Is It Time To Move On From "New World vs Old World"?

Howdy Slik Skool,

The most popular goal from Slik Skool students is the ability to pick a wine in any situation. As much as American society likes to tell us there's a quick and easy answer to everything, learning about wine requires nuance and dedication. Everyone starts by describing wine as "tastes like grapes" or "fruity??" because we do not have the context for training our sense of smell. We use our eyes, ears, touch, and taste more thoughtfully, but smell usually comes from an extremely pleasant or foul smell: Freshly baked cookies, newly washed bed sheets, or rotten garbage come to mind. Picking up the small details and evaluating the structure of a wine will ultimately tell you what kind of wines you like (and don't like), and THEN you can start picking wines at a grocery store more confidently. This is more work than someone telling you what wines to drink (this is the solution I see many people go with), but there are problems with blindly following recommendations from someone else.

Even the Michelin Guide, which holds the highest praise of restaurant reviews, has its own OPINIONS about what makes a restaurant great. For example, if you don't use fresh ingredients in your restaurant, you'll likely never get a Michelin star (a star is their indication of a great restaurant). As someone from the Midwest, I am quite accustomed to frozen and prepackaged foods that ultimately taste nostalgic and delicious in my own opinion. There are entire cultures in which Spam and processed tubed meats remain a focal point, but Michelin would likely never give them a star (these places might get a Bib Gourmand, which is a different conversation). I might love a place that Michelin would never even consider. The same goes for wine. The famous wine critic Robert Parker might be someone you look to for wine advice, but much like Michelin, he has his particular taste. He loves the big, bold, oaked red wines of Rioja and Napa Valley. If you did not like these wines and followed his advice, you may be led to believe you don't like wines at all. This is why we must find our own path.

Part of finding our path is signing up for things like Slik Skool! Going through the Classroom will give you the building blocks on what you're looking for by finding your own taste, putting words to what you like, and providing some context on why wines taste the way they do. One of the main building blocks I teach is the concept of New vs Old World. In short, the Old World describes European countries with wines that taste subtle, earthy, and culturally remain traditional in their winemaking. Wine World describes non-European regions that are usually more aromatic, fruity, and are more likely to innovate winemaking. I am writing a book all about these building blocks in my book, How To Read A Wine Label, and had my winemaker friend fact-check me. She brought up the point that the concept of New and Old World wines is increasingly becoming out of date because there are so many new wine regions and blending of winemaking styles. Do we consider Chinese wines New or Old World? What if a New World winery uses traditional, Old World winemaking techniques? These are valid points and something I considered doing away with... but I have decided to keep Old/New World for 2 big reasons.

For the most part, Old World wineries are still keeping things traditional and predictable. This will likely never go away, even with new regions and styles popping up. Europeans see the commitment to tradition as a massive asset! It's part of their culture! It will remain relevant as people see wines from Sancerre and Chianti on the shelves, so I see it as important to recognize.
To understand the new changes happening in wine, it's imperative to learn the classic ways of defining terms. My analogy is this: if you're learning a new instrument, you have to learn to play the scales before you play jazz. Knowing the classic way of doing things will give you the deeper critical thinking of WHY a place is unique, or going off the beaten path.

What do you think? Do you think people should embrace a new way to define New and Old World, or should we keep it around?

PS: I'd love to hear more from you and see you at the Happy Hours! Let me know if there's anything in particular you're curious to talk about. I am here to help you on your wine journey!

Marie

We need something new!

We should keep New & Old World!

5 votes

2 comments