BOTTLING MYTHS
VISITORS to this year's London Wine Trade Fair in the Grand Hall at Olympia (17-19 May) will get the opportunity to try the wine world's equivalent of the Stork margarine test.
But instead of attempting to spot the difference between Stork and butter they will be asked if they can tell a bottle of wine closed with a traditional driven cork from one which has been sealed with an aluminium screw cap.
A similar tasting took place at the Wine Treasury in London's Fulham Road a few weeks ago when a group from the wine trade and press was asked to taste eight wines from around the world disgorged into separate, paired decanters. On a score sheet the panelists simply had to identify which wine they thought had come from a bottle with a driven cork and which had come from a screw-top bottle.
The result of the test was that of the 20 or so experts that tried to "spot the cork", 60% could tell the difference 40% of the time and 40% could tell the difference 60% of the time.
In other words, MCG Closures, a major worldwide supplier of bottle closures to the drinks industry, demonstrated how difficult it can be to tell the difference between wines stoppered with cork and metal screw top closures.
A number of panelists pointed out that it would have been easier to pick between the two if some older wines had been tried. But in some ways this is missing the point. For less expensive wines made to be drunk young and not really needing any bottle age, the screw top is a better option for delivering the wine in the best possible condition.
Cheap wine tends to make use of poor quality composite corks, a percentage of which will almost certainly impart or fail to prevent some tainting of the wine. The screw top closures are less likely to do this.
However, in the UK at least, there remains prejudice against screw tops. People tend to think that any wine in a cork-driven bottle is necessarily better.
The London Wine Trade Fair is an important annual event. At this year's show among the 500-odd exhibitors, there will be generic stands representing pretty well every country that sells wine to Britain.
The Australian Wine Bureau (stands 116 & 149) will be holding varietal tastings by region, covering Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz. The idea is to promote specific, identifiable regions, be they the Barossa Valley, the Adelaide Hills or McLaren Vale.
The Shiraz tasting will take place on Tuesday, 17 May between 1pm and 4pm, the Chardonnay at the same time on Wednesday, 18 May and the Cabernet Sauvignon on the final day of the show (Thursday), again between 1pm and 4pm. Each company is restricted to one vintage of one wine from a single area. The wine must not only be made from grapes drawn from one area, it must say so on the label.
New Zealand will also be emphasising that it has not just one wine but several distinct and identifiable wine producing regions with the introduction of an appellation system similar, if less restrictive, to France.
The New Zealand Wine Guild will have 14 different companies offering tastings on Stand 118. Try the classy new sparkler Pelorus, made by Kevin Judd at Cloudy Bay. Look out too for Corbans Private Bin range, particularly the Merlot.
Warwick Stitchbury, managing director of Jackson Estate, will be on the stand showing the company's typical pungent Marlborough Sauvignon, as well as the 1993 Chardonnay and an easy drinking dry Riesling.
Look out for the commercial and well made Chenin/Chardonnay blend and the rich but balanced Judd Estate Chardonnays from Matua Valley, as well as its reds of high quality which peak in Ararimu Cabernet Sauvignon.
The Villa Maria group, which includes Esk Valley and Vidals, is also showing high quality New Zealand reds, try the superb Esk Valley 1991 Reserve Chardonnay too. Esk Valley (pictured above) also makes decent wine from Chenin Blanc. Look out for Nobilo's good value spicy, peppery Pinotage 1991 and the big, concentrated Bordeaux-style reds from the Goldwater Estate on Waiheke Island. o
