Cork v’s Screwcap
With spring fast approaching it will soon be time to crack open some refreshing whites. One thing is a given this coming season, you will be seeing less of the cork & more of the screwcap (Stelvin closure) on your favourite whites.
In the 90’s most wineries were still experimenting with stelvin. It was usually the cheaper end of the market that came with screwcap. You couldn’t blame the wineries for not putting them on their best wines, but it did create an aura of ‘cheap’. Now slowly but surely, we are seeing more premium products under this very useful tool. Is one better than the other though? Well it depends what you are looking for.
I have mixed feelings about this issue. Sure, having wines under screwcap saves me about 30 seconds per table at Veraison. But, call me ‘old school’ if you like, I love the sense of ceremony in pulling a cork. The need to get the cork screw in straight, the slight struggle to remove it, need to smell the wine making sure it’s not corked, the small taste to make sure the palate is still desirable. It is this theatre that adds to a dining experience! However, perhaps we should consider the winemakers view. There is no denying the longer aging potential of a wine that is sealed under screwcap & the freshness it maintains. Surely having your label perform better for over longer periods of time will increase your reputation. There is now no risk of having whole vintages & your ruined due to dodgy cork quality.
I was talking with somebody from the St. Hallett winery in the Barossa Valley about his riesling. Now that they are sealing this wine under screwcap, they do not need to wait for the riesling to lose all of the carbon dioxide (naturally occurring during fermentation) before bottling. Why is this important? Carbon dioxide is a natural preservative within the wine which means there is now an even longer shelf life as there is virtually no risk of oxidation. They couldn’t do this in the past as excess carbon dioxide gas would blow the cork out of the bottle. You may notice a slight hiss as you open your favourite white under screwcap. No the wine is not carbonated like a bottle of coke, rather this is the release of the naturally occurring carbon dioxide.
I was reading a series of articles last month about a 2005 sauvignon blanc that was sampled under cork 2 years ago. The wine writer then found the same vintage wine earlier this year under screwcap. After finding his notes on the wine under cork, he was surprised to find that even though it had been 2 years the wine under screwcap was found to be maintaining it’s crisp brightness a lot more balanced than the early release under cork. He rated the wine under stelvin a better wine than that under cork.
This proves to be an interesting experiment. Try to get your hands on exactly the same wine, one under stelvin, one under cork. This may take some hunting these days. Open them both at the same time & compare notes. It seems that wines stored under cork tend to age faster than those under stelvin.
Salute, Andrew Smith
Feel good with wine.
We all know that partaking in the odd tipple makes us feel good. Obviously prolonged excessive consumption is quite detrimental to one’s health. But there are a couple of health benefits which you may not know about.
In the 90’s, somebody smart saw the French indulging in high fat foods laden with cheese and thought, ‘why aren’t they all having heart attacks?’ They called this the “French paradox”. It turned out a steady trickle of alcohol was the answer. Below is a list of studies & the health befits discovered. Those conducting studies were quick to suggest cutting down on excessive alcohol consumption, but hesitant on suggesting commence drinking as a health boost.
The blood vessels. We’ve all heard that a glass of wine is good for the heart, but it seems the effects more to do with the blood vessels. A study of moderate drinking men (2-3 glasses/day) showed a 35% reduction of cardiovascular disease. Wine reduces the build up of smooth muscle cells within your arteries & reduces cholesterol levels, thus reducing risk of hardened arteries. It was also noted that moderate consumption has the greatest reductive effect. Abstainers & abusers both had the highest risk of cardiovascular disease. (Dubbed the “U” curve.).
Fewer kidney stones for wine drinking women. Studies at Harvard University showed that increased fluid consumption decreased the risk of kidney stones. No surprises there really. But of the 17 different beverages tested (including water, tea, coffee, juice & milk) wine came out on top with a 59% reduction.
Stroke Risk A Danish study compared non drinkers with those that said they drank monthly, weekly & daily. There was a 16%, 34% & 32% reduction in risk of stroke. Interestingly there was no reduction associated with beer & spirit drinkers.
Prolonged Life. An American survey has shown that moderate drinking prolongs the time until death from any cause by 3%.
Lung Cancer Male wine drinkers have a lower risk of lung cancer than those who drink beer & spirits. At 2 wines a day, there is 56% less risk of lung cancer than those drinking other alcohol. It appears that the antioxidant qualities in wine offer a protective effect. Which is nice.
Moderate Drinking Reduces “Insulin Resistance” A New York study shows, moderate drinkers are less likely to develop adult-onset diabetes. Abstainers & heavy drinkers were twice as likely to develop type 2 diabetes as moderate drinkers.
Reduce Dementia There is a link between moderate drinking & maintaining mental capacity. While this may seem amusing to some, there is studies that show appropriate levels of alcohol stimulate the release of Acetylcholine. (A chemical that affects learning & memory.)
Prostate Cancer. While moderate drinking showed a direct effect in reducing the risk of prostate cancer in men, wine was also noted for it’s ability to keep cancer cells from proliferating.
Sounds good doesn’t it? Surely there’s a catch. Yes, moderation (2 glasses per day) is the key. And no you can’t save them all up for the weekend.
