"If wine were just a beverage, we wouldn't be spending three days talking about it. Would you spend that much time on Coca-Cola?"

Vintner Agustin Huneeus's remark fell on agreeable ears as principals from Constellation Brands brought together speakers from all walks of life to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Robert Mondavi Winery, writes L. Pierce Carson in the Napa Valley Register. (Constellation Brands purchased the Mondavi wine empire in 2004.)

"Bob was the leader we needed at a time when the wine world didn't pass through California," Huneeus said of Mondavi at the seminar, called Taste 3. "He saw the need and changed the course of wine history. ... Nobody's going to succeed Bob Mondavi. No one succeeds people like Bob."

Huneeus predicted the numerical rating system for wine, as used by several consumer publications, will disappear before too long. "Numerical rating is an aberration whose time has come and gone," he declared. "It misrepresents what the creators intended."

Leo McCloskey, president and co-founder of Enologix, a system of metrics for measuring the qualities of wine, agreed in part by suggesting that the industry itself establish ratings for wine. One way, he indicated, would be setting up a system like France's Appellation d'Origine Controlee, which ranks all wines in three categories. "Today, you have (Robert) Parker and Wine Spectator trying to be our peers and rate our products," McCloskey said.

(This story is a must-read for those who are curious about the evolution of the American wine and food culture. For the complete story, go to http://www.napavalleyregister.com. )