Zinfandel has curious history. Californian winemakers have made it famous, but its birthplace was not Napa. Far from it in fact.

Originating in Croatia, where it is known as Crljenak Kaštelanski, it landed in Puglia, the ‘heel’ of Italy, in the 18th century. This early ripening variety is thought to have been introduced by a priest, not an uncommon thing in those days as the Church were the original wine evangelists. The grape then found its way to East Coast United States by 1829, and by 1950 it had reached California. Some Italian winemakers who ship Primitivo to the U.S. label them as Zinfandel.

Puglia incorporates the Adriatic port of Bari (pictured), and in terms of volume is one of Italy’s most significant wine regions. The southeastern province of Salento is generally where the best reds come from, Negroamaro being one of the specialty grape varieties. Primitivo di Manduria makes colossally alcoholic reds from the Primitivo grape, but there are more winemakers than ever now who are managing to bring more restraint, and more importantly, better balance to the wines.

Primitivo vines are quite vigorous and grow best in climates that are warm but not too hot. Thin skins mean the grapes can shrivel if it does get too hot. With the fruit ripening early, the time on vine can be extended to produce a wine with a high sugar content. Weather permitting, the winemaker may even make late harvest dessert wine. Anyone who has tried the Sessantanni Primitivo di Manduria will notice a sweetness from the high sugar, made even more noticeable by the relatively low acidity. This is quite typical of the richer styles of Primitivo.

Just because it is a vigorous vine and early ripener, it doesn’t mean that it’s an easy grape to work with. Uneven ripening means that to achieve better quality the winemaker must ensure unripened grapes are dropped, or that a rigourous selection process is carried out in the winery before vinification.

I think Primitivo, or Zinfandel, is a variety that most lovers of full-bodied red wines will really enjoy. They aren’t for the faint hearted, as the alcohol tends to be quite high, but Puglia winemakers are coming up with more and more fantastic, affordable Primitivo’s where the alcohol is lower (perhaps closer to 13% as opposed to 16% – good example here, just in). At its best, it’s fantastic. Like the aforementioned Manduria… “peaty, smokey, tobacco-like aromas and flavours. Throw in fresh cigar and a blast of incredibly smooth, rounded black fruit sweetness and you’ve got a winner.”

The first weekend in January is a milestone in itself. Those first few days of the New Year can seem a little bleak at first as we emerge from a week or so of heavy indulgence, a lot of highs and maybe even a few lows.

So there I was Friday night, being very sensible. Two glasses of wine Crane Lake Pinot Noir, a lovely little drop, with a cracking meal the youngest brother had prepared.

Neither of us had had the best day after hearing the family dog of thirteen years had died (@curiousmolly‘s best friend, Sophie, AKA the “Beast”, pictured, will truly be missed), and it was not made any better after I decided to kick over my second glass of red onto the carpet shortly after retiring to the sofa post dinner.

This was my second time in the space of a month, so I was better prepared this time round for how to save the carpet. It’s a cream colour… of course.

One of the keys things is to work quickly. Dilute the spillage area with water, using your hand to sprinkle it evenly. Don’t be tempted to rub or wipe red wine stained fabric as you’re more likely to further deepen the stain. Just blot or dab with a cloth or towel.

It is important to keep the stain damp. Don’t allow it to dry out. Once you have blotted up most of the wine and applied the water, you have bought some time. If you have a bottle of carpet stain remover now is the time to use it. If not, I think the most simple stain remover that most people will have immediate access to is a combination of lukewarm water (2 cups), soap or detergent (1 tbsp), and white vinegar (1 tbsp).

Blot the area with the solution using a clean cloth, then dry with a clean towel as you go. Once it looks like the stain has been lifted, apply a clean damp cloth, using cold water this time, before drying again with a clean towel.

