[yellowtail] is plonk. In an attempt to keep it short and sweet, I didn't explain why. In fact, [yellowtail] is short and sweet. Back story time. Randall Grahm took some heat earlier this week for his comments on splendid table. It's worth mentioning that Randall did say that his comments were not meant for every aussie Shiraz producer, but many that have defined the style. Secondly, he was trying to defend the noblest of all grapes, syrah. He raised some very important points about syrah/ shiraz, one of which is that most shiraz we experience, is pure winemaking. Terroir is out the window. Shiraz we think of is pure unadulterated fruit juice. Easy to make, easy to drink, sweet, simple. blah! I don't believe anyone in this is evil or less sophisticated, many Aussies have made quite a bit of money from this formula that Americans love. Making money is truly acceptable. And there are some amazing world class producers in Australia that are turning out amazing wines like Kaesler, Langmeil and the Burge Family.
That said, like it or not, when you make wine that is soda pop, and you have essentially confused an entire wine drinking generation about arguably the worlds greatest grape, you're going to get some heat. And you deserve it. So take it and say, I deserve it because I've made a choice in my career to make money off of people that don't know any better. And if, as Aussies, you really take umbrage with Randall's dead on comments, take it up with the people that are turning out the grape juice that has more in common with Mogen David than hermitage.
No one makes technically flawed wines anymore, we know too much and have come too far, so when I say these wines are crap, I don't mean that they have technical flaws, I mean that there's no wine in these wines. And the argument that the people that drink these wines will eventually become fine wine drinkers makes as much sense as saying that Shirley Temples are a gateway to Old Fashioneds.
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