AROUND THE WORLD – January 2007

This month’s roundup of news from around the world

Award Winners for Australia Day
Cellar Door will show a collection of new and award winning wines at this years’ Australia Day Tastings

Tintara Mclaren Vale Tempranillo is part of the new three-tier range of wines which has been launched to show the best of McLaren Vale – a region which is often described as the Mediterranean of Australia.
The 2005 vintages of Tintara Horseshow Row Chardonnay, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2003 Reserve Grenache have just hit UK shelves. The wines are all packaged with the distinctive deep terracotta orange label, designed to reflect the red ironstone soil and the region’s temperate Mediterranean climate.

The 2006 vintage of Tigress Sauvignon Blanc from the Bay of Fires Winery in Tasmania recently won a gold medal at the Royal Hobart International Wine Show Awards. It was the only wine in a class of nearly 100 Sauvignon Blancs at this tasting that received a gold medal score from each and every judge and associate judge in the competition.

Premium sparkling wines will also be on show including the International Wine & Spirit Competition gold medal-winning vintage 2000 of The Bay of Fires flagship sparkling wine, Arras, a new sparkling rosé from the Yarra Burn winery in Victoria’s Yarra Valley and the latest vintage 2003 of the Yarra Burn Sparkling Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.

SA to test GM vines

An application to field-test genetically modified (GM) grapes has been made by the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. A South African has also applied to sell GM yeast to winemakers in Canada.

The modified vines have been engineered to produce grapes that are resistant to disease, reducing the need to spray chemicals on the vines. While the yeast should produce protein-stable wines. The applications, however, have sparked controversy.

Environmental groups are concerned about contamination, while there has been a mixed response from the local wine industry. While the GM yeast is likely to reduce production costs, winemakers are reluctant to use it because of negative consumer attitudes towards GM products.

The manager of the grape project in Stellenbosch, Sarita Groenewald, told South African news website www.iol.co.za that the field trials “will not cause environmental contamination”. Groenewald claimed that, despite a ban on GM wine, research is also being conducted in Australia, Germany and the US. “It’s banned now,” she says, “but that might change.”

US AVA expansion plan

Californian winery Hestan Vineyards is petitioning to increase the size of the San Francisco Bay viticultural area by 228 square kilometres.

The application was presented to the US Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). Hestan’s proposal to expand the Central Coast AVA (American Viticultural Area), of which San Francisco Bay is part, was denied by the TTB. But the San Francisco Bay proposal is now open to public debate until 5 February.

Commenting on the Central Coast AVA proposal, the TTB said that “the petition lacked adequate name documentation to identify the proposed expansion area as part of the Central Coast viticultural area.” It added, “Consumer confusion could result if the Central Coast viticultural area boundary line were expanded to include an area north of the San Francisco and San Pablo Bays.

The 127-acre Hestan Vineyards is owned by Stanley and Helen Cheng, who are originally from Hong Kong. Their vineyards, within the proposed expansion area, are located in Vallejo, in southwest Solano county.

San Francisco Bay is already one of the largest AVAs in the US, encompassing over 1.5 million acres. The AVA was established in 1999, and was most recently expanded in mid-2006.

Historic beer found

A collection of beers brewed over 130 years ago have been discovered in Burton-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. The cache of bottled beers and vintage ales include a number with corks and wax seals still in place. The discovery was made in Worthington’s White Shield brewery vaults.

The oldest in the collection is an 1869 Harry Ratcliff’s Ale, which in spite of its age proved to still have a complex and pleasant flavour. According to Dr George Philliskirk, chief executive of The Beer Academy, “It tastes fresh, with attractive ripe plum and honeyed flavours.”

Philliskirk pointed out that both beers with higher alcohol levels and highly hopped beers have great ageing potential, as this
find demonstrated.

A comprehensive recorking programme is now underway to preserve some of the beers, including a 1982 Prince’s Ale, mashed by the late Earl Spencer (Princess Diana’s father) to commemorate the birth of Prince William.

Burton-on-Trent can trace its brewing history back more than 1,000 years, and is known as the capital of British brewing. Together with the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), Worthington White Shield is now searching for the oldest bottled beer in Britain.

The brewery’s head brewer, Steve Wellington (pictured), commented that “this is one of the most exciting and unique discoveries ever made in British Brewing.” He also said, “contrary to a widely held belief that beer cannot age for as long as wine, most of these bottles seem to have developed subtlety and complexity over the years.”

As Philliskirk concluded, “This demonstrates the potential for vintage beers to be taken seriously – maybe even being worthy of a special selection on wine lists.”

Delays to EU pay-out

The 2002 agreement between South Africa and the EU about wine labelling has yet to be ratified by the South African government, meaning that compensation has yet to be paid to the industry. As part of the deal, the EU promised €15 million in compensation to the country’s wine industry in return for the phasing out of the use of the words “Port”, “Sherry”, “grappa” and “ouzo”.

The EU also required that certain trademarks , which are the same as geographical indicators in the EU, be deregistered. This is believed to be the reason that the government has yet to ratify the agreement.

With five years now elapsed since the agreement, there is the possibility that the compensation will no longer be available for those potentially affected by this deal. South Africa and the EU are scheduled to meet early this year to address this issue.

© db January2007