Other methods include throwing white wine over the stain, or sprinkling over some salt. These will both buy you time, but you’ll still need to follow-up with a proper clean. Unless stained carpets don’t bother you. I have also read  that hydrogen peroxide is one of the best cleaning agents for spillages, on clothing as well as carpets. Mix it with equal parts soap/detergent. If applying to clothes, wash them in the washing machine afterwards to complete the clean-up.

And there you have it. Spill away to your hearts content.

RIP Sophie x

If you are new to decanting or if you are simply unconvinced by this traditional technique, be sure to read this post and it might just be the best new tip you learn this week.

Decanting wine for three or four hours is not always an option, so Tim Ferriss, the ‘the world’s best guinea pig’, has come up with four methods, two of which are described as ‘hyperdecanting’.

That’s when you don’t have three or four hours to sit around and wait for that stubborn Bordeaux to mellow. I, so far, have only practised methods one and two.

Method 1

This involves swishing and swirling the wine in the glass, keeping the base of the stem flat on the table and moving the glass in fast, small circles. When tasting, draw some air in through your mouth and past the wine, making an almost gargling sound.

Method 2

The traditional method – decanting in a glass jug. Don’t worry too much about the shape of it. The idea is to get the wine out of the bottle to let the air at it. For most wines, give 1-2 hours. Some, the Millantu for example, will be at its best after decanting overnight.

Method 3

The Vinturi Wine Aerator, or something similar. This device draws in and mixes the proper amount of air for the right amount of time, allowing your wine to breathe instantly. According to the notes on Amazon: “you’ll notice a better bouquet, enhanced flavours and a smoother finish…. Bernoulli’s Principle states that as the speed of a moving fluid increases, the pressure within the fluid decreases. This is dictated by the law of conservation of energy. When wine is poured in the Vinturi, it’s internal design creates an increase in the wine’s velocity and a decrease in its pressure. This pressure difference creates a vacuum that draws in air which is mixed with wine for perfect aeration.”

Method 4

The most crude of all. Ferriss got this one from Nathan Myhrvold, former CTO of Microsoft and master French chef. Pour 1-2 glasses into a mixing bowl (or a Bomex beaker, such as that used in the above video) and blitz with a soup blender. Classy stuff, but apparently it works!

Thanks to Ron Immink for forwarding this article on to us.

In this business we all breathe a sigh of relief come January. Nothing beats the buzz and rush of the December madness, but now we have time to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and plan for the year ahead.

Being unable to lift my head for the last 6 weeks or so, I feel more grounded again knowing what’s going on in the world, even though not much has really changed.

Manchester City remain top of the English Premier League, North Korea still have a nut-job behind the trigger of a nuclear arsenal, albeit a slighter younger model, and there’s the same loud noises about the European Central Bank, German bonds and euro-zone inflation.

*Eyes rolling, ears covered*

Here’s a little of what we missed from the world of wine last month:

Pancho Campo MW knee deep in… A story that came to light last month about the Master of Wine who allegedly took payment from wineries to arrange the visit of Jay Miller, one of Robert Parker’s Wine Advocates. Innocent until proven guilty, they say. Miller has given his side of the story.

Scientists have identified more than 20 chemicals that make smoke-tainted wine taste, er… unpalatable. A bit late for De Bortoli winemaker Steve Webber who lost almost an entire harvest because of smoke taint in 2007.

A traveller splurged almost €50,000 on a half-case of wine purchased at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle, breaking the record for the biggest spend at the airport. He or she must have had an awesome Christmas.

English winemakers continue to earn plaudits for their ever-improving quality. A new report reveals over half of sparkling wine drinkers in the UK have tried sparkling wine from English vineyards at least once. Meanwhile, a British estate agent has become one of the first in the UK to market a parcel of land purely on its potential as vineland.

Victoria Moore, wine writer for The Telegraph, checks out the Swartland Revolution in South Africa, a weekend-long wine festival like no other. It’s already giving me ideas for a pre-Christmas holiday this year.

