SFChron:Bonne on Calif Wine/BR: The New Calif Wine

Interesting article in today's SFChron by JonBonne on his take on Calif wine:
BonneOnCalifWine

It's a rather blatant promotion of his new book coming out, which I ordered months ago and am eagerly awaiting its arrival on my doorstep.
Some other wine writers have a great disdain for Jon's writings and feel he's too far into the weird varietals/low alcohol/InPursuit of Balance/AFWE movement. Jon would rather drink a skin-contact RibollaGialla than a ScreamingEagleCab. I can sympathize with that. But I do hope some of these other writers will read his book w/ an open mind before lambasting him.
What I find interesting is that he seems to endorse the Pinots of Loring/Aubert/KostaBrowne...which is outside the box that some
writers seem to categorize Jon.
Tom

CharlieOlken weighs in on the subject:
CharlieOnPinot

Tom

CharlieOlken weighs in on the subject:
CharlieOnPinot

Tom

Even though my tastes are "generally" closer to Mr. Boone's I would guess, this riposte does make a lot of sense. Thanks!

I agree with Olken in that everyone "likes what they like" - nuff said.

I still don't get Bonne's point. He seems to have a problem with the wine economics of CA and Napa, but what would happen if he were in charge? As long as he can get the hardscrabble, foot stomped rkatsiteli, why should it matter if most people like "big flavor". In his world, what should those Napa cab guys be doing with their fruit?

I agree with Olken in that everyone "likes what they like" - nuff said.

I still don't get Bonne's point. He seems to have a problem with the wine economics of CA and Napa, but what would happen if he were in charge? As long as he can get the hardscrabble, foot stomped rkatsiteli, why should it matter if most people like "big flavor". In his world, what should those Napa cab guys be doing with their fruit?

As long as there are still wines for the Anti-Flavor Brigade, let the thousand wines bloom! More Corison and Drew for the rest of us!

CharlieOlken weighs in on the subject:
CharlieOnPinot

Tom

Even though my tastes are "generally" closer to Mr. Boone's I would guess, this riposte does make a lot of sense. Thanks!

Not to me. The first paragraph of Olken's riposte made it clear that it was a straw man argument.

Here is what Oklen typed:

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the highly regarded, widely admired Pinot Noirs of Kosta Browne are enjoyed only by “novices”. If you like them, you don’t know diddly squat according to the Chronicle and its boyish wine judge.

Here is what Bonné actually typed in his SF Chron article:

Whatever brawn had been displayed in the past, such as the 1970s beasts from Ken Burnap's Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard, it would be dwarfed by the early 2000s by the normalization of what Ted Lemon would call the "flamboyant" style. Labels like Loring, Aubert, and that ultimate example of irrational exuberance, Kosta Browne, favored among Pinot novices, quickly attracted partisans for their brash wines.

"Enjoyed only by"? Nope, he never typed that. And boyish? Really? Boyish? Have to stoop to a ridiculous ad hominem to make your point?

Meh, de gustibus non est disputandum.

CharlieOlken weighs in on the subject:
CharlieOnPinot

Tom

Even though my tastes are "generally" closer to Mr. Boone's I would guess, this riposte does make a lot of sense. Thanks!

Not to me. The first paragraph of Olken's riposte made it clear that it was a straw man argument.

Here is what Oklen typed:

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the highly regarded, widely admired Pinot Noirs of Kosta Browne are enjoyed only by “novices”. If you like them, you don’t know diddly squat according to the Chronicle and its boyish wine judge.

Here is what Bonné actually typed in his SF Chron article:

Whatever brawn had been displayed in the past, such as the 1970s beasts from Ken Burnap's Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard, it would be dwarfed by the early 2000s by the normalization of what Ted Lemon would call the "flamboyant" style. Labels like Loring, Aubert, and that ultimate example of irrational exuberance, Kosta Browne, favored among Pinot novices, quickly attracted partisans for their brash wines.

"Enjoyed only by"? Nope, he never typed that. And boyish? Really? Boyish? Have to stoop to a ridiculous ad hominem to make your point?

Meh, de gustibus non est disputandum.

Well said.
Best, Jim

Even though my tastes are "generally" closer to Mr. Boone's I would guess, this riposte does make a lot of sense. Thanks!

Not to me. The first paragraph of Olken's riposte made it clear that it was a straw man argument.

Here is what Oklen typed:

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the highly regarded, widely admired Pinot Noirs of Kosta Browne are enjoyed only by “novices”. If you like them, you don’t know diddly squat according to the Chronicle and its boyish wine judge.

Here is what Bonné actually typed in his SF Chron article:

Whatever brawn had been displayed in the past, such as the 1970s beasts from Ken Burnap's Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard, it would be dwarfed by the early 2000s by the normalization of what Ted Lemon would call the "flamboyant" style. Labels like Loring, Aubert, and that ultimate example of irrational exuberance, Kosta Browne, favored among Pinot novices, quickly attracted partisans for their brash wines.

"Enjoyed only by"? Nope, he never typed that. And boyish? Really? Boyish? Have to stoop to a ridiculous ad hominem to make your point?

Meh, de gustibus non est disputandum.

