In the matter of wine

For holiday reading Justinian's wine man Gabriel Wendler recommends Jonathan Nossiter's Liquid Memory - Why Wine Matters ... A deconstruction of wine guides and the points system ... Loves and hates exposed ... A wine romp 

The Siren call of summer holidays beckons.  

The vacation is an opportunity for lawyers to read for pleasure, instead of remuneration - so I'd like to recommend Jonathan Nossiter's absorbing and erudite book Liquid Memory – Why Wine Matters. 

In 2004 Nossiter, an accomplished sommelier with 40-years wine tasting experience, produced the controversial documentary Mondovino. 

The film, according to Nossiter, was a journalistic investigation about the standardization, homogenization and globalization of wine.

It recognised the astonishing influence of wine critic Robert Parker Jr and global wine consultant Michel Rolland  and questioned whether they had been a positive or degenerative influence on wine appreciation, marketing and production.  

Nossiter: against guides, against points (pic: VF)

At the 2004 Cannes Film Festival Nossiter was nominated for the Palme d'Or. Almost 10 years later the documentary continues to generate interest and controversy.

Despite Nossiter's claim his book is "not a continuation of Mondovino", inevitably some readers will see it as such.

However, Nossiter is resolute - he says the book ...

"is not a guide. I'm against guides and against a culture that induces us to submit our own tastes in the perverse rule of self-proclaimed experts. After all, would you leave your sexual tastes in the hands of a guru"?

He also despises the wine points scoring system. 

"The numerical point system inherently implies a mathematical certainty, whether out of 20 or 100 points. However absurd, this ersatz scientificity is perfectly suited to a culture uneasy with the notion of informed critical judgment coexisting with ambiguity and complexity.

This culture prefers specious absolutes, an infantile and incomprehensible language for which no real engagement is required and a falsely pedalled sense of democracy, the fatuous reassurance of pseudo facts and factoids." 

He catalogues wine critics who embrace the wine points evaluation system as "serial scorers ... [who] reassure people who are insecure about wine, but who want to be winners".

He acknowledges his admiration for wine educators such as Hugh Johnson, Oz Clarke, Kermit Lynch and Matt Kramer, who defines the concept terroir as "somewhereness". 

Robinson: no filming with her mouth full

However, he is  disappointment with Jancis Robinson, whom he filmed for six hours during the making of Mondovino. 

"There  wasn't a single phrase that I could use ... 

She spent an hour long taxi ride and an entire lunch in a South London restaurant worried that I would film her while eating and seemed most concerned by neutralizing her old English nanny appearance with flashy designer clothes and consensual comments."  

When she discovered her total omission from the film she "didn't disguise her anger".

There is a chapter devoted to Nossiter's frequent visits to the famous Parisian wine shop, Caves Legrand.

Legrand: well frequented

He laments the past availability of great wine at easy prices - Montille from Volnay, Domaine Lafon from Meursault, George Roumier from Chambolle, Jura wines of Jacques Puffeney ("the Pope of Arbois") and the wines of Charles Joguet of Chinon.

Refreshingly, unlike some wine critics, he is not inclined to prostrate himself before the altar of Burgundy.  

Nossiter describes an encounter with celebrity chef Alain Senderens. At the time Senderens, along with chefs Joel Robuchon and Alain Ducasse, were revered in France.

Senderens complained to Nossiter that to get a good score from Parker Jr the Bordelaise ...

"sold the soul of Bordeaux wines. And I will never forgive them for that. It's a losers game because the American winemakers and other hot climate countries will always beat them in the ripe and sweet sweepstakes."

There is a chapter recalling the extraordinary watershed moment when new world wines upstaged old world wines at the 1976 wine Olympiad.

Napa Valley clarets and Californian chardonnays out scored top French Bordeaux and white Burgundy.

There is much cogitation about the mystery and influence of terroir .

For me, Nossiter's book is a polemic concerning winemaker as artisan surrendering to flavour conformism and the opiate of wine points.

Safe and happy Christmas to you all.   

Liquid Memory - Why Wine Matters, by Jonathan Nossiter.