The Boutique Wine Lover's Wine Reviews and Wine Related Stories

I came across this very interesting article that really helps put wine advertising into perspective with respect to wine quality. It's the medals that count for a quality wine, not how many times you see it plastered on bus stands or on the back covers of magazines. That's one of the great things about boutique wines, and their makers: with small budgets but big hearts, they pour their soul into their wines and what comes out is measured by their success at the competitions they enter. The more medals, the better they are!

Jeremiah Josey

Thursday, May 14, 2009
Sandra Silfven
Wine competitions tell the real story of quality

Big wine competitions - as opposed to big glossy wine magazines - provide wine evaluations based on the worthiness of what's in the bottle - not on the label or who advertises.

Wine judges at the big international events never know whose wine they are tasting. There's no chance of being swayed by a particular producer or its reputation. And at competitions that do not sort wines by price, the results can get interesting. A delicious Two-Buck Chuck can compete shoulder-to-shoulder with the high-rent stuff.
And oh, by the way, you'll seldom read about the results of wine competitions in wine magazines -- they would compete with the mag's own wine ratings.

At the Riverside International Wine Competition in Riverside, California, May 2-3, price was not a consideration. It's a unique event considering its age, 28 years; its organizer, the feisty and demanding wine journalist Dan Berger; and the judges, an elite team handpicked by Berger - a who's who of winemakers, writers, sommeliers and educators.

There's no blood on the judging tables at the end of the day, but as a participant, I can tell you all the bad stuff is weeded out.

This year's list of gold medal winners, announced recently at www.riversidewinecompetition.com, included six Michigan wines - and that's a feat.

The competition had 1,770 entries. Judges of interest included Gary Eberle of Eberle Winery in Paso Robles; pioneering winemaker Dr. Richard Peterson, who helped shape the California industry; Riesling and Zinfandel pro Scott Harvey of Scott Harvey Wines; ex-Penfolds winemaker Daryl Groom of Groom Wines; and Eric Miller of Pennsylvania's Chaddsford, a leading winery in the East.

By Emma Chalmers at the Courier Mail, May 15, 2009 12:00am

KEVIN Rudd has delivered a snub to the Queensland wine industry with not one bottle of plonk from our state in the vast prime ministerial cellar.

Every other wine-producing state in Australia is represented in the Prime Minister's liquor cabinet, which also includes offerings from France, New Zealand and Canada.

A stocktake of wine at The Lodge and Kirribilli House reveals both official residences have undiplomatically passed over Mr Rudd's home state when selecting a tipple for the Prime Minister and his guests.

An audit late last year revealed more than $20,000 of wine was stored at his residences - $6000 at Kirribilli at November 30 and $14,000 at The Lodge at December 19.

The cellars included a 1985 bottle of Dom Perignon champagne, worth up to $300, and a bottle of Bollinger Special Cuvee Non Vintage, as well as more affordable local wines.

The only Queensland drop behind the prime ministerial bar was Bundaberg Rum, the spirit lambasted by the Rudd Government during last year's alcopops debate.

The audit showed more than $23,000 was spent on wine in the 12 months to December.

The cellars were well prepared for a celebration with 246 bottles of Yellowglen Perle Sparkling bought at the modest $17.95 a pop.

Queensland-based Master of Wine Andrew Corrigan reviewed the diverse wine list for The Courier-Mail and concluded that a couple of Queensland bottles would not be out of place.

"Given the spread of choice there is clearly room for a Queensland wine – and, in terms of quality, there are several Queensland wine styles that would fit the list well," Mr Corrigan said.

"In particular, a verdelho (a white) and a red such as shiraz or possibly tempranillo would be appropriate.

"If you are doing a wine list for the Prime Minister, you'd probably generally go for classics – and you'd probably be looking at a balance of representation from (all) the states."

A spokeswoman for the Prime Minister said Mr Rudd "loves" Queensland products and did not select his own wine.

"Generally, wine for The Lodge and Kirribilli House is selected by house staff," the spokeswoman said.

"Wines may be selected by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet for state occasions.

