Cork vs Screwcap debate continued

The Greatest Winery in the World

As ever, a morning tasting and simple lunch at the Domaine de la Romanée-Conti is the most important, and most enjoyable, part of my annual trip to France, or, should I say, Burgundy. This year there was the extra anticipation of tasting the ‘09 wines from barrel, and the somewhat surprising newcomers to the Domaine, its vineyards in Corton.

Alas, I shall have to wait to taste the Cortons. They are in the second cellar – part of what was the winery of the monks of the Abbey St Vivant 900 years ago – above which a new office is being built for the Domaine, after 100 years in the simple, indeed spartan, office and reception area around the corner.

These works have temporarily blocked access to the second cellar, so I had to content myself with Aubert de Villaine’s answer to my question ‘Do they speak more of Corton or more of the Domaine?’ (A Dorothy Dix, I will admit). The response ‘Corton, absolutely – it is another world.’ Further questions led to the confirmation that the same vinification techniques were used, in ‘09 with a very high percentage of whole bunches.

Much has already been written about the ‘09 Burgundy vintage, along with the ‘05 the only two really successful vintages of the decade for pinot noir. It so happens that they are among the greatest vintages of the past 40 or more years, quality more than making up for the lack of quantity.

Moreover, ‘09 has made, or will make, everyone happy: the grape growers, the winemakers, the shareholders, and the consumers. Yields were good (for the low-yielding Domaine 28 to 33 hl/ha, around two tones per acre) and the growing conditions so perfect that there was little or no need to sort out defective bunches (rot, etc) in the vineyard or in the winery.

Aubert de Villaine says the vintage has elements of ‘59 (supple, succulent pinots that entranced drinkers from the word go, but had greater longevity than the ‘85s, that started on the same track) and ‘99 (in Aubert’s view, the greatest DRCs made in his time). And there is one thing that is immediately obvious as you being the tasting in the cellar: the ‘09s have the same deep colour of the freakish ‘99s.

The wines have a velvety richness and a profound depth of flavour that is almost shockingly seductive. Theoretically, you have to wait 20 or 30 years for the very different seduction of the perfume of DRC to take you in its embrace. This, certainly, is true of the Grands Echezeaux and Romanée St Vivant, and the more formidable, masculine even, Richebourg. They certainly speak of their terroir and overall provenance, but also of the vintage.

With the two jewels in the crown, La Tache and Romanée-Conti, the fulcrum swings a little, the grace and elegance of these two wines shining through. Here you have the best of all possible worlds.

Contrary to rumours that have swirled around Australia for the past few years, Aubert de Villaine has no intention of retiring any time soon. To his great relief, he has retired as Mayor of Bouzeron, a town so small the mayor sweeps the floor, puts out the cat, attends suicides (successful or not), and is on call 24 hours a day.

He is gradually inducting his 32 or 33-year-old nephew Bertrand de Villaine into the business as an assistant; at first it was for one day a week, now two. While he is genuinely interested in wine, Bertrand has built up a small chain of optometrists (his wife is an optometrist) that is still growing. So no one is in a hurry.

In the vineyard, one hectare of Romanée St Vivant is in the middle of a three-stage replanting programme. It is not that the vines are so old they have ceased to be productive, although there were planted by the prior owners, the Marey-Monge family, rather that the style of the wine is not true to the vineyard. Tasted from barrel (the last third is still to be replanted) it was easy enough to see the difference, but only the Domaine would not hesitate to remove it.

The customary tasting of blind bottled wines followed the barrel tasting. First up was a ‘99 Echezeaux (vintage disclosed), then another – something clicked without thought and I said ‘90, which it was. Discussion followed on the precocious character of DRC’s Echezeaux when it is young, when five to ten years old capable of upstaging its far more illustrious DRC stablemates, and we agreed the ‘90 was at its peak. Another foray into the museum cellar eventually led to another bottle. Disaster for all: Aubert inadvertantly showed the chalked E 64 on the side of the bottle. ‘Did we see it?’ to which there was only one answer, and the cork was already out. Moment of glory denied? Improbably. Embarrassment avoided? More likely. Anyway, the wine had been recorked in 1988, and was in fine fettle – all the slightly foresty/mushroomy nuances to the bouquet, and fraises du bois on the palate. A more than satisfactory lunch wine.

The cork, screwcap and diam debate

The passion and spirit of the late Dr John Middleton continues to walk the paths of the Yarra Valley. Mount Mary’s recent newsletter has some interesting things to say about screwcaps, against a background of a move from one-piece natural cork to Diam. I have no quarrel about the choice of Diam, although I question the belief of the Mount Mary team that the overriding problem of one-piece natural cork is or was TCA, when in fact the major problem is random oxidation due to the inherent variability of each and every cork’s oxygen barrier capacity.

