California no longer copying Europe

Californian winemakers may be attempting to emulate the quality of Europe’s great wines, but not the flavours, stressed Mark de Vere MW at a tasting in London this week.

Leading the seminar was Mark De Vere MW, who is a UK native, but has been living in California for almost 20 years

Speaking on Monday during a seminar called “Then & Now” at London’s “Go West” tasting of Oregon, Washington and Californian wines, de Vere told attendees that California was not looking to copy Burgundy or Bordeaux with its top end wines made using Chardonnay or Cabernet Sauvignon, despite the urge among professionals to draw comparisons between them and alternatives from the classic wine regions of Europe.

“While you might find winemakers in Oregon talking about their wines being like Burgundy, if you ask Californians about their wine style, they will talk about the character of their specific part of California, such as the Russian River or Alexander Valley, because they are no longer trying to imitate European wines,” he commented.

Continuing, he said that European wines were still an important influence on Californian winemakers, but only in terms of encouraging them to improve the quality and structure of their products.

“More and more people [in California] are trying to get the elegance and finesse, the quality attributes of the great wines of Europe, but not the flavours of place of Europe,” he said.

Looking back over the past 40 years of winemaking in California, he said that the biggest change was a more hands-off approach in the cellar.

“There is more focus on achieving the ideal ripeness level in the vineyard for whites and reds and much less manipulation in the winery,” he told db after the seminar was over.

“In the past you would have worked with whatever fruit the vineyard manager gave you, and then manipulated the grapes fairly strongly, and then cleaned up the wine somehow,” he said.

Continuing, he explained that for a Chardonnay, “this could mean skin contact, rough presses and then fining, whereas now you would have better fruit, handle it more gently, avoid skin contact, and have much less fining.”

Similarly, for reds, he said that oak tanks were more common, along with less intense forms of extraction, shorter macerations, and as a result, a lower requirement for fining.

While certain longstanding wineries like Ridge Vineyards or Robert Mondavi “never chased the very big styles” according to de Vere, said that other producers were “coming back from the super ripe styles to full, but balanced, fresh styles”.

Indeed, de Vere suggested that recent cooler vintages in California could prove to be a turning point in the state’s wine style.

“Some said that 1997 was a turning point for California as the winemakers saw how popular the ripeness was that was achieved in that vintage, and then tried to push ripeness up in subsequent vintages,” he began.

“And historically it will be interesting so see if people who are now seeing the charm of the cooler 2010s and 2011s might be thinking actually we can make nice wines in a cooler vintage style.”

Concluding he said, “I don’t know if that will pan out to be true, but having recently tasted the 2013s, it made we think that perhaps this might be happening, although it is still too early to predict.”

De Vere, who is a UK native, has been living in California for almost 20 years and currently works for the Robert Mondavi Winery where he is director at the Constellation Academy of Wine, while also holding the post of North American education director for the Institute of Masters of Wine.

He led the seminar called “Then and Now” to highlight the wines from traditional and long-standing producers such as Robert Mondavi and Ridge Vineyards alongside some of the new players such as Copain and Buccella.

The wines tasted can be seen below:

The tasting was held in London on the fifth floor of The Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre

Chardonnay

Then:
• Hanzell Chardonnay 2012
• Robert Mondavi Reserve Chardonnay 2012

Now:
• Copain Brosseau Vineyard Chardonnay 2012
• Paul Hobbs Chardonnay 2012

Cabernet Sauvignon

Then:
• Ridge Monte Bello 2004
• Robert Mondavi Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2011

Now:
• Viader Cabernet Sauvignon 2012
• Buccella Cabernet Sauvignon 2011