"In either case, the Prime Minister plays no role in the selection.

"Like all proud Queenslanders, the Prime Minister loves Queensland produce."

Leslie White, Weekly Times Now
May 6, 2009

WINEMAKER Ian Rathjen, Heathcote, Victoria, has a simple method for success: don't advertise, don't market and don't try to find buyers.

The anti-marketing strategy seems to have worked for his Whistling Eagle winery at Heathcote.

Ian's wine is sold in restaurants across Australia, overseas and to Qantas first-class passengers.

It has also scored a 95-point review from one of the world's most prestigious wine magazines, Wine Spectator.

The former shearer and dairy farmer had not originally intended to make wine, preferring to sell grapes to wine companies.

But he had some grapes left over in 1999 and decided to "have a go" at making wine. A visiting acquaintance liked it so much he advised Ian to design a label.

Then a chance article in Gourmet Traveller resulted in calls from buyers and restaurants, and later a US distributor rang after having tasted the wine in a Melbourne restaurant.

Now, 20 per cent of Whistling Eagle shiraz is sold to the US.

"I don't do enough marketing; I should do more," Ian said.

"I always thought if I could just make the best wine I possibly could (the rest would look after itself) . . . chance and fate have been wonderful to me."

Ian had no training in making wine but admits he's "reasonable" at growing grapes.

He gathered winemaking knowledge through experimentation and asking questions.

Ian said he liked his vines to have some "tension" but not be under stress - he decides when to water, and how much, through a visual inspection of the vines rather than by following any schedule.

In recent dry years he has used one megalitre of water a hectare on the plantings annually.

In a "normal" year he uses a third of that.

He also believes that overwatering results in bigger fruit, which dilutes the flavour.

He aims to produce about only one tonne of grapes a hectare, and experiments with yeast, fruit and oak every year.

"I'm a minimalist: I try to let things take their natural course," Ian said.

"I don't know too much, I just try to let the fruit express what's there."

Ian bought 160ha he considered suitable for shiraz in 1995 from his uncle after selling 360ha of grazing country near Colbinabbin. Steady plantings since have resulted in the vineyard growing to almost 40ha.

When Ian first bought the property, a bore provided water at 1200 EC units. Salinity levels have since tripled, so Ian has installed a pipe that connects him to permanent irrigation water.

He and his wife, Lynne, are considering installing a wind turbine to make the operation carbon neutral, because "it's what the world needs".

Their daughter Trish, who has studied viticulture, now lives and works at the winery while their nephew Guy, a qualified winemaker, started work with them last year.

Production for the Whistling Eagle label has risen from 70 dozen bottles in 1999 to 1000 dozen last year - still only 15 per cent of the property's grapes - with the rest sold to wine companies.

This is a great article by Jancis Robinson. There's some very good figures on the decline of the Australian market and it's very relevant to what we have found with our own winery members here at BoutiqueWineries.com.au. Enjoy!

4 Apr 2009 by Jancis Robinson

Something very strange has happened to Australian wine. While more and more truly fine Australian wine is being produced, Australian wine's fortunes and reputation have plummeted. Fashions in wine, just as in everything else, come and go, but the sheer speed with which Australia has moved from being revered to being reviled is quite remarkable.

Throughout the 1990s, Australia's wine reputation continued to build so steadily and remarkably that wine exporters around the world saw Australians as the all-conquering heroes. Australian wine exports increased tenfold in the 1990s alone. It was as recently as 2004 that Australia overtook France as principal supplier of wine to the UK market and, briefly, looked set to push Italy into second place as most important exporter of wine to the US.

But today, interest in Australian wine in both the UK and US seems to have evaporated as rapidly as a puddle in Alice Springs. In the US, where Australian wine is a relatively recent phenomenon, the reasons seem to be twofold. The staggering success of Yellow Tail with its kangaroo label spawned so many imitation "critter" brands, as they were known for their imitative fauna-featuring labels, that at the bottom end of the market, Australia came to be seen as ubiquitous and vapid.

