Australian wines in the Old Dart

I had to read a recent piece in the Daily Wine News twice before believing what I was seeing.  At a presentation of Australian wines at the Australian Wine School in London, under the auspices of Wine Australia, Tim Atkin MW said ‘Australia is more exciting today than at any point in my life as a wine writer.’ He was joined by Andrew Jefford, the distinguished English wine author who recently said that top end Australian chardonnays could effortlessly compete with grand cru Burgundies. 

Blog: Wine, Terroir & Climate Change

Dr John Gladstones’ book, Wine, Terroir and Climate Change, has been inducted into the Gourmand Wine Books Hall of Fame 2011. It is the first Australian book to be so honoured, with 162 countries having participated in the awards this year. On the cover of the book you will find this endorsement from myself:

For anyone interested in the future interaction between climate, climate change and viticulture, this book simply has to be read. Dr John Gladstones’s painstaking research is the foundation for his equally carefully constructed conclusions that robustly challenge mainstream opinions.

For further information go to www.wakefieldpress.com.au/product.php?productid=878&cat=0&page=1

Bruce Dukes on it

Bruce Dukes is the senior winemaker (and director) of the Naturaliste Vintners custom-crush winemaking facility at Carbunup, in the Margaret River region. He recently received the Winemaker of the Year Award at the West Australian Wine Industry Awards. The sheer quality of the wines he makes is equalled only by his consistency. If I were looking for a contract winemaker anywhere in Western Australia, he would be my first choice.

A second piece of good news for Margaret River, following in the wake of the bushfires, was the title of ‘Best Town’ by Australian Traveller Magazine. Here, too, I have my hand up for one of Australia’s most beautiful, high quality regions.

The Yarra 6.30 this morning. How green is my Valley?

The gentle art of re-corking old wines

The Grange and rare Penfolds red wine re-corking clinic, run in conjunction with Langton’s, is of world’s best practice. The wine will be eligible for re-corking if appreciable ullage has developed, or there are signs of seeping. The existing cork is removed and a very small amount of the wine is removed to check its condition. If there is any problem with the wine (oxidation, excess volatility, and/or cork taint) the wine will be re-sealed with an unbranded cork, but is not topped up. If it is in good condition for its age, it will be topped up and a branded cork will be inserted. A slip label on the back of the bottle will disclose that the wine was re-corked at the Langton’s clinic, and specifies the date. Re-corking has been a major cause for concern in Bordeaux in particular in the wake of the much-publicised activities of Hardy Rodenstock. Anthony Barton, owner of Chateau Leoville Barton and Chateau Langoa Barton (second and third growth chateaux respectively) has come out in typical forthright fashion saying “I’m against re-corking: 99 times out of 100 it’s a racket...the poor auctioneer says the wine has a good level, but it’s only been good for the last two weeks, not the last 20 years.” When, several years ago, I investigated the possibility of having Chateau Lafite re-cork a double magnum of its 1865 vintage wine, I learnt that the Chateau will not re-cork wines older than 1945. It may have hardened its position since, but the obvious problem is that by topping a bottle up and inserting a cork which will specify the date of the ‘reconditioning’, there is an implied warranty by the chateau that the wine is of good condition for its age, when in fact it may not be.

Brett on the back foot

Once again, the Australian Wine Research Institute has married ground breaking research with an everyday issue for makers of red wine. The thoroughly unwelcome yeast Dekkera bruzellensis (Brettanomyces), commonly known as Brett, has become a scourge for winemakers, especially those who do not wish to sterile filter their red wine prior to bottling. It imparts odours and flavours variously described as horse stable and wet bandaid, and everything in between. Expert tasters who can identify this yeast (which usually infects a wine after the conclusion of fermentation) can detect its presence in minute concentrations. The breakthrough has seen the genetic blueprint of Brett mapped, opening the way to kill the yeast without significant additions of sulphur dioxide or to remove it by sterile filtration.

Wine labels and health warnings

I know it is a victory for commonsense that the government has decided not to require specific warning messages on alcohol labels. Winemakers Federation of Australia head, Stephen Strachan, said ‘this was a sensible, considered and evidence-based response to the recommendations of the Blewitt Review.’ The wine industry has demonstrated a strong commitment to addressing alcohol abuse and its willingness to expand coverage of its existing voluntary commitment to have an on-label message warning against drinking while pregnant. Consistently with this, the Winemakers Federation is encouraging winemakers to use the ‘pregnant lady’ pictogram on labels.

I am well aware that my views on this will not be welcome in certain quarters, but it’s a strange world in which the onus is on wine producers to demonstrate a negative. As I understand the present weight of medical evidence, there is nothing to show that drinking a glass of wine a day by a healthy mother-to-be on a balanced diet (and, above all else, not smoking) constitutes a measurable adverse impact on the health of the embryo and, in due course, the newly born baby. But that is not enough: because it is impossible to prove it is risk-free, it seems the industry has to agree that there is a risk to the unborn baby, even though the risk cannot be quantified.