Wine Enthusiast Magazine
SubscribeLong Island vs. California Wine Country: Why the Identity Crisis?
by Erika Strum
Recently I made my first trip to the North Fork for some touring and tasting. I took a couple of friends and we explored Route 25, experiencing the best that Long Island Wine Country has to offer. I was impressed by elegant, concentrated Cabernet Franc and steely, unoaked Chardonnay. I enjoyed picturesque views and chatting with honest winemakers about anything from screw caps to their hopes for the region’s future.
But I found one recurring theme troubling: the slavish comparison of Long Island wine country to California. I’m not here to argue which region is better but I think it’s safe to say that California has been an established wine region for decades, while Long Island is in the “up and coming” category. It’s pretty unfair to compare the two, so why do people feel it’s necessary?
There were frequent mentions of the lower alcohol content in Long Island i.e. where a red blend made in California might be 14.5% alcohol it was 13% from a Long Island winery. That’s great. I think I heard the statement: “this would cost Y from California but it costs X here” made a few times. That’s great too. But why are we bothering with the comparison?
These are two distinct regions with different climates, which cradle grapes in unique ways. It’s OK to say that Carneros produces fine Chardonnay and the North Fork does as well.
It’s not a far cry from some of the early Napa Valley pioneers like Robert Mondavi, who claimed that California wines could rival those of Bordeaux. Or the Judgment of Paris Tasting, after which California wines reached a tipping point of success. But is it necessary? Does a new region have to compare themselves to an established one to gain credibility?
(courtesy of Appellation America)
My colleague, Joe Czerwinski, feels they do and he touched on it in his post, Local Wines, International Critics. He mentions Finger Lake Rieslings, for example, and how they might fare against tough, global competition. I don’t disagree with Joe. To achieve greatness, it’s intelligent to compare yourself to established regions or wine greats as a guide in your evolution. But it’s important to maintain a unique identity, to evolve in a way that is most natural given the land, the market, and the people making the wine there.
Take Argentina, for example. Perhaps they looked to other new world regions like Australia and Chile as a yardstick but the grapes, history and terroir are so different that they couldn’t mimic other regions. Argentina rose to fame through persistence, steady improvements, and controlled pricing, more than comparison to others.
I believe consumers are open to Malbec from Argentina because it stands apart, not because it reminds them of something else, and the same should go for Long Island. A region should stand on its own and be its own metric for quality, if it wants to be taken seriously, and in turn, shouldn’t critics and consumers beware trying to superimpose one region onto another?
Erika Strum is Internet Marketing Manager at Wine Enthusiast Companies. She first became involved in wine and technology by working in search engine optimization, completing her WSET Advanced Certification and starting her own personal blog, StrumErika.com.
Filed under: Opinions and Commentary, Regions
5 Comments
5 Responses to “Long Island vs. California Wine Country: Why the Identity Crisis?”
Please Wait
August 26th, 2008 at 1:36:35 PM
This kind of meauring stick extends to all aspects of life. I hear it all the time here in the Okanagan Valley. It’s valid sometimes; when quality is in question it’s appropriate to hold up “best practices” from other regions as examples of things can be made better. Eventually, you have to stand on your own and walk the walk.
August 26th, 2008 at 2:26:56 PM
Erika: Have make an important point, but there is another side to the story here too.
You, as someone who works in the wine industry and who has a strong interest in fermented grape juice, are much more interested in hearing what makes a region like LI stand out. You want to know what LI does best, not necessarily what it does “better” than California or anywhere else. I get that 100% and I share your frustration when wineries do that. And I think I know which winery we’re both talking about. They might just be trying to justify the way they have completely changed the pricing structure of LI wines with their prices.
But it’s important to remember that the average person coming into a tasting room, or even more “old school” wine drinkers who think Napa Cab is ‘the thing’ needs to be convinced that Long Island wines are just as good… just in a different way. It’s a differentiator that is much easier to convey in a short tasting room visit than going on and on about the climatic and stylistic differences.
To their credit, I think that over the past several years, LI wineries have mostly gotten away from these sorts of comparisons (it used to be all about Bordeaux). But the winery in question still feels the need to compare apples to oranges to justify high prices.
August 26th, 2008 at 6:04:13 PM
I have been to plenty of Long Island wineries (my husband grew up on the North Fork) and over the past ten years the prices have gone up, up, up and the quality, well, it’s not always keeping up. Although we do have a few favorites (Roanoke being one), I agree with Lenn that, in general, LI wineries are trying to tout the California comparison to draw in the un-informed and the city crowd.
August 27th, 2008 at 10:19:52 AM
Leandra: I think that the overall quality of LI wine has had a strong upswing in the past 3-5 years. Has it kept pace with the escalating pricing of the wines? That’s definitely a debatable question. I think in some cases, yes. But in other cases, it has definitely not kept pace.
It seem as if some of the wineries are trying to ride the coattails of those that actually DO deserve and earn those higher prices, without actually upping their own game.
August 27th, 2008 at 10:38:25 AM
Lenn: I’ll have to make a concerted effort to visit some LI wineries again on our next visit… I remember when the tastings used to be free, ahh the good ‘ole days. :)