The Paradigm Shift

The question we pose today is this: When did the historic "nose-taste-finish" model for wine structure morph into the now common fruit forward style of today.  Relatedly, with the ancillary jamminess that so often attends to this style; when did that supercede finesse and sculpture in the body of a wine.  Am I too deep in the weeds?  Let's clear out some underbrush.

The historic model for most wine appreciators starts with the nose, the aroma of the wine.  So much of tasting is done at the beginning, before even getting the stuff into your mouth.  It's a foretelling of the entire experience.  Tasting the wine then reveals a fuller breadth of flavors you anticipated in the nose.  And just like even lighter wines must have some body, even simpler wines must show some breadth of flavors and they must be complementary.  Are you with me so far?  Those flavors that so enticed you at the beginning should unfold into something greater in the mouth and then continue into an extended pleasant finish.

That is the historic model.

To our understanding, two things happened to accelerate the change to the California forward fruit style.  In the mid 1980's Kendall-Jackson emerged as a major player in the industry with their off-dry style Chardonnay.  Before that there was White Zinfandel, of course.  We have a sweet tooth in this country and with KJ's success, wines in general became more forward and a little less dry.  

The other factor goes back much further in history.  We're talking about jug wines.  For most of American wine industry history it was jugs of off-dry muddy red and white plonk that was the norm for what wine was in America.  The better quality wine industry was always there, but always only in the background.  In the 1960's estate producers of better wines began to get a toehold and continued to grow in popularity but, in all honesty, it was probably around 1990 before the jug business waned.  But the style persisted, less structure and more fruity flavors.  

Now here's a factor number three: The old model was European in origin.  This is America.  European-style sauces, stews and soups require a wininess of longer flavors that wrap around the complexity of the sauces.  We're a hamburger and steak culture and we consume a lower fat diet in general than the Europeans do.  So in that light it makes sense that we want a fatter wine.