Despite some wine regions feeling the squeeze, California’s international wine exports are booming with 2011 looking to have finished up comfortably over 20% in terms of value compared to 2010. With an increased focus on international markets, we might finally start to see some real value from California. A weak U.S. dollar is aiding that, although a strong Australian dollar may see a slight increase in Australia wine prices this year.

Strictly Come Dancing star Alesha Dixon landed herself in some controversy after an appearance on a TV chat show where she was seen drinking wine out of a bottle. Dixon has been (and may still be ) working with wine brand First Cape since last August. After this little ‘pickled’ incident, some were led to believe she might be axed from the company’s plans for 2012. Sad story that one.

Just a quick post to say thank you for all your support this year, and best wishes for over the festive period and into the New Year. Whether you’re a regular in-store, on-line or simply someone who has said something nice about us, we are truly grateful. We’ve had yet another fabulous year and despite the economic gloom we remain genuinely optimistic for 2012 as we work ever harder to become better and better at what we do. Delivering pleasure in a bottle, and the best customer service experience in Ireland.

On-line orders will be dispatched Tuesday 3rd January. Our opening hours for our Cork City shop are as follows:

Saturday 24th 10.30am-5.00pm

25th – 28th  Closed

29th – 31st 10.30am-5.00pm

New Years Day: Closed

Monday 2nd January:  Closed

Tuesday 3rd January:  Business as usual (10.30am-6.00pm, Mon-Sat)

Have you ever seen the like of it? A paper wine bottle? This is the latest innovation from UK firm Greenbottle, who have realised that biodegradable packaging is becoming more and more important, particularly in the UK as landfill space is fast running out.

The packaging, which is compostable and decomposes within weeks, is currently being trialed by supermarket chain Asda who are selling milk in paper bottles alongside the standard plastic bottles. The plastic bottles can take up to 500 years to fully decompose, so the environmental benefits are obvious.

In comparison to the glass bottles used for wine, the paper bottle weighs only 55g compared with 500g for a glass bottle. This would help reduce transport costs. It is estimated the carbon footprint is only 10% of that of a glass bottle. The wine is contained inside an inner bag similar to those used in the bag-in-a-box. Sorry to be devils advocate, but is the inner material considered environmentally friendly? Can it be recycled also?

Advancements are being made in the wine industry where packaging is concern, from lighter weight glass bottles to PET plastic bottles, but this is probably one of the more radical experiments. By nature, the traditional wine consumer doesn’t take to change of this type quite as quickly as they might with their milk bottles. Saying that, it’s another great little innovation that might compliment the popular bag-in-a-box before moving into more premium wines in the future.

News content & picture sourced from The Guardian

The next wine tastings to be organised by Wine Australia are themed around sticky wines, also known as sweet wines or dessert wines.

The first tasting is in Cork, for which Wine Australia are sponsoring two complementary tickets to our readers (see the bottom of this post for details on how to put your name in the hat for a chance to win), with a second tasting the following day in Dublin.

Tuesday 6th December: Hayfield Manor Hotel, Cork
Wednesday 7 December: Ely Bar and Brassiere, IFSC, Custom House Quay, D1

Affectionately known down-under as “Stickies”, the story of the Australian wine world is steeped in fortified and dessert winemaking. They seem to find favour around Christmas time, so it’s perfect timing for you to go along for what will be a truly unique insight into this Australian heritage.

Leading the presentation duties is Chris Pfeiffer, owner and winemaker of Pfeiffer Wines in the Rutherglen (www.pfeifferwinesrutherglen.com.au). A regular visitor to Ireland with a huge passion for these wine styles, Chris is the ideal person to take you on this sweet journey.

So whether you have a sweet tooth, are looking for a different present for the wine lover in your life or on occasion you’d just prefer to pour (instead of make) your dessert, this is the tasting for you.

