My first taste of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc was what started my love for wine. It always helps of course when you’re out there and you’re actually tasting it in the winery. Then I came home and very quickly realised that the overripe branded bulk wines of Oyster Bay and White Cloud are nothing like the wines I tasted in Allen Scott’s, Jane Hunter’s or Cloudy Bay. There’s no cheating the market, you have to pay a little extra for good wines from New Zealand.

Wine is quite a unique product because of the tax it is subjected to. With the rate of duty being a fixed cost on every bottle sold (for which VAT is also payable), there is a ballpark price to pay where you can be assured, provided the retailer is pricing honestly, that the required investment is going not towards government, transport and packaging costs, but into the wine itself. Generally speaking, paying €5 or €6 for a bottle and you’re in for something that won’t be terribly exciting or at worst something pretty nasty. You’ll always be able to buy bargain basement wine, but the cheapest wine will never be the best value wine.

Tax is a problem facing every winery around the world who are looking to sell into Ireland and be competitive. But at the minute it is extra difficult for the likes of New Zealand and Australia. They are producing wines in economies that are performing well so they are high-cost economies (Australia probably more so than NZ), which from their point of view is not good for exports. The United States suffers from the same thing. This is part of the reason it’s so difficult to find an €8 bottle of Californian Pinot Grigio to compete with an Italian alternative. Add higher transport costs to that and you start to get the picture.

Strong currencies, the Australian dollar being the biggest culprit, and a weakened euro means that value for money particularly for sub €10 wines is taking a bashing. In fact, certainly in Ireland, I think it would be safe to say everyone, supermarkets included, has been struggling to offer the same kind of value in the sub €10 price bracket from these countries that would have been achievable in the past.

A price rise of €1 might not deter people going for a €16 bottle of Barossa Valley Shiraz over a €15 bottle of Rioja, afterall many will still shop on the style of wine they are after, but a lot of people will find €8 is better spent on a Spanish or Italian wine. The difference €1 makes at the lower price end is comparatively more significant in terms of that all important price vs quality ratio. The range of quality in the €6-10 price bracket is bigger than that in the €12-16 price bracket. Whereas the best value might be found between €10 and €15, each euro will need to work harder in the €5 – €10 bracket.

I have no doubt that Australia and New Zealand still offer great value. Many of my favourite wines are still from there, but for my money I’d be off to Chile, Spain, Italy or France for the cheaper wine. The likes of Rueda is offering terrific value alternatives to the Oyster Bay’s of this world, and the Languedoc is now throwing up robust reds that would beat many Australian’s in an arm wrestle. These things always go in swings and roundabouts, but for the foreseeable future I can see demand for the aforementioned New World wines falling only to the benefit of the less expensive European winemakers.

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.

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 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.

Scientists from the University of East Anglia and Kings College London have found evidence to show that moderate drinking of wine can help strengthen the bones, and thus help prevent osteoporosis. The findings were published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, and come from a study involving over one thousand pairs of female twins in the UK aged in their mid-fifties.

It is thought polyphenols found in the skin of the grapes is responsible for the positive effects. They are not contained within other alcoholic drinks, such as beer and spirits. Despite wine, particularly red wine, being linked with numerous health benefits, researchers have warned that heavy drinking will in fact have the opposite effect and could reduce bone density. The message as always is to enjoy in moderation.

The researchers carried out scans to measure the thickness of the bones of the volunteers in the hip joint, the spine and the top of the femur, which is the bone linking the thigh to the hip. The results showed wine drinkers had higher bone density in the spine and the hip than non-drinkers, or those that preferred other types of alcohol.

Osteoporosis is a bone-wasting disease which for which there is no known outright cure. Only preventative measures can be taken through a good diet and active lifestyle. It progresses when osteoclasts, cells that break down old bone by removing the calcium and phosphorous that gives it strength, start to outnumber osteoblasts, rival cells responsible for making healthy new bone.

It is now thought by many in the medical profession that milk does not help prevent osteoporosis. Vitamin D is more important than calcium in preventing fractures. And now wine by the looks of it.

The “Classics” range from Australian winery Jacob’s Creek is widely available in supermarkets across the UK and Ireland. Hitting the shelves over the next few weeks will be the same old “Classics” range, except with one big difference. From now on, instead of being bottled in Australia where the wine is produced, it will be bottled in the UK.

