Cabernet Ain't What It Used to Be

I ain't what I used to be either, but that's off-topic. The story here is that many wines aren't grown or made the same as they were a few decades ago. Maybe that's progress. Cabernet Sauvignon is the poster child for the changes that started in the 1990s in California--more specifically in Napa Valley.

Buying red wines and aging them for a few years or maybe even decades used to be a thing. Not so much anymore. Most are made to drink on release to the marketplace. What happened?

The  tannins, acids and the resulting structure meant those wines needed some time to hit their peak. This meant proper storage and a good guess as when the wine was at its best. Cuz there's nothing like opening a 20 year old Cab you've been saving for a special occasion and saying, "Well hell, I should have drank this five years ago." Bummer.

There were studies saying the vast majority of wines purchased were consumed withing a couple days. There was the popularity of Merlot because it was the red wine you didn't have to age. There was the 1997 vintage in the Napa/Sonoma region from an unusually warm growing season where the Cabs were ripe and soft that got great reviews and were highly recommended by the "experts" (okay, mostly by Robert Parker).

Now ripe and soft is the norm. The wine grapes stay on the vines longer to get those big fruit flavors. You also get lower acids (softness). Winemakers can add acid, but getting a truly balanced wine is tricky when you start with the additives. You also get high alcohol levels and/or residual sugar left in the wine. The sweet sensations come from this alcohol or leftover sugar. Winemakers add water and/or use techniques to remove alcohol, but again the wines are not balanced after all this "trickery." Balance is looking at a wine's fruit, acids, tannin, and alcohol. Are they all in balance or does one or two overload the others? These soft and ripe wines taste good to the palate on release, but they don't usually age well. Of course, does that matter since most wines aren't aged anyway?

What you gain in bright fruitiness you lose in complexity. This means there are fewer smells and flavors picked up. Plus there are many characteristics in red wines you rarely see anymore. Tobacco? Mint? Dried herbs? Leather? Nope. It's more plums, licorice, cola, vanilla.

A few folks want to blame climate change. I say the definition of a balanced wine has changed. Is it for the better? Well, it's what people are buying. For me, I know enough wineries that still make what I consider structured, ageable wines and that's what I want -- sometimes.