Letters

Wines & Vines, Jan, 2003

Editor:

I would just like to take a moment to respond to the opinion/analysis article that Lindy Linquist wrote in the October issue of Wines & Vines magazine.

I am curious as to the motive of your article. Are you trying to say that if Oregon is to be a force in the winemaking industry it needs to "step up to the plate" and embrace "big business" winemaking ideals? Why is this even an issue? Is it necessary that all winemaking ventures be on a large scale or conform to a certain ideal? Do these unreal wineries who only produce 2,000-3,000 cases need to get on the bandwagon and stop fooling around? Maybe you could tell that to the owners of Screaming Eagle or Harlan?

You also mentioned that "....the Oregon wine industry....needs to invoke the spirit of cooperation and dispense with the notion that they are the last of the great American individualists." Is there something wrong with the idea of being an individual? Wanting to do your own thing? I think that the owners of the wineries in Oregon are old enough to know the consequences of their actions.

Or am I missing something? Are the wineries in Oregon complaining about poor sales and lack of interest in their wines? Are they crying, "it's raining" in the face of a thunderstorm? I just don't understand where you are trying to go with this. I get the feel from you that if Oregon doesn't do it like everyone else, then their wine future is bust. I think that if that is to be the case, so be it. As I said before, I believe that those involved in the Oregon winemaking business can read the writing on the wall. And if they choose to ignore it that is their choice.

But I do not agree with the philosophy that if a winery is to be real it must produce 20,000 cases, be heavily financed, love paperwork or whatever. Real is what you make of it and especially in the case of winemaking, real is purely a subjective term. For that matter what makes real wine? Are wines from the boutiques in France more real than those of the Mondavi empire? I guess I just get the impression from your words that if you don't conform you won't succeed. I know that I am being a little dramatic, but to a reader that doesn't read between the lines or look at the whole picture, that intent is the impression one would get.

s/ John Antuna

via e-mail

(The opinions expressed by Lindquist are not necessarily those of Wines & Vines. Comments, Lindy?--Ed.)

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