In the upper reaches of the US wine market, Australia enjoyed a brief period in the sun when America's powerful critic Robert Parker espoused a series of quite different labels cooked up especially for American consumers. In this instance the wines were typically black as pitch, made from extremely late-picked grapes and notably alcoholic. Dan Philips of the import company The Grateful Palate was a prime mover in this transpacific tide of Barossa Shiraz and the like. What was curious about these wines, many of which garnered rave reviews and impressive scores, was that so many of them were unknown in their homeland, so they had no support among Australian wine lovers, and many Americans who bought them found they did not perform as well as expected.

The result is that Dr Jay Miller, Parker's successor as Australian wine reviewer for his influential newsletter The Wine Advocate introduced his most recent survey of Australian wine thus: 'In January 2009 there is a serious perception that the American market for Australian wine is in serious jeopardy...In not much more than a decade, the market has gone from boom to bust and to an unsettled future'.

In the UK the problem with Australian wine's image is slightly different. Ever since Australia's major export push began back in the 1980s, the UK was the prime focus - and is still the biggest market for Australian wine by far, taking 37% of all exports last year. For years we marvelled at the Australians' efficiency, their frequent visits to Britain (even in the middle of their summer and our winter, for heaven's sake) and their assiduous courting of the powerful supermarket buyers. A steady stream of characterful larrikins invaded our shores, shared beers and gossip with key players, and achieved enviable penetration of the mass market.

Then in the early years of this century there was a general reshuffling of the giant companies that had long dominated the Australian wine scene. resulting in American ownership, via the world's biggest wine company Constellation, of such totemic brands as Hardys, Houghton, Leasingham and Banrock Station. Their big rivals Southcorp (Penfolds, Lindemans, Seppelt, Wynn et al) teetered and were eventually acquired by brewers Fosters, who still give the impression of wondering what to do with them. The big UK supermarkets played the big companies off against each other and it turned into duel by discount. The average British wine drinker became conditioned into buying simply what was on promotion and Australian wine became increasingly synonymous with cheap wine.

Total Australian wine exports fell last year, for the first time in 15 years. In 2008 the value of wine exports to the UK and US shrank by 17.5 and 23% respectively, and now the only growth seems to be in cheap Australian wine exported in bulk - hardly good for Australian wine's image. Australia is producing almost three times as much wine as it was 15 years ago, a total that is approaching three times domestic consumption. But Australians are drinking less Australian wine, while imports, especially whites from New Zealand, have been increasing steadily - threefold between 2004 and 2008.

Meanwhile, up to a quarter of growers in the most industrial inland irrigated regions are reported to be on the brink of bankruptcy. And many of those previously encouraged to invest in what was then the booming Australian wine industry have retreated, licking their wounds. The story of Palandri, a flashy winery constructed in the fine wine region Margaret River in Western Australia, nicely illustrates what went wrong with the structure of the industry. It was built in Margaret River to attract the tourists that flock to one of the world's most beautiful wine regions, but hardly had a vine there because, thanks to the reputation painstakingly established by local pioneers, vineyard land was so expensive. Fruit was brought in fruit from cheaper areas instead. But wine drinkers are not stupid and the venture in its initial form finally failed. It has been renamed and now belongs to a Chinese businessman.

The Australian wine industry, beset by crippling drought (most years), exceptional frosts (2007) and serious bushfires (2009), is suddenly in what looks like a perilous position. Like so many wine producers outside Europe, it has so far concentrated its efforts on the big retailers in the UK and has therefore failed to build up a really solid distribution network for its better wines, which is an enormous shame since, contrary to the popular myth that Australian winemaking is about as romantic as a car assembly plant, there is a host of great, increasingly subtle, wine made by people every bit as driven as Europe's finest vignerons.

The generic body Wine Australia is doing its best to address this particular problem by holding a series of tastings with key opinion formers in key markets. And this June amid much hullabaloo, a squad of handpicked media, sommeliers and so on are invited to Landmark Australia in the Barossa Valley- there to be spoonfed Australia's finest wines by some of their most impressive winemakers. For in academic circles, Australian wine research is still highly regarded, and Landmark participants are expected to fly home some of the world's best - informed wine experts.

