The French are selling out!

Has anyone else noticed the increase in varietal labelling from the french recently. I first noticed it in a bar in Spalding of all places. Louis Jadot no less! Their bog standard Bourgogne Rouge was clearly labelled Pinot Noir. I was mortified, how could such a well known shipper stoop to such levels and follow New World. What ever happened to people using their brains, and learning about this fine subject. But then I thought, no let's give the on trade the benefit of the doubt, maybe it is just to make life easier for the bar tenders who get constant request from customers along the lines of grape variety rather than a request for their finest red burgundy.

Yesterday I was in an off licence in London and Baron Phillipe de Rothschild had done the same, Oh My God! Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon etc etc. Clearly the world is going mad. Why are the french dumbing down, surely it is up to the New World to up skill their customers and differentiate their products by producer?

Not only am I disappointed at this turn of events but I for one will NOT be buying any french wine that cheapens itself by putting the grape variety on the label. Am I alone and out of touch???

BTW a for a great website that is well informed and really useful the click here.

German Wine

I tried some German wine recently. A big mistake. I know this sounds harsh but its been a good 10 years or more since I last had a go and sadly not much has changed. Okay, I was trying a range of Riesling's from different countries so I felt compelled to include one from the Pfalz region. I will blame Jancis Robinson. I was watching and old series of hers wine tasting around the world and she just happened to mention that she was a big fan of the Riesling grape. Now I am a big fan of Jancis so in for a penny... Off to Waitrose and quickly I found bottles from Australia , New Zealand and the US. Their German section consisted of about 2 wines which did not bode well.

I picked a snazzy label, not the traditional German label with more words than Mein Kampf for me! The Naked Grape, I kid you not, was a real dissappointment. All of my age old prejudices came flooding back and Jancis was public enemy number one. Sweet, sickly, lacking in finesse, structure and frankly any bite. What a shame. It might take me another 10 years before I try again but I do agree something with Jancis, the Oz Kiwi and Yank Reislings were outstanding.