Hi Allan,
Your call for information has jogged my
memory. There was a big to-do in British wine writing circles in
1995 as a result of statements Robert Parker made about a
particularly poor vintage (1993) of Hermitage wines (Northern
Rhone). For Parker, the only decent wines to emerge that year were made by
Michel Chapoutier, an outspoken advocate of BD (and the man who lent me my
first copy of the Ag lectures!)
Parker said, in effect, that the only
reason Chapoutier's wines succeeded in such a poor vintage was that he used
BD techniques.This caused quite a fuss in London; some of my former colleagues
held a big blind tasting (Chapoutier's wines alongside other Rhone producers of
that vintage in masked bottles, so nobody could tell which wines they were
tasting) to see if they agreed with Parker's claims. Here's a link to an
exhaustive, somewhat tongue-in-cheek account of that tasting: http://www.winedine.co.uk/page.php?cid=259
The piece contains a couple of enthusiastic comments by Parker about
BD.
The Brits present at that tasting
disagreed comprehensively with Parker's assessment, but there's no reason
for that to trouble him. As far as I know he continues to be an
enthusiastic supporter of Chapoutier wines as well as many other
top winemakers who have adopted BD.
If you're looking for more general wine
writing on BD, my book The Great Organic Wine Guide contains a
chapter of 5000 words of introduction to BD from a grape grower's perspective.
I'd be happy to email that chapter to you as a Word attachment if that would be
useful.
Regards,
Hilary
