Matt Kramer (wine writer) facts for kids

Matt Kramer is an American wine critic who started writing about wine in 1976. He writes for The Oregonian newspaper and has also written for The New York Sun and Los Angeles Times. Since 1985, he has been a regular writer for Wine Spectator, a well-known wine magazine.

People have described Matt Kramer in different ways. One person called him "perhaps the most un-American of all America's wine writers." Another, Mike Steinberger, said he is "one of the more insightful and entertaining wine writers around." Hugh Johnson even called him "an intellectual guerrilla among wine writers."

Matt Kramer has also written several books about wine, including Making Sense of Wine (1989), Making Sense of Burgundy (1990), Making Sense of California Wine (1992), and Making Sense of Italian Wine (2006). He also wrote Matt Kramer on Wine.

Matt Kramer's Career Journey

In his book Making Sense of Wine, Matt Kramer shares how he became a wine writer. It was 1976, and he was writing about food for a weekly newspaper. The advertising team decided to add a "wine of the week" column to the food page.

Kramer's publisher told him he would write this new column. Kramer was surprised and said, "But I don't know anything about wine!" The publisher simply replied, "That's all right. Neither does anyone else." And that's how his career as a wine critic began.

Ideas and Opinions on Wine

Matt Kramer is known for his strong opinions and ideas about wine. He often talks about what makes a wine special.

Understanding Terroir

Kramer is a big supporter of the idea of terroir. This French word describes how a wine's taste is shaped by its natural environment. This includes the soil, climate, and even the landscape where the grapes grow. Kramer famously defined terroir as a wine's "somewhereness." This means the wine tastes like it comes from a specific place.

Thoughts on Pinot Noir Grapes

Kramer, along with another wine expert named Allen Meadows, has shared concerns about California Pinot noir growers. They noticed that many growers use only a few types of Burgundy clones (specific grape varieties) from Dijon.

Kramer believes that using too few types of clones makes many California Pinot noirs taste too similar. He thinks they lack complexity. He has encouraged growers to use a wider mix of clones. This would help create more interesting and varied wines.

Debate on Wine Cellar Humidity

There's a common belief that a home wine cellar needs to be humid. However, Matt Kramer disagrees with this idea. In Making Sense of Wine, he states that this belief is "a relic of the past."

He explains that wine bottles themselves keep the wine inside humid. The bottles are "impervious to moisture or humidity-laden air." So, he concludes that "humidity in the home cellar is an irrelevancy." This means it doesn't really matter.

Disagreements with Other Critics

Matt Kramer has sometimes been the subject of criticism from other wine writers. For example, Australian wine writer James Halliday once said Kramer was "even more misguided than Robert Parker." Halliday was reacting to what he felt were Kramer's suggestions that large wine companies might be changing wine tastes. Halliday called these ideas "farcical," meaning ridiculous.

Kramer also once criticized other wine critics in his New York Sun column. This happened after Jancis Robinson mentioned a test that suggested she might be very sensitive to tastes. Later, Robert Parker admitted he didn't like mildly spicy food. Kramer felt that some powerful wine critics were trying to seem more believable by suggesting they had special physical abilities to taste. He summarized his point by saying that "suggesting a linkage of taste buds to wine judgment is like confusing eyesight with insight." Robinson later clarified her own comments, suggesting Kramer might not have fully understood her original article.

See also

• List of wine personalities