The all-important question(s): will regular drinkers of the brand notice the difference, and do they even care?

Jacobs Creek say that the change is purely down to environmental reasons, which I find hard to believe, but here’s, quite simply, how the change is a green one. Instead of pulling tonnes of heavy glass half way around the world, the wine is transported in giant stainless steel tanks and then bottled in the country that it is to be sold in.

The move helps the brand reduce its carbon footprint by 23%. The use of lighter bottles and more recyclable material has also contributed to this positive figure. There are fewer facilities that are able to use recycled glass to bottle in Australia, but in the UK around 95% of the glass used can be recycled.

Jacobs Creek have assured customers that the move will not affect product quality and they have taken careful, meticulous steps to ensure the change over will go unnoticed to the everyday drinker. I would imagine this will be achieved as they are experts in consistency at this level.

I always encourage people not to have too much brand loyalty when it comes to wine, because there’s just too much you’re missing out on if you’re drinking the same thing week in week out. Unfortunately if you only have access to supermarket wines, everything starts to taste the same after a while. But is this method of producing wine in one country and bottling it in another a good thing or a bad thing?

Personally, for the cheap bulk brands and the Jacobs Creek* of this world, I think it’s a good thing. It makes total sense and it ultimately can cut costs allowing producers and retailers to deliver better value (provided the quality stacks up). The environmental benefits are a worthy plus point, of course.

More food for thought: Would it work for the mid-range wines (€10-€20 retail) or the even pricier wines? Would you insist that it is bottled within yards of where it was grown? Would you pay €20 for a bottle of red Burgundy that was bottled in Slough?

Would you notice the difference?

*Please note that I actually rate Jacobs Creek very highly. At the mid-range and higher end they offer some good value and even great wines. This post is only focused on the other part of their business, which is aimed at the major supermarkets and thus the mass markets of the world. As such the wines will have less character, but their strength will lie in their ability to deliver consistency and reliability.

Oxygen is not wine’s best friend. Open a bottle and oxidation gets to work immediately. In most cases, by day three, spoilage will have noticeably set in. Whenever I’m asked how long you can keep a wine for once opened, my advice is to consume within 48 hours. It won’t kill you to drink it after being open for four or five days, but it will be well past its best. If you’re done with it for the evening, replace the closure and stick it in the fridge, whether it’s red or white wine.

There are a number of gimmicky closures available that supposedly help preserve a wine for longer. One of the more familiar gadgets is the one that sucks the oxygen out of the bottle before resealing the cork. I’m not entirely convinced of its benefits, perhaps you have had a better experience with it, but there is a relatively new device developed by an Australian company which is now being distributed all over the world, including in the UK – but in not Ireland as yet.

The aptly named ‘winesave’ is a canister containing the liquid form of argon, a gas which is heavier than oxygen. Spray the gas into the opened wine bottle, just a few centimetres above the wine, and reseal it right away. The harmless argon gas, which is odourless, forms a protective layer over the surface of the wine, preserving it against further oxidation. Supposedly it will keep a wine perfectly fresh for a week or more. The benefit of this, according to winesave, is that you can open a bottle and not be under pressure to finish within a few days. The benefits also extend to the trade, such as bars (particularly wine bars), restaurants and retailers.

The canisters are available for around £20 sterling and each provide at least 50 applications. In all honesty they wouldn’t serve much of a purpose in my house because we struggle to make a wine last beyond the first day, but I can see why others might find it useful. Even Jancis Robinson says “I have found it pretty good at preserving even delicate old red burgundy over a week.”

Well, if Jancis says it works, then it must work.

Picture sourced from winesave.com

“It’s the best vintage in decades!”, the French will proclaim. It seems like we hear the same thing every year and I wouldn’t be surprised to hear it again over the coming months. The 2011 harvest is over, with winemakers now hard at work with that “making” part of the process.

Despite fairly major concerns initially, it’s looking like the region should keep its reputation intact. The yield is down, so they didn’t produce as much this year. That might not be a bad thing in the long run as so many other wine regions around the world are struggling with over supply, which leads to price damage and less profitable (or loss-making) business. As Bordeaux is full of great producers, most managed good quality despite reduced yields. Alcohol levels are relatively low and good maturity in tannins and pips, reasonable sugar and firm acidity have been reported so far.

