Ronny's Rant on Terroir and the New World

To those of you who haven't seen the video in question, sorry, it's now removed. In the short time this piece has been posted I've received email that it was 1) hilarious 2) who is this clown? I had thought it could stand on itself without explanation. The man in my kitchen is a character in The Battle for Wine and Love. Sixteen years ago he started out believing Mouton-Cadet was a great wine and bargain, that is until I put it into a blind line-up and he declared it undrinkable. When the bottle was exposed, it was the beginning of a very differently tuned palate. RB is even more opinionated than I am, if that is possible. And every once in a while he tears into a rant, it could be on rock formation, Orion's Belt, the beauties of an air mattress or the way he survives purely on solar energy when in his tent, or his invention of a particular kind of Stelvin closure that he feels will rival cork. And so, when he ripped into this one, I found it so compelling , and frankly hilarious, I had to to take out the flip. He picks on Oregon merely as an example. The truth is that he really doesn't know enough about Oregon to trash it, so all apologies to Oregon here. But while his wine knowledge isn't up to the level of many of you reading this blog, he's got very definite tastes, cannot abide anything that smacks of new wood, is insanely sensitive to wine manipulation and as an inventive farmer himself, who has never used a chemical, his connective tissue to land is tendonic (I just made that up.). The total point of the video, the only reason I put it up? Because RB delivered a passionate plea to the New World to find its true identity, not to mimic styles through technology, but to find the right grape to the right place where it can make its wine in peace. If you were offended, I am terribly sorry, but in RB's innocence he touches on a very deep belief of mine: if you're going to make great wine, don't bring terroir to wine, let it come to you. I hope you can just sit back and laugh. If not, well, take a chance, and post your own rant in the comments. ---Alice