So let’s feel good about raising a glass to good health. -Andrew Smith
When Wine Becomes a Toy
It is widely known. As a well made red wine ages, it is more delightful to drink. The most expensive wine ever bought was a bottle of 1787 sauterne from Chateau d’Yquem for A$113 500. One would wonder whether a wine made the year before Captain Cook discovered Australia would be any good today. On face value this may not seem like a good value for money purchase, but this is not the point. If offered to hold onto the bottle, we would probably turn it down in fear of an imminent butterfingers moment. Like any collector’s item, the value of a wine is largely determined by it’s current condition & past history.
Penfolds ‘Grange’ is widely considered the benchmark by which all other Australian wines are measured. Whether you like it or not is a separate issue. ‘Grange’ commands attention based on precedence & history. At over $400 a bottle, it is not usually the bottle you open to have with Sunday lunch. It is kept as a collector’s item or drunk at a special occasion.
I met with an associate this last weekend who once owned a bottle of every Penfolds ‘Grange’ made since 1951. Realizing that he was never going to drink any of them he sold the complete set as a collector’s item for a 6 figure sum. Wine at this level is well out of reach for the majority of us. The question is then, at what stage does a wine cease to be a drink and move into the realm of a collector’s item?
The truth is you can collect any wine. If you are looking to start a collection, look for wines that will cellar well & therefore increase in value over time. Ask what other people have. At Veraison we carry some premium Australian shiraz from current vintages, right back to the early 1990’s. Peter Lehmann ‘Stonewell’, Grant Burge ‘Meshach’ & Yalumba ‘The Octavius’ are examples. These wines are robust & made to last at least 10-20 years. Most of them are drinking well now but in another 20 years they may become as sought after as the Penfolds ‘Grange’. However, the bottom line is most of us are limited by our budgets. This will largely determine what we put away as an investment & what will go into our glasses with lunch.
My selection will give a brief idea of some toys for boys available on the wine market at the moment.
What Wine From Where?
It has been long noted that certain grape varieties are suited to growing in particular regions. Perhaps the hardiest of all grape varieties is chardonnay. It will grow almost everywhere. However I don’t see too much chardonnay on the market that comes from the Northern Territory. Although this is an extreme, it highlights the point that there are grape varieties that grow well & make great wine in some places and not others.
Some wines are so temperamental that they can only be grown in very specific regions of Australia that offer the ideal growing conditions. Others are a little less fussy & will be found in a number of different regions.
Below I have assembled a list of wines primarily broken down by variety. Under each variety, I have listed regions around Australia that are noted for producing some of the better wine from these varieties. This list is put together in broad brush stroke terms and is not the be all & end all of who produces good wines. As I have already mentioned above, some varieties are quite hardy and will grow well in a broad range of places. In fact one of the most exciting thing about trying wine is finding the diamond in the rough, the wine that defies the odds and comes up trumps under unfavourable circumstances.
Chardonnay – Although growing almost anywhere, the majority of the better chardonnays come from cooler climate areas. Adelaide Hills – SA Geelong – VIC Margaret River – WA Mornington Peninsula – VIC Yarra Valley – VIC Tasmania Riesling – Originating from the border between Germany & France where it is quite cool & mountainous. Look for Australian riesling from… Adelaide Hills – SA Clare Valley – SA Eden Valley – SA Sauvignon Blanc – Once again it’s cooler climate areas that provide better fruit for wines. It is little wonder then that the New Zealand sauvignon blanc are doing well. Adelaide Hills – SA Margaret River – WA Mornington Peninsula – VIC Semillon – A hugely underrated wine that loves the slightly warmer climates. The Hunter Valley has ideal growing conditions for this variety, season after season. Hunter Valley – NSW Sparkling – Given that most Australian sparkling wine is made from both the pinot noir & chardonnay grapes, go for cooler climate area. Mornington Peninsula - VIC Macedon Ranges – VIC Tasmania Yarra Valley – VIC Verdelho – Originally from the island of Madeira off Portugal, this is a warmer climate grape that doesn’t mind a slightly wetter summer. Granite Belt – QLD Hunter Valley – NSW Rose – Predominantly made from Grenache, Cabernet or to a lesser extent Pinot Noir. Look for regions that tend to grow these varieties well. Adelaide Hills – SA Barossa Valley – SA Margaret River – WA Yarra Valley – VIC Pinot Noir – A temperamental grape that almost needs ideal cool climate growing conditions to set fruit. Cooler areas of Australia are by far the best. Adelaide Hills – SA Geelong – VIC Mornington Peninsula – VIC Tasmania Yarra Valley – VIC Shiraz –SA boasts the largest reputation for this variety. SA & some areas of VIC are similar in climate, soil type & terroir to the Rhone Valley in France. Barossa Valley – SA Clare Valley – SA Coonawarra – SA Grampians – VIC Heathcote – VIC McLaren Vale – SA Cabernet Sauvignon & Merlot – Heralding from the famous Bordeaux region in France, these varieties are quite well suited to regions which grow good shiraz. Barossa Valley – SA Coonawarra – SA Great Southern – WA Margaret River – WA McLaren Vale – SA
Saluté, -Andrew Smith