Geeky closures news
Tuesday 12 May
Winemakers, take note: It’s not just your choice of closure that contributes to a wine’s development. If your bottling isn’t up to scratch, your wines will develop faster.
Researchers at Geisenheim Research Centre in Germany found that if bottling processes are not managed properly, it causes irreversible damage to a wine and its post-bottling development.
Dr. Stéphane Vidal, global director of enology for Nomacorc, which took part in the study, said: “Ultimately, we found that if bottling conditions are well-managed, then oxygen transfer rates (OTRs) through the closure influences wine evolution in a more pronounced manner”.
Geisenheim research also showed the headspace also represents a significant amount of oxygen that contributes to wine evolution.
“Our results show that headspace oxygen, which has largely been ignored by the industry, is a very critical factor impacting wine development and more specifically, a wine’s oxidation resistance influencing shelf-life performance,” said Dr. Rainer Jung at Geisenheim.
Beer loses out to wine in UK
Monday 11 May
Britain is no longer a nation of beer-drinkers.
Get the bunting out because wine is now the preferred alcoholic drink in the UK.
A survey published to coincide with this week’s London International Wine Fair (a 3-day marathon event that strikes dread in most of the wine trade) shows white wine is the country’s drink of choice.
One in three (34%) Britons who drink alcohol say they prefer wine, compared to just over one in four (27%) who express a preference for beer and one in five (20%) who prefer spirits.
Asked to name what they drink, over half (54%) of all UK adults say they drink white wine, edging out beer which managed a respectable 48%, and 47% saying red wine. Rosé wine is next in line with over a third (35%) saying they drink it.
Jeremy Beadles, chief executive of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, said: “This confirms the strength of the British love affair with wine. Long may it continue and flourish. People see wine as something both to enjoy with food and as part of a sociable lifestyle.”
The poll surveyed almost 2,000 drinkers.
Cider leaves park benches behind
Thursday 7 May
I’m not a big cider drinker. It’s something I enjoyed at 16 with a dash of blackcurrant when I managed to get into a pub. But it’s now a £1.85bn industry, how did that happen?
I met up with Peter Spencer, the new MD of Gaymers (and, incidentally, a super-fit triathlete) to talk cider. While I hark back to my days of underage cider drinking, Spencer claims, “Cider had an image about students and park benches. Not anymore. The new consumer doesn’t even remember that.”
I must be getting old.
Now, one in four households buys cider whether it’s Magners of the very similar-looking Bulmers, or Gaymers. Gaymers reported its sales were up 3.7% in 2008, to £155 million. Just as well, since they spent £12m on marketing in 2008 and are pouring another £5m in live music this summer – if you’re heading for Glastonbury, Camp Bestival in Reading or London’s Lovebox this year, guess what’s on tap? Spencer says, “68% of 18-24s say music is important to them that’s why we’ve aligned with music festivals. It’s very important to us.”
So what’s the plan under Spencer? He’s looking to increase value rather than volume this year so there’s a focus on premium ciders - and they’ve also relaunched Blackthorn.
“We are in a recession and you can only pay bills if you are generating more value,” he explained
Fino: how low can you go?
Tuesday 5 May
A glass of Fino makes me happy but it’s not to everyone’s tastes. At 15-17%, it’s not exactly low in alcohol either.
But the Sherry trade association Fedejerez has revealed the region is trying to push through a change in EU regulations, which would bring the minimum level of alcohol down to 14%.
“We are trying to change the legislation to allow 14% fino to adapt to younger consumers,” he told rebeccagibb.com.
According to Fedejerez, it will take at least two years to negotiate the corridors of the European Union.
Under current EU regulations, ‘Sherry’ is defined as Spanish liqueur wine with a minimum alcoholic strength of 15 %.
Fedejerez is also promoting Sherry cocktails in the US and Japan to show it can be a young person’s drink. If it’s ok with them, I’ll stick to neat Sherry.
Grange, Gago and rebeccagibb.com
Friday 1 May
Rebeccagibb.com launches on the same day as Penfolds Grange releases its 2004 vintage so it seems an apt way to kick things off. I hope the website and I will mature as gracefully as the Grange looks set to do.
The 2004 has already been hyped up by Australian wine critics and is expected to retail between AUD$520-$650 a bottle. I guess I’ll have to marry a rich man to pay if I want to get my hands on it.
I caught up with the affable Peter Gago, chief winemaker at Penfolds, last week.to ask him a bit more about the vintage and the future of Grange. According to Peter, the 2004 is a cracker (he would say that, wouldn’t he?) and compares it to the 1996 and 1986 vintage. He points out he made two special bin wines in 2004 (Block 42 and Bin 68) which is a good indicator to the calibre of the vintage.
With the 2008 en primeur Bordeaux frenzy calming, I ask Gago why Grange doesn’t go down the en-primeur route? ‘We have thought about en primeur,’ he admits. ‘We released the special bins en primeur electronically, to dip a toe in the water. It’s an ongoing issue and is always up for review,’ he says.
‘But I look at the en primeur system in Bordeaux and it’s a bit of a joke,’ he adds. You can’t really argue with him.
For the moment, Grange will be sold on release. But watch this space….
