Coast brewers.
The die-hard fans of French (or Italian) wines are making a very persuasive argument – if you live in the early 1970s. New World wines are delightful. I enjoy Malbec, Shiraz and Pinot from California.
From where I sit (currently Argentina, generally Denver) French wines are reasonably “good” but certainly not “good value.” I don’t know if that’s import taxes, shipping cost, the old supply/demand curves, or just the relatively high cost of life in Europe, but French wines tend to be much higher priced with little additional value. Given that this is a value or budget wine review site, I really wonder if you’ll find many French wines within the budget that you both like. It will certainly be interesting once you’ve reviewed a few hundred bottles to look for patterns in the data!
—
Denver Spanish House Wines
Actually, there is a forthcoming review (Jon still needs to review) about a Bordeaux from Chateau Fleur de Rigaud that is actual a great value. However, it comes from St-Emilion, which tends to provide better value wines than it’s left bank counterparts (which are more cabernet friendly).