Noteworthy Quotes in 2009
“Wine writers are writing about the superb opportunities for consumers on discounted wines, yet we see very
few true bargains out in the marketplace.” Adam Lee, Siduri Wines
“I think food and beverage companies should be prepared for at least several more years of more frugality from
consumers.” Steven Rannekleiv, Rabebank
“Ninety-eight percent of all Pinot Noir should be thrown out. The rest are the finest wines in the world.”
Don Baumhefner, Copeland Creek Winery
“Our business is a branded commodity business, and the sooner we can get people to enjoy wine and beer
with everyday life and price it as such without all this high priced mumbo jumbo, the sooner the business will be
healthy for everyone.” Fred Franzia, Bronco Wines
“As always with great vintages, we only wish there was more. Mais, c’est la vie. I can’t think of a vintage in
Oregon that I’ve seen like 2008, but in Burgundy, it might be similar to ’78. These wines were and still are
delicious today, if you can find them.” Veronique Drouhin-Boss, Domaine Drouhin Oregon.
“Critics taste too many wines in too short a time. As a result, I would expect a taster’s rating of the same wine
to vary by at least three, four, five points from tasting to tasting.” Bob Cabral, winemaker at Williams Selyem
“What a French vigneron strives for is typicity - to make a wine that transparently is what it is. Here, the
winemaker steps aside, letting earth and sun and water and grape speak. The resulting wine becomes a
distillation of place; place in a bottle.” Randall Grahm, palatepress.com.
“Whatever ‘minerality’ in wine is, it is not the taste of vineyard minerals.” Alex Maltman, Professor of Geology
and Earth Sciences at Aberystwyth University.
“I don’t think there’s any question that San Francisco has the best winemaking weather in the world.” Fritz
Maytag, York Creek and Anchor Brewing Company
“If we’re reduced to pandering to a demographic (Generation Y) that treats wines with as much reverence as
their constant and perpetual practice of being in the moment tethered to text messaging and Facebook, we
should immediately start writing the obituary for wine as a beverage of distinction.” Mutineer Magazine
“Biodynamics is an art form, and no art forms are judged scientifically. I mean, how many scientific studies
were done on Van Gogh?” Blair Campbell, winemag.com
“The difficult art of wine tasting requires a considerable measure of humility.” Neil MacCallum, Dry River,
Martinborough, NZ, The World of Fine Wine
“I estimate that some 45 percent of premium California wineries already use either reverse osmosis or the
spinning cone to fine-tune (that is, reduce) their alcohol levels.” Clark Smith, Vinovation.
“The issues I find most problematic with wine competitions is that they seek to impose a standard of objectivity
on wine, and that they ask us to view wine in terms of the best and the greatest. Now, in an ideal world, the
words ‘greatest’ and ‘best’ would be excised from the critical lexicon.” David Williams, The World of Fine Wine
“Just when you think California Pinot Noir can’t get much better, it does.” James Laube, Wine Spectator
“Great Pinot Noir is like explaining sex to a virgin.” Prince
