Just crushed grapes?

I was talking with a guy recently about wine and he told me he didn't see what all the fuss was about. "After all," he said, "it's just crushed grapes." His implication, of course, was that all wine is created equally. My response was to ask him if he can tell the difference between the ground beef patty on his Whopper at Burger King and a prime cut filet mignon at Ruth's Chris Steak House. "After all," I said, "they're both just butchered cow."

A number of factors enter into the equation of what makes a great wine. Climate, soil, the grapes themselves, and the winemaker. Perhaps chief of all is mother nature. Is the climate right for the grapes the winery is growing? Or are they growing grapes ill suited for their terroir simply because they want to cash in on the latest "hot" wine. Lots of wineries planted pinot noir in the aftermath of the "Sideways" phenomenon, and unfortuantely many of them were ill suited terroir-wise to grow pinot noir. Is the soil right for the grapes being grown? Is the winemaker passionate about making great wine, or is he primarily a CEO running a business? Sashi Moorman, head winemaker at Stolpman Vineyards, says that there are no talented winemakers, only passionate winemakers and those who are not passionate. He means, of course, passionate about making great wine instead of decent wine. What is the tonnage per acre that the winemaker is trying to achieve? Is the quality that lower yielding vineyards would bring being sacrificed to higher yields resulting in a diluted product? How involved is the winemaker with the actual making of the wine? Most winemakers at large wineries have little to do with actual winemaking, spending most of their time filling out order forms and over-seeing the operation of the winery. And after all is said and done, how much did mother nature cooperate in a given season? Was there a late frost? Not enough rain? Too much rain? Were the temperatures just right? Did mother nature allow the grapes to be picked at the optimal moment, or was it necessary to harvest the grapes before they fully ripened? 2007 looks to be a banner year throughout most of California, but a late April frost wiped out as much as 90% of the fruit in some vineyards in Santa Barbara County. Quality will be up, but quantity will be down. That means that prices will be up as well.

Just crushed grapes? Hardly.