Authenticity in Winemaking

Dear readers, in the past I've gone on the record expressing my disappointment with winemakers fudging the sugar and acid content of their vino.

Call me a purist, but I miss the old days when it was a simple process: pick and crush grapes, wait a few months, bottle, enjoy. This is, after all, the romanticized image that the modern winemaker portrays... But as we know most modern wine is more of a factory commodity than a sincere expression of skillful artistry.

Not that I want to fault South Wedge Winery too much for messing with their juice (you have to do something to make this year's poor crop drinkable) but when it becomes acceptable to modify sugars and bacteria and acidity and this and that, the whole ideal of legitimate terroir has gone right out the window.

Apparently I'm not alone in my disappointment, and apparently the cheating is more wide ranging (and high priced) than I once thought. Check out this article -and the comments that follow-if you want the veil lifted and the mystique you once loved ruined.