| Many of the wines bearing different names cannot | | | | appreciated when one remembers that California |
| be told apart by experts without seeing their labels. | | | | supplies more than four fifths of all wine consumed in |
| This is one of the things that provide our wine snobs | | | | the United States. |
| with opportunities to display their knowledge. | | | | The staff research into European laws and |
| It is probably a form of Bacchic blasphemy to treat | | | | regulations cast no light. In Europe they found |
| wine, the most honored of all beverages, as merely | | | | elaborate laws that mainly defined the many |
| another drink. Yet soda pop—in contrast to the | | | | hundreds of little viticulture regions and limit vineyard |
| blood of the grape—comes in only about twenty | | | | and winery practices, but fail to specify how a wine |
| most popular flavors. Beer has four, more or less; | | | | under a given name shall taste. |
| whiskey, perhaps six; and the dairy industry now | | | | They then quizzed California vintners, individually and |
| offers us, as beverages, homogenized milk, | | | | at industry meetings, on what their labels meant. It |
| condensed, evaporated, and powdered milks, | | | | was soon learned that one winery's Sauterne |
| buttermilk, skim milk, chocolate milk, and for folks | | | | matched another winery's Haut Sauterne; that John |
| with certain allergies, goat's milk. Why not group | | | | Doe's Sherry was drier than Richard Roe's "Dry" |
| wines, too, according to their principal flavors? | | | | Sherry; and so on through the entire list of popular |
| To this question vintners usually reply that the | | | | types. |
| products of the world's myriad vineyards cannot be | | | | Using more wheedling than logic, the researches |
| classified as simply as the manufactured uniform | | | | finally won most leading wineries' agreement to let |
| flavors of soft drinks. They point out that wines are | | | | them spell out measurable steps of sweetness for |
| farm products, as temperamental as the local | | | | "dry," "regular," "haut" (sweet), and "chateau" (still |
| weather that influences the flavors of their grapes, | | | | sweeter) Semillons, and for "dry," "regular," and |
| just as it influences the taste of apples, plums, | | | | "cream" (sweet, "golden," or "mellow") Sherries. |
| peaches, and other fruits and vegetables from | | | | The day arrived for the official state of California |
| season to season. | | | | hearing on the proposed regulations. Before the time |
| This is why most wines are named for places, some | | | | came to discuss Semillon, the spokesman for a group |
| for the specific localities where they are grown and | | | | of wineries made an announcement. "We are artists," |
| others for the districts where their types originated | | | | he said. "We cannot agree to make our wines all the |
| centuries ago. Other wines display names of the rare, | | | | same. We oppose any definition for Semillons." |
| sometimes unpronounceable grape varieties from | | | | Unable to answer that one, the researches |
| which they are made, but this, too, involves | | | | contented themselves with establishing the definitions |
| geography, because the same variety grown in two | | | | of the three not-too-rigid sweetness levels for |
| different localities may produce two quite different | | | | Sherries, which scraped through the hearing with only |
| wines. | | | | minor opposition. |
| Although there are a few world-traveled experts | | | | If you ever have occasion to read the California |
| who know the local geography of many | | | | regulations—which is not recommended for |
| grape-growing regions, and who even possess some | | | | entertainment-please remember that, confusing |
| knowledge of grape ampelog-raphy, the combination | | | | though they are, no other wine regulations in the |
| of such wine names—to the average | | | | world give nearly as much flavor information as these |
| American—is merely euphonious gibberish. | | | | do. |
| Some travelers often search for an answer to the | | | | It is unfortunate that Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese |
| question often asked by those who return from trips | | | | wines do not display—as most French and German |
| abroad: "Where can I find an American wine like the | | | | labels do nowadays—the partially informative |
| one I enjoyed in Europe?" The Meursault that was | | | | legends you read in small type, such as "Red |
| liked in France is grouped with its California relatives, | | | | Bordeaux Wine," "White Burgundy Wine," "Semi-dry |
| Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc. If Red Bordeaux | | | | White Vouvray Wine," and "Rhine Wine." |
| pleased, so will any well-made Cabernet; and so on. | | | | These represent at least one tiny step toward giving |
| Some years ago the staff of the Wine Institute, | | | | the public a hint of a wine's color and flavor. For if |
| appalled by the confusion then existing, undertook to | | | | there ever was a product that required lucid |
| prepare a set of definitions of the principal California | | | | descriptions of taste on its labels—and also, for |
| wine types and to write them into a state regulation | | | | that matter, full "directions for use" on every |
| to guide producers, merchants, and beverage-control | | | | bottle—that product is wine. |
| officials. The importance of the undertaking can be | | | | |