Mail Call...

This from an anonymous comment on my review of Msr. Joly's book Wine from Earth to Sky...

"if you could care less about food or wine that tastes,looks,and smells as it should naturally, because it's a little funky from time to time... (as one should expect, because well,...fermented or aged fruit, milk, meat,ect. is by the very process of ageing a bit...um... funky.) and only care about how lip smacking tasty something is, then try pounding down some twinkies and chaseing[sic] them with big gulps of pepsi.
it's damn good stuff! i don't care how it's made."

My reply: Bullshit...
"Anon -

The inference from your statement is that winemakers don't need to try to make good wine, they get carte blanc because it's a "natural product" despite the fact that all foods (other than those consumed directly-off-the-vine, so to speak) have some human manipulation (although I contend that the manipulation goes back to the planning stage as we have to determine where & what to plant, etc).

As such, we should therefore try to make the best of what we do, not have some half-assed cosmic theory to exculpate our half-assed attempts. If someone wants to try to make wine with unproved & untenable theories then go for it. But don't bother me about how "that's the way Nature intended it"...because Nature provided us with the capacity for rational thought, and intended for us to apply ourselves to the problems we encounter, not make excuses...

Wine should taste good...otherwise why bother with it at all? If you're looking for something with some acidity then we could substitute cranberry juice, or something else. But we don't - we search for that elusive complexity in wine instead."

Frankly, the debates about BioD remind me of that 2002 South Park episode where Stan Marsh confronts John Edward, the self-proclaimed psychic who uses "cold reading" to manipulate his audiences:

Stan: I am saying this to you, John Edward. You are a liar, you are a fake, and you are the biggest douche ever.

John Edward: Everything I tell people is positive and gives them hope. How does that make me a douche?

Stan: Because the big questions in life are tough - Why are we here, where are we from, where are we going. But if people believe in asshole douchey liars like you, we're never going to find the real answers to those questions. You aren't just lying, you are slowing down the progress of all mankind. You douche.

"Slowing down the progress of all mankind"...that phrase really brings it all home.

About having these "cosmic forces" that only Steiner or Joly seem to be able to channel, and that practitioners of BioD are benign (though perhaps mistaken) individuals there is the following exchange which perfectly sums that claim up:

John Edward: Look, what I do doesn't hurt anybody. I give people closure and help them cope with life.

Stan: No, you give them false hope and a belief in something that isn't real.

John Edward: But I'm a psychic.

Stan: No dude, you're a douche.

John Edward: I'm not a douche! What if I really believe that dead people talk to me?

Stan: Then you're a stupid douche.

Anon, go ahead and pour yourself that Pepsi - or if you prefer - some stinky substandard wine.
It's your choice after all, but I'll stick with wines made by people who aren't looking to hide behind something.

/V