The cost is €20 per person, which includes the tasting and tasty nibbles afterwards. Only 30 places are available at each event so please book your passage early.

For the Cork tasting, book direct with Wine Australia on ireland@wineaustralia.com or 065 7077 264.

For the Dublin event, direct with ely Bar and Brasserie on wineclub@elywinebar.com and on 01 676 8986.

Each tasting begins at 7pm. If you require any further information please contact John at Wine Australia on Ireland@wineaustralia.com or 065 7077 264.

To enter your name into the hat for two free tickets to the Cork Stickie Wine Tasting, simply answer the following question: Noble rot is a form of grey fungus that affects wine grapes used in sweet wine production. What is the other name for this fungus?

Answers accepted in the subject line of emails sent to contests [@] curiouswines.ie (sorry, but multiple entries will exclude you from the draw).

Pictured: Father and daughter team, Chris and Jen Pfeiffer, Pfeiffer Wines. Sourced from http://www.news.com.au/

The Castel Group, France’s largest wine producer, will start exporting wines from Ethiopia between early and mid 2012 after making a £5 million investment into its vineyard and factory in Zeway, which is made up of 125 hectares of farmland planted with over 750,000 Syrah, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay vines, with Syrah accounting for the majority of the plantings.

Supposedly Ethiopia has potential when it comes to wine, showing some promise before wineries were nationalised by the military regime. Since the country has become more of an open book, foreign investment has been encouraged and this leap of faith from Castel has been the first on this scale into a wine industry that is trying to get back on its feet.

Even by the standards of a big company like Castel, £5 million is a lot of money to invest in something this risky. We know ourselves being on the front line, consumer demand is so important. We’ve tried some amazing wines from all over the world but we won’t bring them into the country if they’re not going to sell. If we bought a container of wine that we loved but nobody else wanted, we wouldn’t last too long in this business.

It’s obvious, however, that Castel are not feeding an aching demand in the market. Instead, they have seen the opportunity of making what I suspect will be decent stuff from an incredibly low cost base. Land and labour is cheap, some of the cheapest in the world, and they probably have the freedom to market and produce the wines whatever way they want. This is far away from any EU stamp of quality, but they will have to comply to the standard laws and restrictions in place in each importing country.

Modern wineries are attempting to gain competitive advantage by becoming sustainable and organic. Certified if it can he helped. Green issues and health matters have crept into consumers buying decisions over the years and wineries are working hard to tick all the right boxes in order to lower any barriers we might potentially face when making that final buying decision.

Trying to stand out from a very crowded marketplace is one thing, but now decarbonising is becoming a matter of economic survival, as I discussed here. Still, more than ever, there are tons of quality wines out there, almost too much to choose from. Not a bad headache to have when we’re making our buying decisions.

One of our newest range of wines come from Dominio del Plato in Mendoza, Argentina. They’re a great example to the wine industry and beyond. Here’s some of the things they have been doing to become more eco-friendly and socially responsible, whilst reducing costs in key areas.

Sustainably grown grapes

Avoid as much as possible the use of pollutants that harm the environment and deplete the soils, such as toxic-synthetic fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides and genetically modified organisms. Due to high elevation and sun exposure, low rainfalls and dry soils, the vineyards are unlikely to develop diseases, but if they ever do, they can be controlled using organic products.

Natural resources conservation

Melted water runs off from the Andes mountain range and given Mendoza’s desert-like climate, water is extremely valuable. Drip irrigation is favoured instead of the traditional flood irrigation. It allows for the proper management of a very scarce and important resource.

Protection of agricultural land

To be sustainable, you must give back everything you take from the land. All the pruning leftovers are put back into the vineyard between the rows to improve soil fertilisation and structure. The indigenous grass that grows between the rows is mowed and left to decompose naturally on the soil. With more organic matter the soils are enriched and erosion prevented.

