Great Wine Made Simple - Andrea Immer [48]
Step Two: Read the wine label, identify the wine’s country of origin, and then, using the definition above, decide if it’s an Old World wine or a New World wine. Here’s what that tells you, in simple terms:
Old World: subtler-style wines
New World: bolder-style wines
I will explain these styles in detail, and our tasting lessons will showcase them. But first, here is a little background on the Old World/New World concept.
The Secret Weapon of Sommeliers
I did not invent this. The definition of Old World and New World countries and their respective wine styles is a long-standing convention in the wine trade. In fact, Old World/New World is a major tool in such constant use by sommeliers and wine professionals that it is practically part of the subconscious, in the same way that mouse maneuvers are second nature to a computer geek. Without really thinking about it, we use it to make wine recommendations, to match wines to food menus, and to decide if a wine belongs on our wine lists or store shelves.
You might wonder why such a great buying tool has remained pretty much under wraps outside the wine trade. I am not really sure of the reason. The cynic in me thinks that perhaps it is related to job security—we want you to need us pros to explain and reveal all of wine’s subtleties to you. But in truth, the average time I got to spend on guest wine recommendations usually can be counted in seconds. For the typical sommelier, any given night is a juggling act of tables to be visited, bottles to be opened, and glasses to be topped up. And you, the guest, have better things to do, too—deals to close, lovers to seduce, future in-laws to impress, or whatever. Most of the time, you do not really want, or need, to “talk wine” with me. In my experience, something along the lines of “The Sancerre is really delicious, and you’ll love it with your goat cheese salad” is usually enough wine talk for most customers.
A more likely explanation for the secrecy is that this tool takes the Old World and the New World and makes a big generalization about their wine styles—something wine professionals typically hate to do. This is because most wine lovers, both amateur and professional, just cannot bear to undersell the subtleties of wine, which are what seduced us in the first place. I think professionals reason that it’s okay for us in the trade to use this quick trick, because we are already disciples of the grape, so we’re in no danger of limiting ourselves to a vanilla and chocolate view of wine’s (truly infinite) taste possibilities.
I know from experience, however, that if someone is completely in the dark about a wine style, they probably will never try it. This is true even with wine buyers for whom money is no object. When it comes to something they are about to eat or drink, the vast majority of the time, people want some idea of what to expect. So rather than making someone “peel the onion,” so to speak, to get to all that wine has to offer, I would rather, when possible, show them how to cut to the chase, so they can confidently and efficiently experiment with everything that is out there. Otherwise, they probably will limit themselves to one or two basic, familiar styles (the vanilla and chocolate of wine) that barely scratch the surface of its pleasure and taste possibilities.
In fact, I think the peel-the-onion theory is what is behind wine’s elitist reputation in this country—it seems like a rite of passage imposed by the wine trade. Most people can’t be bothered with it, and the results are obvious: People are drinking mass-market wine (or beer or soda) and missing out. Wine is already complicated enough. A “trade secret” like Old World/New World can open doors for wine drinkers at any knowledge level, so I felt it should be shared.
Old World Subtlety versus New World Boldness–Why