There are aspects of wine character that seem not to have as great an impact on wine lovers as they did decades ago. One is varietal character. The other is regional character.

And what is sad about this, to me and to others similarly situated, is that without one or the other, wine quality is diminished considerably. And without both, some people wonder if a wine is worth drinking.

Varietal character is the aroma and taste of a wine as it relates directly to the grape that is dominant in its makeup. For instance, the varietal character scent of Sauvignon Blanc is an herbal note, sort of like grass or hay, occasionally as strong as olives and chili peppers, sometimes as mild as honeydew melons.

This differs from Chardonnay, whose aroma is typically more floral, relating to apples, citrus notes and peaches.

Where the two wines can come closest is where each has a faint note of grapefruit or other citrus fruit. But those who are regular consumers of wine usually can tell which of two wines is Sauvignon Blanc and which is the Chardonnay.

Then there are the distinctive regional notes, the "terroir" character. The word comes from the French, pronounced tehr-WAHR, and it refers to subtle elements of aroma and taste characteristics that are related only indirectly to the grape and which come from the region in which the grapes grow.

So Sauvignon Blanc from the Dry Creek Valley area of Sonoma County, with its more tea, olive and grass elements, would be different from the more exotic Sauvignon Blancs from, say, the cooler Russian River Valley or the warmer Alexander Valley.

Likewise, a Chardonnay from Green Valley in western Sonoma County would be more citrus-laced than the more pumpkin, squash and peach-like Chardonnay from Santa Barbara County.

This works, in theory, for all the great grapes in the world. So a red Bordeaux that's made largely from Cabernet Sauvignon may be similar to a Napa Valley Cabernet.

What sets them apart, say the terroirists among us, is that the regional characteristics of the wines are radically different.

So when someone says a California Pinot Noir has a Burgundian aroma, some terroir-believing purist would argue that there is no such thing: only Burgundy can make Burgundy, and that no matter how hard it tries, a California Pinot Noir is not and can never be truly Burgundian.

So then we get to the test: Pour the wines blind for the so-called experts, and ask them to tell which is which.

Once the blindfolds go on, all bets are off. As skilled as a taster can be, there is no substitute for looking at the label when determining a wine. And blind tastings are humbling experiences for the best tasters in the world.

And one reason blind determinations are harder to make than ever is ripeness.

The riper a grape is picked, the more likely it will be to stop resembling its varietal or its region. That's because very late-harvested fruit tastes more like raisins; the varietal and regional elements are masked by such ultraripeness.

Over the last decade, wine makers around the world have picked their fruit riper and riper, and as they have, alcohol levels in the wines have risen. Once,the average alcohol in table wines was about 12 percent. Today, it's closer to 15 percent.

All this has done is to rob many (most?) wines of their regional and varietal distinctions and left purists with less to like. And what have some wine lovers done? They have found wines other that still deliver regional and varietal uniqueness.

In the United States, they are buying wines such as German Riesling, Sancerre and Pouilly-Fume from France, Chianti and Pinot Grigio from Italy, and they are turning their backs on the vast majority of mainstream wines from the New World wine countries.

Nearly one bottle of every three sold in the United States last year was from overseas, and sales of French and Italian wines lead this parade, in spite of the weak state of the dollar against the euro.

It's not proof that a loss of regional and varietal characteristics in wine is gnawing at wine lovers, but the gun is smoking.

Dan Berger resides in Sonoma County, Calif. Berger publishes a weekly newsletter on wine and can be reached at danberger@VintageExperiences.com. To find out more about Dan Berger and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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