My suggestion is that as many wine lovers as possible should try wines from the likes of the producers below, good (but by no means the only) examples of those who make wines hugely superior to the current Australian stereotype.  And look at all my tasting notes on Australian wines of course.

Bindi
Brokenwood
Clonakilla
Crawford River
Cullen
Curly Flat
Domaine A
Giaconda
Grosset
Henschke
Jasper Hill
Killikanoon
Moss Wood
Noon
Shaw and Smith
Tapanappa
Tarrington

Howard G Goldberg in New York

The New York wine industry has emerged bruised from the Legislature's still unfinished effort to address the state's US$16bn budget deficit.

The industry, America's fourth largest (in terms of wineries), has been wrestling with three issues simultaneously: an attempt to get wine into supermarkets, a tax hike, and a threat to the New York Wine and Grape Foundation's future.

Despite a strong effort to get wine sold in supermarkets and convenience stores, Governor David Paterson and the grocery store lobby was defeated by an opposing group representing wine and liquor shops across the state.

Afraid to alienate retailers who currently carry their wines, many wineries opposed this proposal. Some, however, supported it openly, and may lose customers as a result.

As part of the new budget emerging from negotiations between the governor and the state Assembly and Senate, the excise tax on sales of wine is set to be increased by 58% (from 19 to 30 cents a gallon). Wineries, which would foot the bill, fear that passing it along to consumers might cause a drop in sales.

In another move, the New York Wine and Grape Foundation, a trade association representing the state's 261 producers, has temporarily staved off the governor's attempt to wholly eliminate its funding in the new fiscal year.

Last year, the foundation was awarded US$1m, which the wine industry had to match with another $1m. It also got $1.8m, which it did not have to match, from the state government. Months later some of that money was cut back.

This year, the foundation appears likely to receive about $951,000, which again must be matched by its members. The sum could be reduced, however, during the complex legislative process.

If the $951,000 grant remains, 'we will be able to continue our core research and promotion programs but nothing beyond that,' said foundation president James Trezise.

Geogia Loney of WST

Prices of WA wine will rise and wineries will go to the wall if the Federal Government removes a rebate which provides up to $500,000 a year in tax relief to wine producers, the industry warns.

The Government is understood to be scrutinising beer, wine and brandy taxes as it scours possible sources of revenue in the lead-up to the May Budget.

The WA Wine Industry is alarmed at any suggestion the rebate could be removed and said the tax system needed to treat wine differently to beer and spirits.

Industry president John Griffiths said about 85 per cent of Australian wineries would struggle to survive without the tax rebate, which offsets the wholesale tax.

"It’s fair enough to look at the cost of alcohol to the community, such as the alcopop initiative, but the reason wine is not taxed in the same way as spirits is because of a different dynamic," he said.

Mr Griffiths said the wine industry had closer links to agriculture and tourism than breweries and distilleries.

The rebate is targeted at small to medium producers, which make up the bulk of the Australian wine industry. It gives producers a rebate of 29 per cent of the wholesale value of domestic sales.

There are about 2300 wine producers in Australia with the majority considered small or medium sized, according to figures from the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation. Willowbridge Estate owner Jeff Dewar produces about 45,000 cases of wine a year at his Ferguson Valley winery and said the removal of the rebate would have a huge effect. Prices would go up and sales would fall as a result. "It would be disastrous," he said.

The wine-equalisation tax rebate was introduced in 2004 and would cost the Government an estimated $1.13 billion in the next four years.

ABC Rural - Friday, 03/04/2009

From The Australian

AUSTRALIAN industry veteran Wolfgang Blass has urged winemakers to create new beverages to woo Asian drinkers rather than trying to convince them of the merits of existing products.

This year's local grape harvest is expected to produce at least 1.4 billion litres of wine, 250 million litres more than is needed to satisfy export demand of 700 million litres and domestic demand of about 450 million litres.

The Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation's "Directions to 2025" strategy, released last year, advocates an export marketing plan based on "raising awareness and expectation of an Australian wine story founded on an international reputation for regionally distinct and fine wine production".

