Alcohol Reduction in wine.

Nah. it's the Chaptalisation that makes the French wines great ;)

France also has mediterranean climates, over there please replace chaptalization with acidification. Like in California ;-)

It's unknown how widespread this practice is nor if anything like this is done in France or elsewhere.

But I do know that French wines are not necessarily 'better' than California wines. Matter of personal taste. However, California wines continue to win out over their French counterparts.

I generally prefer California reds because they tend to be more fruit forward which I enjoy. But there are excellent wines from all over the world.

I was being facetious.

That said years ago I remember a thread that Mondavi claimed they were not doing anything different but people complained that the terroir was not noticable in they many single vineyard and reserve bottlings.

I do wonder if the this is what was going on.

Also, I like California wines a lot. Its what I drink while waiting for my Bordeaux and Burgs to be ready. :-)

There is a place for California W>> Now I know why french wines are better than California.

Anythings possible with Mondavi. Never cared for their wines at all. Visiting their winery in Napa tells the story on their views towards the public.

I'm not much for Burgandy and Merlot has never appealed to me so anything blended with it just doesn't interest me much. Maybe thats why I'm not fond of many French wines. I do enjoy red Rhone varietals but the more forward fruit Californian style is my favorite. Is Petite Syrah common in France? I love it when I can find it in California. Not many Cali wineries produce it.

You know there are bordeaux blends that are Cabernet Domenent and then there are some that are Merlot Dominent.

Blindfolded with old world it can be hard to determine which is which.

I love old world Bordeaux.

California Merlot there are only a few producers that I love. Sawyer Cellars has one of the best Merlot. Very Old world and because they are in Rutherford you can get the dusty tannins. Its superb. The other Matanzas Creek, and Twoomy. Thats it for me from California Merlots. People rave about Pride wines and they are noce. But the 3 I mentioned are by far my style.

I've only found a few California Merlots that are ok. None that are great. I find Merlot (at least Californian) lacking any complexity. Theres just nothing there. One dimensional wine. The other problem is the huge popularity of Merlot in the USA. It has caused a massive influx of cheap low end wines. Every winery wants in on the market and the average USA consumer will buy it just because it says Merlot on the label. It's become mostly a cheap mass produced wine with very few buyers looking for high end Merlots in the USA.

Well I agree...but you really should try a Bordeaux Troplong Mondot. Reasonably priced. Let it age....enjoy...you would never guess this is majority Merlot.

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