As I have had occasion to write many, many times before, if there is one common denominator to my annual “Select 100 Best Italian Wines of the Year” list it is that the wines that make the list are not just some if not all of Italy’s best wines that came to market that year, but always speak, with precision, of a specific grape and place: they are all wines that boast the “somewhereness” made famous by Matt Kramer, which for me is a sine qua non of fine wine. Given that wine to me is not a soft drink, something that follows a standard formula and is meant to taste the same no matter where you buy it, be it in Calcutta, Washington, Melbourne, Paris or Cape Town, each wine made with the same grape variety should taste different because the grapes grow in different habitats, and they will reflect that in the finished wine. Or so they should. I love a good cold soft drink on a hot day, but wine is another thing entirely, and should always speak of the grapes it is made with and where they grow. Short of that, wine as a beverage of intellectual interest and cultural significance loses practically all of its appeal.
