I agree with you that “winemakers make many choices” as do vineyard managers (whom make many more choices than winemakers), I like less “tech” in my wines and I really abhore ‘consistency’ in my wines. But that’s just me.

Certainly, Mr. Wright can make his wine in whatever style he wishes to (which usually is the ultra-ripe style.) I just have an issue with these same winemakers who go to great lengths to convince the general public of vineyard specific ‘terroir’, AVA differences, and the elegance of Oregon Pinot Noir who are using these machines to transform the vintage into something that it isn’t.

I would expect ‘consistency’ from the 10,000+ case production wines. I don’t expect it from my 2.000 case boutique producer. Whatever happened to the beauty of vintage differences?

Certainly, there is nothing wrong with producers using whatever ‘tech’ they want to; be it Reverse Osmosis, Vacuum Concentrators, CrossFlow Filtration, MegaPurple, Velcorin, etc….but the more you poke, prod, stretch, compress, add, strip out, the wine (especially Pinot Noir) you are going to be left with a lesser product in my opinion. Again, I would expect this from a large production winery, not a boutique producer….certainly not one where I’m being asked to pay $65 a bottle for.

Since it’s impossible to design and execute the hypothetical “best possible wine” experiment in the real world, the question is whether producer Z, who happens to use vacuum concentrators when he deems it appropriate, is producing fine wines, year in and year out, with reasonable consistency. The answer to this question involves, among other things, stylistic judgment. Winechick writes: “I do not drink his wines. * * * [P]ower is not the same as flavor,” which plainly expresses a stylistic judgment. With which other tasters may reasonably disagree. (I like Ken Wright wines quite well, although I prefer pinots with aroma and finesse over those with mere power, and generally dislike higher-alcohol wines.)

Winemakers make so many choices and perform (or choose not to perform) so many interventions, many, many dozens from pruning to bottling; does it make sense to quibble, on a basis other than what the wine tastes like, over whether a particular intervention involves a machine or not?

Second, in the last 10 years there has been only one vintage that could be called “wet” and that was 2007. Now, ironically it was “wet” for those folks that picked early, if you rolled the dice and waited that year, the weather warmed up for 10 days and the grapes dried out. Late picked 2007 Pinot Noirs are a beautiful example of what Oregon can produce.

2010 came close to being called a “wet” (actually, it would have been a total catastrophe) year, but we had 10 straight days of sunny weather ending last Friday. Most folks harvested Wed/Thr/Fri. The fruit that came in was amazing. These are going to be intense wines but with balanced acidity. They will not be as BIG as 03,08,09 but they will LAST decades longer.

Now, Mr. Wright can use whatever technology he wants to, it is just amusing that the guy who is the staunchest proponent of vineyard designate Pinot Noir and the AVA system here in Oregon is using this type of machine. Combine that with his use of packaged yeast (i.e. not yeast specific to each vineyard site) and you come away with a less ‘authentic’ example of these same sites that he wishes to profess a love for.

Nobody wants anyone to loose their crop, but if you are bringing in waterlogged fruit, ummmmm, you’re picking too late….or maybe that is the idea?

That’s why I buy wine instead of making it!

OK, now that that’s out of the way:

1. Does he put a hecksher on the wine since it’s now effectively koshered?

2. Too busy to do more than mock up the “TURN IT UP TO 11 AND GET 99 POINTS” image, but here’s a sketch which will later be the basis for an art project. And then a musical. http://flic.kr/p/8MWkxT

Everyone says they prefer the untouched wine. But people like concentration of flavor. If Wright uses this tool to save fruit that otherwise would be hard to sell commercially, good for him. He’s running a business, not trying to please idealogues.

Now, if he uses this to make high alcohol Power Pinot, that’s a different story. But again that will show in the finished wine. It’s a stylistic choice.

It’s hard for me to believe that boiling grapes even at low temperatures without oxygen is equivalent to a virgin birth, i.e. removing water with no side effects, as if the rain never happened and lovely sunshine beamed down. Surely other chemical reactions occur in response to this process.

However, I don’t know for sure.

I also have never tasted this kind of wine side by side with one that is made from a more traditional “healing”, e.g. by waiting a few days after the rain to pick and sorting out grapes affected by rot or overripeness, if these are issues. Of course, the more standard approach to correct sugar levels would be to chaptalize, which might be better or worse than hoovering up the water, depending upon how that’s done…