WITH WINE, THERE ARE always anomalies. Take the case of onegentleman I met at a recent tasting who asked what I thought about French wine. A friend of his who lived in France had told him that all wines outside of the country were just too heavy and alcoholic. There’s no doubt, I explained, that vines grown in hotter climates have a propensity to produce riper grapes with higher alcohol levels, but the idea that you could talk about wine in such broad terms—particularly given modern-day expertise in viticulture and winemaking—is laughable. But, I quickly added, great wine does possess a sense of place and should reflect...