This has led to such initiatives as a program in partnership with the British-based Wine and Spirit Education Trust to make top-class international sommeliers aware of the merits of Aussie wines in the hope they will recommend them to restaurant customers.

But Mr Blass, founder of the Wolf Blass wine group bought by Foster's in 1996, says the industry should instead be looking to the methods Australian winemakers used to capture the attention of beer drinkers back in the 1950s.

"We were in a hillbilly era," he says of the period.

"There was no hospitality, there was 6 o'clock closing, no wine drinking as part of the lifestyle, we were drinking 130litres of beer each a year and 1 1/2 litres of wine and that was mostly port and sherry."

The turning point came with the introduction of Barossa Pearl, a light sparkling wine introduced by Orlando in 1956 and quickly emulated by Australian Grape Growers Co-operative, which later became Kaiser Stuhl.

In 1961, Mr Blass was hired from Germany to work on Kaiser Stuhl's sparkling wines, and he introduced cherry and pineapple flavoured versions of Pearl.

Sales were given a further boost in 1963 when Kaiser Stuhl began selling its fizz in a waisted bottle known as the Mae West, for its sumptuous curves. Kaiser Stuhl, also owned by Foster's, is now reduced to producing cask wines, and so is among the list of brands scheduled for imminent deletion as Foster's exits low-value market segments in order to concentrate on higher-margin areas.

But Mr Blass said today's winemakers could still learn from the successes of the past. "Our industry is in diabolical trouble with a surplus of 250,000 to 300,000 tonnes of grapes. Why doesn't it turn around and look again at these wonderful flirtatious products with an excellent packaging and go to China and the east to entice people who are drinking spirits and beer to get into a wine product," he said.

"We idiots think they should know something about Cabernets, that they should learn something about grape varieties when they haven't got a clue, which is exactly what happened in this country."

But rather than the fruit flavoured plonk that tickled the palates of novice Australian wine drinkers, Mr Blass said new export-orientated products should be more sophisticated. "No sweet lolly-water, we're talking about something that is flavoursome, a nice, well-balanced product, fizzy and it has to have a characteristic to appeal to women, because all over the world women control the hospitality industry," he said.

Winemakers also need to make the buying process easier for drinkers, he said, creating more recognisable packaging by which they can more readily differentiate varieties.

It's an idea Blass first hit on in the 1970s -- inspired, he says by the silks worn by jockeys and the team colours of football clubs.

"It looks good, people don't know very much about it, so bring out the Wolf Blass Yellow Label," he said.

There followed green, brown and black label varieties, the last of which won the prestigious Jimmy Watson Trophy three years in succession between 1974 and 1975. This simple but effective marketing technique has now been picked up by other brands such as Glenfiddich and Johnnie Walker, both of which have colour-coded labels to denote various levels of quality.

"And now even the bastards in Bordeaux are bringing out all the colours," Blass joked. It is only through innovations in products and packaging that the industry will survive the current downturn, he said, after Australia's wine exports posted their first decline in 13 years during 2008.

"The executives, the new generation, the board members, the executives, have never seen a downturn," he said.

"I've seen five breakdowns in this country and each time we survived because we came up with innovative ideas. Our guys today wouldn't bloody know. They only know one thing -- discounting, and that's the end of the bloody industry."

March 26, 2009

by Graham Tearse

French winemakers are demanding the withdrawal of a medical brochure which claims moderate alcohol consumption greatly increases the risk of cancer.

The brochure, 'Nutrition and the prevention of cancers', published by the French National Cancer Institute, INCA, an agency of the ministry of health, is destined for some 70,000 surgeries across France.

It claims that consumption of even small daily amounts of wine and all other alcohols significantly raise an individual's likelihood of developing cancer, and certain types by as much as 168%.

The winemakers want the publication re-written.

'When it comes to wine their conclusions go against many reputable medical studies and don't balance the for and against,' said winemaker Jean-Charles Tastavy, leading the legal challenge to the INCA document as head of an especially-created association called 'For the Honour of Wine.'

