Drinking to globalisation
Claudine Earley
HEY, wine lover. Bored? Thirsty? Nothing good on TV?
Fill in the evening with Mondovino (2004), a film best enjoyed with a glass of vino so that you can drown your sorrows as you discover the impact of globalisation on the wine world.
The undercover documentary takes you behind the new world face of some old world wineries and argues that the search for critical acclaim, and hence sales in the US (mainly), has distorted winemaking tradition, purity, creativity, and elegance.
It’s a fascinating look at the way influential wine critics like Robert Parker and wine consultants like Michel Rolland have made Bordeaux a watchword for “class and quality” in a large consumer market and defined a new style of wine in the process.
The suggestion is that, just as American hegemony has created the McDonalds monoculture, Parker and Rolland have created a high-priced generic wine style in the wine world. Parker favours a big fruit, oak-aged taste. His opinion can make or break a wine in the lucrative US market.
Rolland travels the world, selling a formula that produces wines likely to be highly rated by Parker.
Old school traditionalists from the south of France, Sardinia, and Argentina claim this is not on. Who wants one style of wine? Mono-structure, mono-colour, mono-flavour. Wine should reflect the terroir, they argue, not be oaked so that the character is concealed.
It’s a fascinating cross of a food programme with Target. The only bad thing about Mondovino was that you couldn’t truly judge its argument because you couldn’t taste the wines.
Wine of the week: CJ Pask 2007 Gimblett Road Cabernet Merlot Malbec ($18). From one of our own famous appellations, this Bordeaux blend has rich blackcurrant flavours teamed with earthy complexity. A wine that reflects its terroir, the hot gravels of this sub-region of Hawkes Bay. Watch with Mondovino.
Fill in the evening with Mondovino (2004), a film best enjoyed with a glass of vino so that you can drown your sorrows as you discover the impact of globalisation on the wine world.
The undercover documentary takes you behind the new world face of some old world wineries and argues that the search for critical acclaim, and hence sales in the US (mainly), has distorted winemaking tradition, purity, creativity, and elegance.
It’s a fascinating look at the way influential wine critics like Robert Parker and wine consultants like Michel Rolland have made Bordeaux a watchword for “class and quality” in a large consumer market and defined a new style of wine in the process.
The suggestion is that, just as American hegemony has created the McDonalds monoculture, Parker and Rolland have created a high-priced generic wine style in the wine world. Parker favours a big fruit, oak-aged taste. His opinion can make or break a wine in the lucrative US market.
Rolland travels the world, selling a formula that produces wines likely to be highly rated by Parker.
Old school traditionalists from the south of France, Sardinia, and Argentina claim this is not on. Who wants one style of wine? Mono-structure, mono-colour, mono-flavour. Wine should reflect the terroir, they argue, not be oaked so that the character is concealed.
It’s a fascinating cross of a food programme with Target. The only bad thing about Mondovino was that you couldn’t truly judge its argument because you couldn’t taste the wines.
Wine of the week: CJ Pask 2007 Gimblett Road Cabernet Merlot Malbec ($18). From one of our own famous appellations, this Bordeaux blend has rich blackcurrant flavours teamed with earthy complexity. A wine that reflects its terroir, the hot gravels of this sub-region of Hawkes Bay. Watch with Mondovino.
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