Friday, August 14th, 2009
On the back of our 17-day trail-blazing tour of Australia’s major wine regions, we thought we’d recommend two reliable Aussie wines.
Both are from large scale producers that many think of as simply ‘cheap and cheerful’; but do get round to sampling Angove’s Vineyard Select range - the below Clare Riesling is very good and the McLaren Vale Shiraz and Coonowarra Cabernet are both superb - and Jacob’s Creek’s Reserve range.
Jacob’s Creek also offers the top-notch Heritage wines which few of us outside of Australia ever knew about until getting round to discovering what this mammoth company actually produces.
2008 Angove’s Vineyard Select Clare Valley Riesling, South Australia (RMB 249)
Available from Mercuris Fine Wines, contact Olivier Gilles: olivier.gilles@mercuris.com.cn
Australia’s Clare Valley is home to some of the world’s most exciting dry Riesling. This example from Angove’s is elegant and restrained. Light green in colour, the nose has gorgeous lime fruit with mineral aromas followed up by refreshing acidity and lovely length on the palate. Fantastic with Chinese cold platters, Cantonese seafood or whole fish dishes and even Sichuan dishes (as well as summertime salads).
2006 Jacob’s Creek Reserve Shiraz, South Australia (RMB 170)
Available from Pernod Ricard, contact Jane Liu: jane.liu@pernod-ricard-china.com
Jacob’s Creek is a large-scale, reliable producer, but some wine lovers have not tried the promsing Reserve or excellent Heritage wines. This is classic South Australian Shiraz sourced from several regions within the state. Dark purple in colour, the nose has attractive black cherry and blueberry fruit with well-integrated French and American oak (giving a touch of vanilla and other spicy aromas). The palate has lovely fruit, good acidity, chewy ripe tannins and promising length. Great with beef or lamb, this robust Shiraz can also match meat-filled jiaozi or Beijing duck.
Friday, August 14th, 2009
Oxidation: ‘Good’ & ‘Bad’!
‘Oxidation’ means at least two things in the wine world:
1) the exposure of wine to oxygen (e.g. during or post-fermentation or by decanting or simply opening a bottle)
and
2) how oxygen dissolved within wine changes chemically over time (e.g. where wines are cellared for several years).
Sometimes a little oxidation can be a good thing. When wines age in bottle, the oxygen dissolved inside may lead to positive changes in aroma, flavour and texture, provided the ageing is at constant temperature and not higher than around 18 degrees Celsius (around 12-14 is even better) and takes place in an environment with no strong light, no vibrations and for wines sealed under natural cork adequate humidity.
But this can only be achieved if a tightly fitting natural cork or screw-cap keeps a reliable seal (and only applies, of course, to the small number of the world’s wines that can be aged effectively after 18 months in bottle). Yes, there will be some differences between aged wines under natural cork and aged wines under screw-cap (the latter seal tends to preserve fruit flavours more effectively and enhance the chances of more consistent ageing). But in both cases positive oxidation can be achieved (that said, natural corks are less reliable in maintaining a tight enough seal overall).
However, when air enters the wine from outside the bottle, this can damage its contents. This is one way negative oxidation occurs. Badly oxidized white wines can be very nutty and sour, tasting of rotten or cooked fruit, even of rotting vegetables. Badly oxidized reds can taste a bit vinegary or ‘volatile’, again, like rotten-tasting fruit or vegetables. This can occur when seals of any type fail.
Heat can, however, also play a role, especially in the Beijing summer! If a wine becomes too hot in bottle, the oxygen inside reacts to these higher temperatures and prematurely ages the contents. Also, as mentioned, the type of closure is important. Plastic corks, after about one year in bottle, start to let oxygen in and are not good seals for the long term! Natural corks are better at sealing wine and screw-caps are the best in terms of not letting in air, provided the screw-cap seal is itself intact.
If you have received a badly oxidized wine from an importer or at a restaurant/club, make your views known. Generally speaking, you should not attempt to drink Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc (or other similarly aromatic grapes) that are five years old in bottle. These kinds of grape varieties, especially when unoaked, tend to become unpleasantly vegetal with modest ageing.
But if you find a Pinot Grigio or Soave that’s been sealed with a plastic cork and is even two years old, treat with suspicion! There’s a fair chance the wine will already be negatively oxidized and at the very least will have lost some freshness of fruit.
