Maggie's Farm

Frankenstein Wines, Globalization, and the Wine "Industry": The War on Terroir

California wine makers have learned to construct wines to meet popular tastes. Purists, for whom the idea of terroir is sacred, are fit to be tied. It's a great example of the effects of globalization.

From Der Spiegel:

For Löwenstein, there are real wines and there are Frankenstein wines, and it looks as though the Frankenstein camp is currently gaining ground. Löwenstein has old fashioned ideas, and he wants to return to the past. And he doesn't shy away from controversy.

And controversy is something he has had plenty of lately. Specifically, a controversy over what some -- especially those in North America -- call progress. It involves procedures like adding wood chips, tannin and water to the wine, breaking it down into its basic components with a machine called a spinning cone column, and then putting it back together as needed.

Read entire.