ISO 14.001 certification

The winery is currently working towards obtaining the ISO 14.001 certification which deals with environmental management. Its purpose is to continually reduce the impact of business practices on the
environment. A systematic approach is implemented to set environmental objectives and targets, to achieve them, and to demonstrate how they were achieved. So they won’t just be talking to talk.

Bottle weight reduction

The weight of all bottles used by the winery has been decreased by 100 grams on average (from 590 grams to 490 grams) from the vintage 2010. More and more wineries are doing this as part of their efforts to reduce their carbon footprint. The load is lighter, saving fuel during transit, and less energy is used during production of the bottles.

Lower energy consumption

Electronics, such as heaters and computers, have been upgraded to newer energy saving units. All the light bulbs in the winery have also been replaced with lower energy consumption counterparts.

Recycling

The water used to clean the winery facilities (stainless steel tanks, floors, catwalks, barrels, etc) is treated at a recycling plant in the winery and then reused. All the cardboard boxes, ruled out bottles and nylons are recyclable, and sold to recycling plants.

ISO 22.000 Certification

Dominio del Plata is one of the few wineries in Argentina that possess the ISO 22000 certification, which was developed by the International Organisation for Standardisation to recognise high quality practices within food safety. Measures are taken to ensure traceability on all products and strict procedures are in place to keep the winery hygienic and contamination free.

Social responsibility

As well as the professional development of their employees, the winery has a keen interest in the local community, sponsoring and supporting local organisations and respecting fair trade policies, ensuring that where grapes are sourced, farmers are paid fairly for their produce. With the financial support of Dominio del Plata, an elementary and primary school is to be built to help more children have access to good education. Longer term objectives include building an oenology university in Agrelo, where the winery is based.

There are lots of great wines out there, but what is the magic behind those being sold off at auction for thousands of euros a piece? Are they really much better than the fine wines we can easily attain in the €20-€50 price bracket for example? What is it that makes them stand out from other wines, and can they not simply be replicated elsewhere and sold off at a much more sane price?

The world’s most expensive white wine was sold for £75,000 in London during the summer. It was a 200-year-old bottle of Château d’Yquem, which has extraordinarily long aging ability due its high concentration of sugar. Here’s what the buyer, French private collector Christian Vanneque, had to say:

“This wine is very special – it is attached to the most renowned white wine in the world, and it was produced in the year of the Great Comet, which was believed to enhance the quality of the wine,”

Extract sourced from theguardian.co.uk

See I thought he was just bonkers paying that until he mentioned the Great Comet. Makes much more sense now. He went on to say that it was bought to be enjoyed, not as an investment opportunity.

So apart from comets, what really makes a truly great wine great? There’s no hiding that the prestige of the brand behind these wines goes to massively inflate prices and exaggerate value. And remember when you’re paying £75,000 for a single bottle, you’re playing with the big boys. Enthused collectors with huge financial muscle, obviously. But prestigious brands can’t just crop up from anywhere. These wineries have incredibly unique terroir – that is the land they grow their vines on – as well as the necessary expertise to get the best out of the land.

Once a winery or a simple farmer has the fortune of inheriting this very ‘special’ land, the hard work is done. Think of it as winning the lottery. Now the task is relatively simple. Don’t mess it up. Don’t play around. Keep it simple and let the terroir do the talking.

Petrus is a case in point. This is genuine investment stuff, with single bottles selling between €2,000 and €3,000 depending on the vintage. From a winemaking perspective, it’s fairly standard procedure. The pressed wine develops in concrete vats and is then transferred to new oak barrels for twenty months of aging. These barrels have been washed beforehand so the wine is not made too tannic or woody.

“If you ask me about winemaking techniques, I have not much to tell. Everything is here (pointing to his head) and particularly there (pointing to the vineyard).”

Olivier Berrouet, Petrus winemaker (winesur.com)

If there are any secrets behind the greats of the wine world, they can only be found in the vineyard. At least that’s what the French will say. One might argue differently in the New World.