Information, Opinion

Old world, New world

Yet another INXS reference, and yet another link to an article on The Taste – but I make no apologies, and expect more in the future!

Please click through to read the full article here.

So, dear reader, do you have a preference for either Old or New world?  Please leave a comment, I would be interested to hear.

Personally, I probably drink wine outside of mealtimes more often than with food, so this perhaps has a bearing on what I like to drink.  But then I really love good Riesling, even when the producer says it’s “difficile à aimer” (difficult to love) on its own as it’s crying out for food.

The reasons why we like the wines we do need a great deal more research – though Tim Hanni MW has made a good start.

 

“Old world new world / I know nothing / But I’ll keep listening” – INXS

This clip is from a 1983 concert performance – when Michael Hutchence still thought he was the second coming of Mick Jagger – but before they became internationally famous.

The track itself is from their third studio album Shabooh Shoobah (1982), which also features “Don’t Change” and “The One Thing”

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSguCxs5RdQ&w=420&h=315]

8 thoughts on “Old world, New world”

    1. I agree that good wine is good wine, wherever it is from, and one shouldn’t be dogmatic about it. I do think that New/Old world is a useful descriptor, with several caveats, particularly for the novice drinker.

    1. It’s even more exaggerated in one of the promo videos from the same time – amazing when he became one of the biggest stadium rock stars in the world for a while.

  1. As Ant said – it is either good or bad (which are personal characteristics), but it really doesn’t matter. I might have some preferences when it comes to the specific regions, but those regions will be spread out around both “old” and “new world”. Besides, today, loos at some of the Bordeaux red wines – are they new world or an old world? The same would go for some of the Pinot from US and New Zealand…

    1. I think the differences are definitely narrowing and even overlapping – hence the wines I selected on my thetaste.ie article.

      Variety is the spice of life!

  2. I agree wholeheartedly that good wine is good wine. My personal tastes though have moved just about completely into the old world. As I was learning about wines for the first time in the 80s it was Australia and New Zealand which made up the majority of my drinking, the big powerful Shirazes and Chardonnays of those times. I also grew to love NZ Sauvignon and through membership of wine clubs such as the Australian Wine Centre I enjoyed more subtle and elegant wines, Charles Melton’s 9 Popes, Watervale Riesling and Neudorf Pinots and Rieslings became my favourite wines.
    However, I travelled widely through France in summer holidays and came to love Burgundy, Alsace, Loire and Rhone wines, I could even afford some Burgundy in those days. The balance began to shift towards Europe in my cellar, Mosel Rieslings began to replace some of the Australians, partly because the New World became expensive as the Australian dollar rose in value for example.
    Nowadays I live in the Languedoc, working a few days a week with a French winemaker who produces natural, stunning wines. I still have New World wines in my cellar at home in the UK but it is 90% Old World.I am coming around to more Italian wines, Austria is an exciting, emerging country too. I do think we don’t get some of the best Australian wines over here and those that we do are very expensive. The old world has learned from the new in winemaking, the new world has learned from the old about terroir etc. It is a happy balance.
    I still don’t know much about California, I am underwhelmed by Chile and Argentina in the main. Isn’t it an exciting world though where we can try wines from all around it? I do love the world of wine.

    1. Great, comprehensive answer!

      I think all of our tastes broaden over time, and often we tend to favour the subtle over the obvious.

      The make up of my “cellar” very much depends where I have visited in the past few years – and as France is closer than the New World it’s often French wines.

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