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From: cmpbsdb@gitpyr.UUCP (Don Barry)
Newsgroups: net.wines
Subject: California Delusions..   :-)
Message-ID: <1226@gitpyr.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 3-Jan-86 23:56:38 EST
Article-I.D.: gitpyr.1226
Posted: Fri Jan  3 23:56:38 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 5-Jan-86 01:40:52 EST
References: <1204@gitpyr.UUCP> <11340@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology
Lines: 29

Stephen P Pope writes:
>     It is only over the last four or five years, with the very
> strong dollar, that European wines became at all competetive
> with Californians for the middle price range.  Even now, you
> can hardly call a lot of Burgundies or Bordeaux bargains at 
> $20 to $80 a bottle for the well-known ones.
If we're talking about oenology as an art form, as I am, then the
price is irrelevant to the quality of the wine.  A masterpiece is
priceless.  For table wines, we may worry about price.  For celebration
of the grape, such mundane considerations do nothing but detract from the art.
>     And on what authority do you claim the 81 Palmer
> will age into a stunning wine?  Did you taste the 
> 61 palmer when it was 5 years old?
I did not have the '61 Palmer in its youth, but a friend still has 14
bottles of it in his cellar.  The '81 is evolving in the identical manner.
The '61 vintage did not gain its exceptional luster until about '66.  The
'81 vintage may not have the same charisma in all the wines, but the Palmer
will rise, I believe, above the first growths as it did in '61 to be 
memorable.  

I'll consider your suggestions.. I'm sure I'll consider a western "varietal"
next time I'm gurgling a '61 Richebourg.  Naahh.

-- 

Don Barry (Chemistry Dept)          CSnet: cmpbsdb%gitpyr.GTNET@gatech.CSNET
Georgia Institute of Technology    BITNET: CMPBSDB @ GITVM1
Atlanta, GA 30332      ARPA: cmpbsdb%gitpyr.GTNET%gatech.CSNET@csnet-relay.ARPA 
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