Balance or homogeniety?

[Elie Poltorak]

This article is right on the money: http://www.winemag.com/Wine-Enthusiast- ... f-Balance/

[Craig Winchell]

"Balanced" doesn't mean "tastes like everything else". In the past, and in the present, wineries often styled their wines similarly to other wines, in order to fulfill a particular purpose-- such as trying for a 90+ Parker rating. That's a matter of style, not balance. One can balance a wine for early drinking or long aging, without ever adopting a stylistic similarity with other wines balanced like that.

[Elie Poltorak]

Craig:
You're right of course, great wine in any style can be balanced but unfortunately, many wineries are adopting "balance" itself (or what goes by that name) as their style--i.e., wines that don't express too much of anything. Unfortunately, the wine world has become a slave to fashion, chasing the latest trend, rather than making the best possible wine the fruit will allow. A great wine--like a classic saville row suit--whether overripe, parker-style or green--will never go out of style. I love wine in all styles. What I don't like is wine trying to be something it's not. In the past that's been chasing the fruit-bomb style, now the winds are blowing in the other direction, but it's all the same thing.