Musings on Taste, Cachet & The Exotic

Contributing Writer

The posts last week about French and Italian wines – while really about “geography” – got me thinking about wine regions, reputation, “cachet,” etc.

I think most Americans have a sense that European wines, particularly French, and to a slightly lesser extent Italian, are the wines with the highest “cachet.” You hear people say “this is a French Bordeaux” or “this is an Italian Chardonnay” with a certain tone (sometimes reverence) in their voice – you don’t often hear people say “this is a California Merlot” in quite the same way.

Granted the Europeans produce excellent wines, and they’ve been doing it longer than just about anyone. And heaven knows France spends enough money, time and energy promoting themselves as the epitome of all things Vino. But I was reminded recently of a conversation I had a number of years ago with a friend of mine, Rodgy Guerrera, who at that time was living in Milan.

Rodgy is truly a citizen of the world – born in South America, her parents are Greek, she lived in something like 8 different countries while growing up, she speaks at least seven languages fluently and can probably get by in several others, and during her career has lived and worked in cities like New York, Paris, Milan, and London.

And yet, several years ago when I packed my bags and headed to Milan for a 2-week stint for a project Rodgy and I were working on, the only thing Rodgy asked me to bring were California wines. Needless to say I was shocked – I think my exact words are “but you live in Italy! Why would you want me to bring you wine?” But the wide variety of California wines that are so readily available to us in grocery stores, liquor stores, restaurants, and which are often quite affordable here – are not as readily available and can be more expensive there.

Rodgy loves wine in general, but particularly California wines. The depth, the fruitiness, the difference in the grape because of climate and soil differences all become “exotic” and special because they are not an everyday experience.

It makes me wonder – how much of a wine’s reputation (or even the reputation of a region) is predicated on it’s foreign-ness?