There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with dark-coloured red wines. It’s just that all wines were moving further in this direction, and no one was the slightest bit interested in reds that were paler in colour.
How quickly this has changed! In the space of just a few years, wine lovers are beginning to realize that there is no correlation between depth of colour and wine quality. Pale reds don’t necessarily lack flavour; they seldom lack aroma. Just as there’s been a shift away from high alcohol, a corresponding shift is beginning with red wine colour.
(source wineanorak.com)