Well, it seems to me that Chile to New Jersey is an awfully long haul. I often, in my blog and in this column, advocate that the distance from vineyard to crushpad be as short as possible. Your friends are right; distance and, especially, time, can cause a degradation of quality. When a grape cluster is removed from the vine, no matter how carefully, there is some jostling and juicing that happens. Once juice is exposed to the air it begins to oxidize and begins to be degraded (read: eaten) by ambient yeast and bacteria. This all contributes to a possible increase of microbial and oxidative by-products including aldehyde production, bloom of unwanted bacteria species, and most commonly, volatile acidity (acetic acid) production. Though of course the cold storage shipping conditions help to slow these reactions down, they will still take place to some extent. When you unpack your grapes, smell critically for any off odors and see if there’s much juice in the bottom of the containers. If so, I would strongly recommend juice or concentrate. All that being
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