Modern and True

There’s always the talk that wines are not what they used to be.  As the world has shrunk and the exchange of ideas, philosophies, wine growing and winemaking techniques has come together, homogenisation seems to be a result.  There is some truth to this, and most of it is good as the collective quality of the world’s wines rise.  With this is the thought that modern wines are not true to their origins and history.  I don’t see this, but if anything, modern wines can be truer than before, as spoilage and extraneous inputs have been reduced.

The Planner and Planette put on dinner and we both came up with some modern French whites, and they couldn’t have been truer to style if you tried.  The first was a 2011 Rene Mure ‘Clos St Landelin’ Alsace Pinot Gris.  More golden in colour, this was fulsome, solid, rich with stonefruits and honey, and plenty of body.  It’s in the sweeter style, but Alsace Pinot Gris has been that way for a quarter of a century, as ripeness levels at picking have grown.  OK, those with longer memories, looking back 30+ years will say that only dry styles are true.  There are still plenty of those around, but the goalposts change, and full ripeness, fruit extract and richness is a positive forward step.

Then a 2010 Henri Boillot Meursault 1er ‘Charmes’.  Paler in colour with more restraint.  Lovely nutty notes with white stonefruits.  And a silken seamless texture.  Lovely acidity, but with a softness, breadth and depth that speaks of Meursault for sure, rather than Puligny or Chassagne.  There’s no tropical fruits and butterscotch as in many New World Chardonnays, and the complex mineral and gunflint just making a positive, rather than overwhelming impression.  There’s the impression of butteriness.  This all speaks Meursault in its classical and true form to me.  Only this is spotlessly clean and shows no oxidation, premature or otherwise.  These modern wines are all what they should be, and maybe even better.