What is intriguing is the assertion that one should ‘consider the copper that is added to wines under screwcap to keep the sulphides at bay’. No competent winemaker would add copper in such an amount and at such a point of time that any copper or copper sulphate would remain in the wine. We certainly don’t do that at Coldstream Hills, and I am pretty certain there are very few who do.

The carbon footprint issue also arises. Anyone who has been to Portugal to see the cork production process knows that considerable amounts of energy are used at various stages of the harvesting and treatment of cork, before it is then transported around the world. Diam involves an extra level. It may be light, but it has a considerable volume, and this is part of the shipping cost calculation. Screwcaps are made in Australia with minimal transport/carbon footprint consequences. This, I readily acknowledge, will have passionate advocates on either side of the debate. Also, I am unaware of aluminium toxicity causing proven health problems in Australia. It’s certainly not asbestos.

Lunch at Domaine Dujac

Lunch at Domaine Dujac with a super-wealthy American quartet who just happened to have a bottle of ‘82 Krug with them and a bottle of ‘08 Ramonet Bienvenues Batard Montrachet, the Krug as fresh and lively as the day it went into the bottle (or so it seemed). Prior tasting of refined, elegant ‘07s and seriously powerful (for Dujac) ‘08s. Two masked bottles for lunch, one fresher than the other, both ethereal and proclaiming ‘78 as their vintage: Charmes Chambertin more difficult to pic, then a ‘98 Charmes Chambertin. I was happy with the dregs of the ‘78.

Auprès du Clocher

Small but very good new restaurant in Pommard Auprès du Clocher (1 rue de Nackenheim, 21630 Pommard; phone +33 3 8022 2179 – no fax/email). 2007 Coche-Dury Meursault on wine list at $100 irresistible. Owner/chef Jean-Christophe Moutet spent 16 years at Lameloise (3 star in Chagny) and it really shows. Brilliant €40 menu; top presentation and even better tasting dishes freshly inspired, not derivative.

Discounting – nothing new under the sun

The other day I was re-reading a book I wrote in 1994 for the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation: A History of the Australian Wine Industry 1949-1994. At page 42 I quoted Gunther Prass, then Chief Executive of Orlando saying ‘I remember the first discount I came across; in 1978 a discount of 5c per 4 litre cask to Tooth Wine and Spirits in Sydney for the supply of five semi-trailers of cask wine.’

What started as a trickle, rapidly became a torrent, and by 1982/83 was out of control. The Bulletin magazine (27 April 1982) commenced a major article on the state of the wine industry with the following: ‘Savage discounting of wine has become the ultimate marketing folly for the Australian wine industry. What started as a means of carving out a market share has turned into a deadly war of survival for the country’s 300 odd wine producers.’ I went on to write


‘During 1981 and the early part of 1982, GJ Coles acquired 54 Claude Fay’s stores (a chain which had itself come into being in the latter part of the 1970s), 14 Liquorland stores and the Colonial Cellars’ chain – all in Sydney alone. Woolworths had acquired or opened 36 outlets in New South Wales, while by April 1982 Myer already had 90 outlets across the country, having purchased the San Remo and Crittenden’s Fine Wine stores in Melbourne.

If the buying power of the chains put huge pressure on the wine companies, it also put pressure on the independent fine wine retailer, and established a cyclical pattern which has continue through to the 1990s. The smaller independent retailer either has to excel with the quality of its service, advice and wine selection; form an alliance with other similarly operated stores and hope to gain leverage against the wine companies and wholesale distributors; or accept the offer-which-cannot-be-refused from a corporation seeking to have the best of both worlds – up-market fine wine stores and real bulk buying power. More than a few such aspirants have leant that the best of both worlds is not easily attained, with a consequent merry-go-round of ownership.’


And to think that 30 years later we are wailing (justifiably) about the collective power of the Coles and Woolworths groups.

Blast from the past: UK Wine & Spirit Magazine in August 1990

James Irvine (of Irvine Wines) is a self-confessed bower bird, and the other day sent me a photocopy of a quite long, Focus Interview (of myself) that Anthony Rose wrote for the UK Wine & Spirit Magazine in August 1990.

The interview covered many things, but the question and answer that James Irvine was interested in read as follows:


Anthony Rose: How do you see the future direction of Australian wine? Is there a danger of supply outstripping demand and the industry dragging small winemakers down with it?

James Halliday: Yes, there is a danger. The industry’s paths of history are littered with these corpses of under and oversupply victims. There’s no question that we’re going to see a radical repositioning of chardonnay. The position that chardonnay has had over the last 20 years is irrational. Why on earth should chardonnay bring A$2000 a ton when semillon, which costs precisely the same amount to produce brings A$500 a ton. It makes no sense. We’re going to see chardonnay ranged on the shelves at the same price at the bottom end as Rhine riesling, or anything else you care to name ... 100 per cent in casks. ... Plantings of chardonnay are going to double over the next year or so. Those who’ve hung their star on chardonnay are going to have a tough time of it.