Are old world wines an acquired taste?

All tastes are in one way or another "acquired" We learn what we like and we like what we have learned. New things don't always thrill us at first because we have expectations and despite what many people say we are creatures of habit - that which tastes right in the wold is safe, that which is different is potentially lethal so hunter gatherers are wary critters.

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But doesn't acquired taste have something to do with maturity?:

- The good displeases us when we have not yet grown up to it.

Nietzsche

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Maturity is more than getting old or all the folks in Florida sipping on white zin would be drinking French rose instead

Maturity is about learning as you grow, I think I covered that above.

My first experience with wine was a jug wine called "Red Mountain". It was a wine with a message, and the message was, "Beware". Several years past before my next glass of wine which came from a new friend who was a sales rep for a distributor. I told him I knew nothing of wines, but he insisted that I taste it. It was wonderful. It was a La Tche. Quality will assert itself. He moved on to Mondavi in the late 60s, and to this day those wines are the standards to which I hold a table wine. So, your mama's cooking, or your first love, I believe sets your taste.

A couple of things struck me as odd in Roberto Viernes column.Thirteen point five to 14% alcohol (IIRC) are maximum alcohols for wine in Burgundy. In California, thanks to Robert Parker, table wines with 15% to 16% are easily found.

While French wine makers are looking for their 100 days between flowering , and harvest it is (IIR) L'Office national interprofessionnel des vins which determines the date of harvest and harvesting permits are issued by the municipalities involved in the wine region. In California, Oregon, and Washington growers may harvest when they wish.

There are a number of constraints placed on French wine makers, and very few placed on American wine makers. These constraints will certainly affect the wine.

Dry farmed in France, isn't the same thing as dry farmed on America's west coast. In France there normally are 2 - 3 days of rain per month during the summer. On America's west coast, there is rarely rain during the summer months, especially in California.

With the introduction of temperature-controlled, stainless-steel fermenters in France, many small regions are now making superb wine, Corbire for example. The sweet wines of Monbazillac are also delicious, and amazingly affordable.

Personally, with the exception of Montrachet, I find the good young wines of France very comparable to the good young wines of America. As for aged wines, you'd have to ask someone more familiarity with them. However, I did taste a 1950 Lafite, some 20 years ago, and it still had a good deal of fruite.