(SCS) - There’s an endless discussion of Old World versus New World wines, and what a recent trip to France revealed is that both are wonderful in different ways and for different reasons.

Old World wines are restrained, structured and redolent with tastes of earth and minerals. New World wines are bursting with fruit flavors and ripeness. Climate, growing conditions and thoughts on the winemaking process largely are responsible for these differences.

Living in the center of where New World wine originates, this discussion has specific meaning for us, especially winemakers influenced by Old World wines and innovating New World practices for the future.

You could say Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon Vineyard is at the epicenter of the discussion. He recently recorded a Wine Appreciation 101 class on Google on the difference between Old World and New World wines.

“One of interesting ways (we’re different) is the distinctive vin de effort versus vin de place in the New World. We do wines of effort really well. It’s our strength and weakness. We’re extremely consistent and controlled, but it sets limits on complexity and interest. It’s technically perfect but nothing you deeply love. Slightly synthetic, like talking to ... Siri instead of talking to a person,” he says.

Grahm worked for many years importing wines from southern France and Italy at the beginning of his career, working closely with several winemakers.

“As a result, I had a chance to visit a lot of different domaines and also to work with winemakers to formulate blends, more importantly spend time with them, getting inside of their heads as far as how they thought about wine,” he says.

Grahm describes how New World winemakers “do tech really well,” controlling irrigation, clones, bacteria, using oak chips, etc., and that a certain sameness in climate in California — long, hot summers with little rain — produces reliable, ripe harvests.

In the cooler climates of France, single varietal grapes can produce a very complex wine. When the climate gets too warm, grapes are blended to achieve interest. This should be especially true for California, believes Grahm, which on the whole has a warmer climate.

“You can’t grow pinot (noir) in a warm climate and expect a good result,” he says.

“(Some of these) wines lack soul, or deep complexity,” says Grahm. “Deep complexity comes from expression of site. That’s what makes them interesting.”

The cool climate and potential to express terroir, or the soil and climate of the vineyard, is what makes Santa Cruz County attractive as a grape-growing region.

Often thought related to ripeness and terroir, the term “minerality” is a quality of Old World wines as well but hard to quantify and define.

“No one can deny the existence of terroir. You can tell what kind of soil (the wine) comes from. The qualities in the aroma and flavor of the wine are an expression of soil characteristic. It adds a special dimension to wine not easily achievable in the New World,” he says.

Minerality remains elusive.

Grahm believes one of the main differences between Old and New World is little irrigation and the dense plantings in European vineyards leading to low yields of concentrated fruit. Historically, grapes were low on the list of sustenance foods and thus were planted in poor, marginal soils.

Dense plantings, rocky soils, little water — the New World is a veritable Eden for grapes in comparison, resulting in rich, ripe, opulent vintages.

In Europe, the “grapes have to struggle for water, creating a larger imprinting of soil characteristics,” he says, instead of just growing roots where the irrigated water is.

The hidden roots have come to light as an important factor in making fine wine. Deep roots pressing into vibrant soil microbiology transports minerals and nutrients transmitting terroir and ultimately flavor.

It’s believed by many scientists, according to Grahm, as the most salient ratio in predicting wine quality — kilos of fruit to kilos of roots. In other words, the mass of the roots divided by the pounds of fruit it’s feeding. The more roots, the stronger the soil impression and concentration of flavor leading to long-lasting wines.

“Another way to think about mineral wines — is as life force wines. It’s not just this mystical Santa Cruz hippie medicine, there’s something empirical about this. These wines tend not to oxidize. You open bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape, put the cork back in, and you can drink it the second day, then the third. California wines are done the second day,” Grahm says.

Grahm thinks it’s because California grapes are generally picked too ripe and thus are not chemically capable of aging.

“The day length is different and no one has worked out the parameters,” he says. “I think this is important if you’re serious about making great wine. If you want to make a great wine, you’ve got to do it European style.”