'We've formally requested that the French health ministry block the publication of the brochure and that the text be modified.

'If that fails we'll take the case before the national courts, and even at a European level if necessary,' Mr. Tastavy told decanter.com.

Related stories from www.decanter.com: French government new advice: 'Don't drink wine' Editor attacks government, winemakers French Parliament debates wine laws French think wine is unhealthy, survey says Minister of Health supports internet ads UK heart doctor calls on wineries to back research

His campaign has drawn outspoken support from members of the French medical community, including leading urologist and MP, professor Bernard Debré. He described the INCA report as 'a study that has neither head nor tail, and no real scientific basis.'

The INCA continues to defend its document.

'These conclusions, founded on more than 500 international studies, are the result of a collective international expertise which represents a reference for the scientific community,' said Raphaelle Ancellin, head of INCA's nutrition and cancer program.

March 26, 2009

One of Australia's leading voices in the wine industry has warned producers that they face untold upheaval if they are to combat the effects of global warming.

Dr Tony Jordan, formerly the head of Moet Hennessy's Australasian portfolio, including Cape Mentelle and Cloudy Bay, and now a high profile consultant, claimed that producers 'are in denial about climate change'.

Speaking at last week's inaugural International Sparkling Wine Symposium, Jordan predicted that 'vineyards being planted now are going to be in the wrong place in 30 years' time'.

He was quick to clarify that his comments weren't limited to producers of sparkling wine, however. 'There's no doubt that quality will decrease for varietals traditionally planted in a particular region,' he said. The effect would be most keenly felt in the northern hemisphere, due to its comparitive greater land mass and lesser ocean influence.

'Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne will become marginal for their styles,' he said. 'They'll have to migrate, which means different terroir and a possible change in styles.

'It's going to be a damn nuisance picking up your vineyard and putting it somewhere else. In the Yarra Valley we can move from the valley floor up the mountainside. We don't have to move far, but we do have to move – if we're going to stick to the same varieties.'

English wine producers would benefit in the short term, he added, even pointing to research from Professor Richard Selley of Imperial College London that suggests it will be warm enough to grow Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in the north of England by 2080. However, producers faced the challenge of deciding 'whether they are planting for 10, 20 or 50 years' time - the picture is constantly changing.'

The symposium was organised by a UK-based committee and featured presentations from Jordan, sparkling wine authority Tom Stevenson and Dominique Demarville, chef de cave at Veuve Clicquot, plus a tasting of sparkling wines from across the globe.

I'm sure that you have all heard of the devastation wrought by bushfires that tore through Victoria in recent weeks.

To support the Victorian Bushfire Appeal, Beckingham Wines, together with BoutiqueWineries.com.au are offering you a means to support those who lost so much in those devastating fires.

Beckingham Wines is offering a limited number of mixed cases of wine - one red, one white - for purchase through BoutiqueWineries.com.au.

All proceeds from your purchase will go to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal.

BoutiqueWineries.com.au is offering this service free of charge to Beckingham Wines.

Click on these two links to take you directly to the Bushfire Appeal Mixed Cases:

Mixed Red Case

Mixed White Case

You will receive your wine purchase as per a typical wine purchase through our web site.

If you had purchased $1000.00 of Nortel stock one year ago, it would now be worth $49.00.

If you had purchased $1000.00 of Enron, you would have had $16.50 left of the original $1000.00.

If you had purchased $1000.00 of WorldCom, you would have had less than $5.00 left.

If you had purchased $1000.00 of Delta Air Lines stock you would have $49.00 left.

But, if you had purchased $1,000.00 worth of wine one year ago, drank all the wine, then turned in the bottles for the recycling REFUND, you would have had $214.00.

Based on the above, the best current investment advice is to Drink heavily and recycle.


Have a wonderful weekend!

With Gratitude,
Josefine

By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent

The trend for buying wine sealed with screw caps is threatening to kill off one of Europe's most important habitats.

The removal of cork oak forests threatens rare species such as the Iberian Lynx Photo: PA

Cork oak forests, which cover 2.7 million of hectares worldwide and support rare species such as Iberian lynx, black storks and booted eagles, are already disappearing in some areas.