So what was causing concern? After a cold winter, warm weather arrived before February had finished, bringing the natural cycle forward a few weeks ahead of schedule. By April, summer had arrived and a prolonged drought was underway. The soil was worked to encourage every last drop of moisture to go to the vines. Uneven ripening meant more work was involved in the vineyard to help homogenise the yield and in mid-summer bunches in some vineyards were shrivelling up like raisins.

A damp August brought some respite for the vines, but hail in September caused widespread damage in Saint Andre de Cubzac, Saint Estephe and Entre-Deux-Mers. When the hail stones are the size of golf balls, they cause pretty serious damage as Gavin Quinney found out in 2009. The situation was eased by the rain that followed, as damaged fruit was washed away leaving only the skins, otherwise rot would have been a problem.

2011 has been a tough one for Bordeaux, but how will it go down in comparison to other recent vintages? Well, that chapter will be written over the coming months and years as we buy and try for ourselves. Like we really needed an excuse anyway.

Picture sourced via Chateau Bauduc.

For someone who doesn’t drink wine or is just getting into wine, wine vocabulary may sound somewhat alien. I’ll never forget my first wine tasting with the business under the wing of @curiousmike a few weeks before our first delivery of wine arrived with us back in 2008. I sat in silence unable to contribute anything. I felt out of my depth. Not that at that stage I was expected to critique a wine, but I remember thinking I’ve got a lot to learn.

In hindsight, wine speak is not and should not be daunting to anyone. Put simply, it’s a relatively small collection of words that make it easier to describe what one can smell and taste. They remind us of aromas and flavours that we have come across at some stage in our lives, or on a regular basis. I try a Merlot now, and it might remind me of beetroot, stewed plums, leather and pencil shavings. It’s just a handy way of describing what a wine tastes like to someone who hasn’t tried it before, and that’s something I need to use day in day out, because only saying a wine is “fruity” is rarely suffice and often it doesn’t do the wine enough justice.

Whereas we rely on our own experiences, in Asia a large part of their vocabulary is made up from their own experiences. Jeannie Cho Lee MW was Asia’s first Master of Wine. She’s been promoting the use of her own version of wine speak, using ingredients familiar to eastern cuisine to aid her descriptions.

“The international wine language is Western. We are taking borrowed language that has been handed down to us, even though wine is now becoming more and more local. China is the sixth-largest producer of wine now, and Asia is the fastest growing wine market. There is a need to rethink how we can make it uniquely ours.”

Since earning accreditation as a Master of Wine in 1998, Lee has been working as a wine critic, consultant and educator based in Hong Kong. She published her first book “Asian Palate: Savouring Asian Cuisine and Wine” in 2009, introducing ways to match wines with Asian cuisine. A Cabernet Sauvignon, for example, can be described as Chinese red dates, plums, and green or black tea leaves. Syrah can be described as Chinese salted pork, sweet red bean paste and jasmine tea leaves. Asian descriptors for Merlot include persimmons, dried Chinese hawthorns and Chinese dried mushrooms.

So the next time you ask me in person or over the phone what that new Pinot Grigio tastes like, don’t be surprised or worried about my mental health if I say it is akin to “chicken feet, shark fins and sea cucumber”.

Jeannie Cho Lee MW has a very informative and easy-to-understand website http://www.asianpalate.com/

Last week the American wine entrepreneur and one of the pioneers of video blogging, Gary Vaynerchuk, announced his retirement from regular wine video content after an amazing run which spanned more than half a decade. He explains in the attached video why he’s made the decision he has.

Vaynerchuk has been described as the first wine guru of the YouTube era, and is considered the most influential wine critic in the United States after Robert Parker. Over 1,000 video podcasts of ‘Wine Library TV’ were released between 2006 and March of this year, before he introduced a new format known as the Daily Grape, which involved shorter episodes and fewer guests.

This post includes one of Vaynerchuk’s earlier Wine Library TV episodes, and it’s one of my favourites. If you’re only discovering him now, go to Wine Library TV and the Daily Grape to see more. You’ll find a wealth of knowledge and sheer entertainment. Thank you, Gary… from a big fan!