Least appreciated wine?

Jancis Robinson has been writing a series on Sherry, and it has been an eye-opener for me.  She writes of her re-discovery of this wine in glowing terms, even titling one of her pieces The world's least appreciated fine wine?  (Click here for the master link to the articles.) 

Aside from her mouth-watering descriptions of those dry and zesty wines, what I find most interesting is her summary of recent Sherry history and the probable causes of its fall from pre-eminence over the past few decades.  One such cause is the all too effective marketing of sweet Sherry as typical of the typology.  As she writes, Harvey's Bristol Cream, that favorite of grannies everywhere, is "as typical of sherry as Liebfraumilch is of great German Riesling." And we all know how much effort, over several decades, that it's taken to turn around the perception of German wine.  Which, by the way, was regarded as one of the finest wine-producing areas in the world during the 19th and early 20th centuries. 

In the same rich paragraph she notes that the ownership of the major brands has been a clouding factor.  They have changed hands a number of times so that the specific parameters of how the wine has been made and the level of quality sought and proposed to the market has been inconsistent and, ultimately, rather low.  It's been about private labels and rock-bottom prices.  Aside from the "rock-bottom prices" bit, it sounds a lot like the Champagne of the major commercial houses.  But as in Champagne, the trend to small-producer cuvees, or soleras, is turning the region around.  The prices are rising but so is the quality.  In these instances, at least, quality trumps quantity. 

Given my interests and focus, it's easy to see Italian parallels here -- many, and

some of them contradictory as you go from region to region.  Some, like Campania, are evolving and improving rapidly as they shake off their low-budget image.  Others, like Tuscany, seem to be falling into a downward spiral, with a glut of overpriced wine of indeterminate character.  In one case, the region is awaking, in the other it seems to be dosing itself with money and clinging to something that's passing.

Yes, these are sweeping generalizations, and of course there are plenty of examples to the contrary in every part of Italy.  But developments and trends that Jancis Robinson observes in southern Spain are consistent with what you see in the reawakened areas of Italy.  Leadership in defining a wine-producing zone is shifting away from the big commercial wineries and co-ops to the small, artisanal producers.  With this shift comes a new organoleptic profile -- new textures, flavors and aromas based on new (often re-discovered) ways of treating the soil, training the vines, selecting grapes, handling fermentation. And, I submit, these changes are effected by visionaries who understand deeply their terrain and varieties, and who aren't vainly chasing "the market" or some imaginary "typical American" (or German or Japanese) consumer.

Sometimes I think wine producers should be sat down and told, with vivid and clear visual aids, that in wine as in every other thing this is the age of niche marketing.  Niche working. Niche living.  So do what you feel you must in order to make a wine that pleases you.  Somewhere, somehow, you'll find your market.  It's working for the new wave of Sherry producers.  And for the farmers of upland Campania. 

Are you listening, Valpolicella? 

Comments

[Dave]

Terry: Un interessante momento in Alice Feiring il libro di cui un enologo detto che (I known I'm really paraphrasing here) a causa di commercializzazione di oggi, Borgogna non sarebbe mai stato avviato.
I empathize with those niche wine makers because there is a market out here, the struggle for i piccoli produttori artigianali is finding that market.
Forse vedere in Aspen questa settimana?
Grazie. ciao.

[th]

Io no, non ad Aspen, ma se incontri Jeremy Parzen, digli ciao. Grazie per il commento, anche per la lettura.

[Marco]

Good article. For the Spanish, Sherry is their choice with tapas. I like the Lustau line a lot. Craig Camp had a good write up a while back:
http://www.winecampblog.com/articles-by-craig-camp/2006/3/23/sherry-use-it-or-lose-it.html

[Lizzy]

I love Sherry - Jerez'wine, better - and yes, they are perfect with the local cooking (tapas first of all). Imagine, I like Manzanilla, too! The most dry wine I know.
Perhaps 'cause last year I had a wonderdulf trip there, with wonderful friends...

L.

[Jeremy Parzen]

Drank some excellent sherry last night here in Boulder with Bruce and btw, Darrell always starts a fine meal with sherry.

But most importantly, great new pic, Terry!

Complimenti... J

[th]

I feel I should delve more into Sherry. I do like it but got out of the habit. Of course, I didn't drink at all for over 20 years, so that may have had something to do with it.

I hope you're having a good time and getting lots of good material, JP. We miss you here in NYC, although you must be glad to be missing the heatwave.

Leave tomorrow to land at Pisa on Thursday, a busy, whirlwind week coming up in the Bel Paese.

Tell Darrell he'll be hearing from me in the fall. A focused and tinily brilliant opening salvo.

Ciaooooo.

[tracie b]

i am sipping on glass of manzanilla as we speak. what a coincidence...i love me some sherry.

i brought some to a client last week and he and one of his customers loved it, said they'd never had one that was dry. BUT, they could never sell it.

whatever! they liked it because i brought it to them, told them a story and made them understand why it was unique (manzanilla specifically). why can't they do the same with the patronizing public?

coraggio! ci vuole coraggio

[th]

yes, why can't they?

and you're right, ci vuole coraggio...e un senso di humour...

[fredric koeppel]

you would think that because of the proliferation of tapas and tapas-like ("small plate") restaurants in the US that there would be a resurgence of sherry, but neither consumers nor restaurant people know what to do with it, how to care for sherry, how to serve it or what to serve it with. it would take some profound education.

[th]

you're so right on all points...go to a tapas place and they'll yap on and on about some Jumilla or Priorat but Sherry, wha'??

[Marco]

Sherry should be served more and in a wine glass not a puny little glass. Look at the cost of a bottle of Sherry and what they charge for a little Sherry glass.