Faced with falling demand for cork stoppers, which make up 70 per cent of the income from cork harvests, farmers are ripping up trees that have been on their land for hundreds of years in an attempt to grow alternative crops, such as eucalyptus.

The land that cork oaks grow on, however, is poor quality and when the trees are removed, the land often turns into desert. In the Algarve, Portugal, cork forests have declined by 28 per cent in the past 10 years.

A study by conservation charity The World Wildlife Fund estimated that up to three quarters of the Mediterranean's cork forests could be lost within 10 years if the trend for plastic stoppers and screw tops continues, and a new BBC Natural World documentary, will next month highlight the threats facing the forests and warn they could vanish completely unless wine makers switch back to using real corks.

"Cork oak forests have been maintained in the seven countries in the world where they exist because of their economic value," said Nora Berrahmouni, head of the forest unit at the WWF's Mediterranean program. "They have such a rich biodiversity that in just 0.1 of a hectare of forest there are more than 100 certified species. Without the trees, the ecosystem will change and that will speed the degradation of the landscape."

Cork was once the main source for wine bottle stoppers, and is harvested from the trees by stripping off the bark by hand using traditional axes. Cork oaks, which take 45 years to reach maturity at which point they can begin to be harvested, are the only trees that can survive having the majority of their bark stripped off. It takes nine years before a tree can be harvested again, but each tree produces enough cork in each harvest for 4,000 wine bottles.

Problems, however, with bottles of wine becoming "corked", where the wine develops a musty smell becomes undrinkable due to contamination with a chemical known as Trichloroanisol, have turned many consumers off natural corks.

New World wine producers have led the way in switching to screw cap wine bottles and synthetic corks in a bid to overcome the problem, and now synthetic closures account for more than 20 per cent of the market.

The cork industry in Portugal is now attempting to fight back and has introduced new sterilisation and purification methods for ensuring their corks are not contaminated with Trichloroanisol.

In Portugal, cork forests cover nearly 33 per cent of the countries land mass. They are home to rare species including black storks and booted eagles, both of which only nest in cork oaks.

Secretive Iberian lynx, the world's most endangered big cat, rely upon the open, scattered structure of the forests for hunting. European Cranes also migrate to the forests from the north to feed on the acorns produced by the trees.

"The public don't realise the impact that a simple decision like buying a bottle of wine can have," said Paul Morrison, assistant producer of the Natural World documentary.

"If the farmers cannot sell the cork the trees produce, then these unique habitats will be lost along with many of the species they support."

With Gratitude,
Josefine

Someone once said 'variety is the spice of life' and this is certainly true of wines. In recent years, more and more Australian grapegrowers and winemakers have been experimenting with 'new' grape varieties. There are countless different grape varieties grown around the world, which are outside what are considered to be the classic varieties such as Chardonnay, Riesling, Semillon, Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Merlot. Not all of these varieties are suitable for producing premium quality wines and therefore some of our more progressive winemakers are continually experimenting to see which varieties suit their micro climate.

Early in November each year, an inquisitive bunch of wine industry folk gather in Mildura to examine and appraise the latest crop of wines made from non-mainstream or alternative grape varieties.

In 1999 when Stefano de Pieri and Bruce Chalmers started the Sangiovese Awards which, have developed to become the Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show, the few alternative varieties that most people in the wine industry had heard about were some of the Italian varieties such as Sangiovese & Nebbiolo. In less than a decade we have seen the emergence of varieties such as Viognier, Pinot Gris and Tempranillo into the Australian wine drinking public's cognizance.

The 2008 wine show had 581 entries, down slightly from the 626 in 2007, with the Mayford 2006 Tempranillo taking out 3 trophies including Best Wine of the Show. Tempranillo entries were strong this time, with 43 entries over the two classes, divided into 2007/2008 Vintage and 2006 and Older. The older class being considerably the better one with wines having had more time to settle down and become more complex. The judges commented that many of the wines in the 2007/2008 class had good fruit but were over-oaked. It will be interesting to see these wines again in 12 months time at the next show, to see if they develop over that time like their predecessors have.

