The Wall Street Journal profiles In Pursuit of Balance (I.P.O.B), a group established in 2008 “to support wineries who are striving to produce elegant, site-specific Pinot Noir and Chardonnay” in California. An increasingly popular symbol of the current taste of industry professionals, I.P.O.B. champions small labels that don’t typically, “get huge scores in the Wine Spectator or the Wine Advocate.” Even without strict parameters about who gets in, I.P.O.B.’s curation has stirred controversy as they favor winemakers who produce wines with less than 14% alcohol and that exhibit, “freshness, vibrancy, acidity and crunchiness,” in opposition to the syrupy ripeness that has, in the recent past, made New York wine buyers hesitant about the state’s wines.
Columnist jay McInerney details the who’s who of the I.P.O.B. clan and offers a look into what it’s like when they sweep into New York for tastings, writing, “…apparently attempting to prove that excess in the pursuit of balance is no vice.” [The Wall Street Journal]