DAN'S WINE BLOG-NEWS ROUND UP

Friday, September 2, 2022

A few interesting snippets this week that may interest you or you have missed along the way.

FIRSTLY, CORKS:?The cork industry has been peddling hard on the green credentials of corks. However, what they don’t tell you as I have recently found out, is that?ALL?of the composite corks (shredded and glued back together) cannot be recycled due to the amount of plastics in the glue holding them together. So while they claim to be taint (TCA) free, they unfortunately end up in landfill. Only one-piece natural corks can be recycled, just like screwcaps can. So once again we have to take what Amorim and the cork industry tell us with a?BIG?grain of salt. Incidentally, natural corks are recycled into making cork floor tiles or cork soles for ladies shoes.

SYDNEY:??This weekend I should have been flying up to Sydney for the first time in two and a half years, however due to Covid, I am unable to go. The purpose of this long awaited trip was to attend the Wines of Adelaide Trade Tasting (which is now fully booked out) on Monday at the Royal Automobile Club near Circular Key. They have a whole range of European wines on taste from producers looking for distributors in Australia. These include several family owned Champagne houses, producers from Bordeaux and Languedoc, some cracking wines from Alsace, Tuscans and other Italians and even a Cognac House.

Set in one of the most salubrious settings in Sydney this will be a sensational tasting. #winesofadelaide

ALCOHOL-FREE vs DE-ALCOHOLISED:??As the low/no alcohol sector continues to boom in a very big way, I read more and more reports on alcohol-free wines that are actually referring to de-alcoholised wines. So here is the?HUGE?difference between the two:

?Alcohol-free wine –?is in fact grape juice as it has never been fermented, because despite winemaker’s best efforts it is impossible to remove all the alcohol from a wine.

?De-alcoholised wine –?is normal wine that has had the alcohol removed by one of several methods?BUT?around 0.5% of the alcohol still remains and therefore it?MUST?be called de-alcoholised wine rather than alcohol-free wine. It might sound pedantic to you but it is important in a number of instances, most specifically for Muslims, who can drink alcohol-free wine but not de-alcoholised wine. The law in Australia (food standards) is very clear on this and anybody calling a de-alcoholised wine, alcohol-free, is breaking the law.

PORTUGAL:??The Portuguese wine industry is asking for assistance from their government as a considerable number of small to medium-sized producers are facing bankruptcy. The rapidly rising costs of raw materials for production is the main reason for this, however, difficult growing seasons due to global warming are also a considerable factor in this crippling issue. They claim that these rising costs are?“driving the industry to the brink of ruin”,?as cost rises outstrip sales price increases by at least twice the amount.

SPAIN:??The Spanish wine industry is being crippled by a severe labour shortage during vintage. Most vineyards in Spain are still hand harvested and thus the current shortage of labour is being impactful. Added to the recent weather challenges, the labour shortage, which is being caused by workers moving to France for higher wages, is making the 2022 vintage very challenging for many wine producers. One imagines that if it wasn’t for Brexit, they could have had Englishmen coming over to help harvest the grapes?(Said with tongue firmly planted in cheek!!).

This month a court case against five men accused of wine forgery will commence. They are accused that in 2019 and 2020 they labelled 40 million bottles of cheap wine as being DO (Domínio Original) quality wine.?Imagine, 40,000,000 bottles!!!

Well that’s it for another week! Have a good week, stay safe and remember to always?#chooseaustralianwine ?and when possible enjoy?#emergingvarieties .?Cheers, Dan T.