Well said.
Best, Jim

I'm a 2'nd on that one. But when is it ever that facts stand in the way of a good rant in the blogosphere???
I, of course, followed KenBurnap's Pinots from the very start..the '78 (or was it the '76?). The '80 was huge/extracted/15%+ alcohol. Exactly the kind that Jon dislikes and "beast" is probably the correct
term for it. I suspect...nay..am fully confident that Jon never tasted it in its youth. Ken also made his Pinots (and Cabs & Merlots) in a quite reductive manner and they often had a fecal/sewer gas
nose that I took to labeling as the "Burnap stench". But they had this way of aging into something really good. Pinots of that style would be highly reviled by Jon & the IPoB crowd. So be it...
I certainly liked them...and they did smell/taste like PinotNoir. Did a visit w/ Ken one time and he was a real character.
Tom

Tom

You know...in re-reading the Bonne article, I'll admit you guys were right. Straw man is in play here.

I actually thought originally that Bonne was NOT making quite as strong a point as the second author claimed.

But reading a strawman argument can be fun and one can, if one is not careful, get swept along with the flow!

subtitled " A Guide to the Producers and Wines Behind a Revolution in Taste"
Just finished Jon's book last night. I thought it was a great read. I learned a great deal from it, found some new
wineries I'd not heard of, even some new growing regions (can you say "Ventucopa"??). To me, when I read a new
wine book, a wine article, a wine blog post, a new thread on WB/WCWN/WLDG; I ask myself "Did I learn something"??
In the case of Jon's book, it's a definite "yes". Found a bunch of wineries I'd like to try, a bunch of wines I'd like to try,
some areas I'd like to learn more about. So I would give this book an unqualified endorsement to read. OTOH, if you already
know everything about Calif wine there is to know...then don't waste your time reading it; this book's not for you.
Is the coverage of Calif wines comprehensive & encyclopedic? No, definitely not...it's of wineries and winemakers that Jon has an
interest in. Is it a "revolution in taste"?? That may be an overstatement of what's going on in Calif wine right now. I guess I'd characterize
it as a quiet shift or a slight groundswell. It's probably not gonna change the style of wines coming out of Sonoma-Cutrer or Kendall-Jackson.
He talks about "Brand California" and "Big Flavor". It's clear that those are not the kind of wines that appeal to him.
Is he arrogant & condescending towards people who like those wines?? He's been criticized for labeling K-B Pinots as
"irrationally exuberant". Is that an example of his arrogance?? I guess one could interpret that as such. I didn't.
But in the wineries he reviews, I found plenty of "Big Flavor" wineries he likes. Pinot (Ojai, Failla), Chard (Kongsgaard, Failla, Hanzell,
Ridge), Cabernet (Corison, Favia, Larkmead, Ridge, Araujo, Dunn, Mayacamas), Rhone (Denner, Failla, Lagier-Meredith), Zinfandel (Bedrock,
Limerick Lane, Turley, Bucklin, Carlisle, Ridge)...all wines that could probably be labeled as "Big Flavor". Colgin, Schraeder, Screaming Eagle???
Nope..not included...and they're Cabs that many regard as the pinnacle of Calif wines. An indication of Jon's biases?? Yup...probably so.
Jon's wine writing for the SFChron has been critcized as

Too narrow. Too esoteric. Too much geared to a single philosophy of what is right and wrong and not nearly enough concerned with what the typical wine section readers (not the wine geeks) want from their daily newspaper.


Yes/Yes/Perhaps. It's been suggested that his writing is frightening away potential wine advertisers (as if Forlorn-Hope is going to take out an
ad in the SFChron? Matt's operation can barely accomodate his Accounts Receivable Dept). That strikes me as a bit far-fetched. I read Jon's
SFChron columns religiously...again, because I often learn something new from them. But them I'm probably a wine geek and not a typical
SFChron reader. But does the SFChron need a wine writer to review Rombauer Chard, Yverdon Cabernet, Kendall-Jackson Vintners Reserve;
wines that are probably of more interest of the casual wine drinker/SFChron reader and wines you can actually find on the shelves of the local
supermarket?? I doubt it. That turf is already being plowed by WA/WS/CGCW. No reason that a small-potatoes guy like Jon should be devoting
his energies to that part of the market, I think. If he did, he'd lose my readership pretty fast.
There is one quibble w/ the book. Some of the pictures of people/places do not have a caption to describe what we're looking at.
Anyway, I found Jon's book a fascinating read & I learned a lot from it....more than any other book of late other than Clark's or DavidDarlington's.
But it's definitely not a book for everyone.
Tom

Thanks for the review, Tom. Your writing, which I assume is copied and pasted from Word or something, with all its annoying and odd punctuation, reminds me of trying to read e e cummings

Thanks for the review, Tom. Your writing, which I assume is copied and pasted from Word or something, with all its annoying and odd punctuation, reminds me of trying to era e e cummings

No, Jim...it's me that's annoying, not my posts.
My posts appear differently on different computers...depends a lot on what your browser is.
But, yeah, a cut & paste job.
Tom

"Enjoyed only by"? Nope, he never typed that. And boyish? Really? Boyish? Have to stoop to a ridiculous ad hominem to make your point?

Meh, de gustibus non est disputandum.

Having read Charlie Olken's wine publication since the late '70s, I have to say that I've found him getting increasingly cranky with the years. Where, in former years, his "Thoughts While Shaving" and "Dear Mr. Postman" features displayed a keen and modest sense of humor, in recent years he's seemed to feel embattled and in need of defending the bastions. This is just another case in point.

Mark Lipton

[David M. Bueker]

If Bonne's book presented an even-handed, broad review of everything in California, with equal consideration to all styles it would be an incredibly boring thing to read.