Other Trophy winners were Tahbilk 2004 Marsanne which won the Trophy for Best White Wine of the Show as well as the trophy for Best Commercial Volume. The Trophy for the Best Italian varietal was taken out jointly by the Dal Zotto Arneis for the white wine and the David Hooks 2006 Barbera for the red wine.

By far the largest numbers of entries were the 93 wines entered in the four Pinot Grigio classes, with Gold Medals going to Trentham, Taltarni, Yarra Burn and Hentschke. This was followed by the 64 entries in to the two Viognier classes where the gold medals were won by Haan Wines Hanenhof 2008 Viognier and Geddes Seldon Inn 2008 Viognier.

One of the positives in the main white wine classes was the increasing number of Albarino & Fiano wines entered. Whilst there weren't many medals handed out for these two varieties by the Judges, their progress is exciting and these are two varieties to watch with great interest over the next few years, in my opinion.

In the red classes the largest number of entries was in the Sangiovese classes. Again like with the Tempranillo the older class - 2006 & older significantly outperformed the 2007/2008 class - 2 Gold Medals to Nil.

The Nebbiolo class had 22 entries, of which the Gold Medal winning S.C. Pannell Adelaide Hills 2006 Nebbiolo was a stunning wine.

One of the low points of the show was the decline of Petit Verdot, not only were the number of entries down by more than 50% from the 2005 Show to a mere fourteen entries, but also across the two classes, the judges only awarded two Bronze medals and commented "Petit Verdot's strength is as a blending component" . By comparison the Lagrein Class had three Bronze medal winners out of nine entries.

In the Durif class 10 out of the 20 entrants achieved Bronze medals and 2 achieved Silver medals. In my opinion the wines from De Bortoli, 919 Wines, Rutherglen Estate and Morris are showing the way forward.

Again the Zinfandel class with 15 entries was strong and showing much progress in the handling of this variety other than one or two overly sweet wines.

The two most exciting classes to me were 19 (other medium bodied varieties & blends) & 20 (other full bodied varieties & blends) were there were a plethora of different varieties and more significantly blends made from a number of varieties. I am convinced that the future of alternative variety reds is destined to be in blends rather than straight varietals.

Whilst good-great varietal wines such as the Brown Bros Carmenere, Rimfire Touriga National, Symphonia Tannat and Hugh Hamilton "The Oddball" Saperavi will carve out a niche for themselves in this crowed wine world, I am convinced that it is the blends such as Heartland Wines Dolcetto & Lagrein, Pindarrie 'Bar Rossa' Tempranillo/ Grenache/Shiraz, Symphonia Wines Quintus Saperavi/Temp/Tannat/Merlot/Cab & Yalumba Hand Picked Tempranillo/Grenache Viognier which will make a bigger and longer lasting impact on the wine drinking public. The blend option allows the winemaker to have greater consistency from vintage to vintage and they are therefore less likely to disappoint/confuse their customers.

Wines made from Alternative varieties have made much progress in the last decade. The question is, which alternative varieties will come to the forefront in the next decade?

It will be interesting to watch the progress over the next ten years and see which names become as well known as Pinot Gris, Viognier, Sangiovese and Tempranillo have become over this decade. My tips are Albarino, Fiano, Tannat and Saperavi.

Found in www.winebiz.com.au

A big welcome to Stoney Broke Vineyard - Broke-Fordwich, New South Wales

Established in 1993, Stoney Broke Vineyard is from the peaceful village of Broke in the Hunter Valley. They offer a range of wines grown from premium grapes - Chardonnay, Verdelho, Merlot and Shiraz.

Chardonnay 2006

A crisp elegant Chardonnay with lifted aromas of melon and white peach, balanced with a long clean finish

Shiraz 2005

A classical medium-bodied Hunter Valley Shiraz with ripe berry fruit characteristics and hints of pepper and cinnamon.

Verdelho 2007

A refreshing wine with a complex balance of citrus and melon flavours and a hint of musk.


With Gratitude,

Josefine
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