A New Twist on the High Alcohol Debate

Adam Lee of Siduri

I’m intrigued by the debate that’s raging among winemakers, critics, and wine consumers about alcohol content in wines. I wrote a post a few months ago, “How High Is Too High,” where I laid out the basic arguments on both sides.

OK, I admit that I didn’t present a totally unbiased opinion — I think my verbal “body language” showed that I sided with the go-for-it, balls-to-the-wall kind of wines.

But I just came across an article that takes the debate to a new level. It’s written by Eric Asimov, the very respected wine writer for The New York Times. You can’t get more respected than that…

So in his column, “A Gadfly in the Pinot Noir,” Asimov recounts the tale of a panel he moderated at a recent Pinot Noir symposium. Now, that’s not a situation that would seem to invite verbal fireworks, but there was a dramatic twist near the end of the proceedings that has created a mini-uproar in the wine community.

Check this out, and let me know what you think.

By ERIC ASIMOV, The New York Times

IT’S been called the Ol’ Switcheroo, and the Great Pinot Noir Kerfuffle. Depending on your point of view, it was either a surprise changeup that proved a point, or a dirty trick that proved nothing at all. Either way, the stunt that the winemaker Adam Lee pulled at a pinot noir seminar earlier this month has evoked both claims of vindication and cries of outrage throughout the wine-drinking world.

I had a ringside seat. In fact, I led the seminar, held at the World of Pinot Noir, an annual gathering of producers, people in the trade, enthusiasts and writers in Pismo Beach, Calif. The topic was alcohol and balance in pinot noir.

I was joined by five pinot noir producers from California and Rajat Parr, the wine director for the 18 restaurants in the Michael Mina Group. At one of those restaurants, RN74 in San Francisco, Mr. Parr has a policy of not serving pinot noirs or chardonnays that are above 14 percent alcohol.

Before I get to the celebrated moment, allow me to set the scene. Each producer brought two of their wines, which were poured for the audience of about 100 and, of course, for the seven of us onstage. The producers included Mr. Lee of Siduri along with Jim Clendenen of Au Bon Climat, Adam Tolmach of Ojai Vineyard, Josh Jensen of the Calera Wine Company and Michael Browne of Kosta Browne.

The issue of alcohol and balance has been one of the most polarizing in wine over the last decade, especially in California, where some pinot noirs offer alcohol levels little seen outside of zinfandel and amarone, rising past 15 and even 16 percent. Some praise these wines, arguing that alcohol levels do not matter as long as wines are balanced. Others condemn them, asserting that such size and power are a distortion.

In my effort to frame the discussion, I suggested that this debate had special meaning for pinot noir, which in its Burgundian guise has historically been prized for its lightness and finesse. Were these bigger wines simply a stylistic evolution? Or were they an aberration? Who decides?

The discussion went fairly reasonably, or at least as reasonably as possible when seven passionate voices, on all sides of the debate, must be heard in 1 hour and 15 minutes. At one point, I had Mr. Parr elaborate on his policy at RN74, a restaurant that is an homage to Burgundy.

He said the 14 percent limit, which he reiterated applied only to the Burgundian grapes pinot noir and chardonnay, was where he found the most balance and pleasure in those wines.

“It’s harder to match a higher alcohol wine with food,” he said. “But balance is not alcohol, it’s tannins, acid, fruit, a whole combination of things. You can’t say a wine is not balanced because it has 14.5 percent alcohol.”

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