Irregular Update

                 Sydney Time

           Copyright © Ric Einstein 2008

After a protracted absence, welcome back to the transmission of the Very Irregular Update. I don't have a note from my mum for not doing my homework, but I do have a doctors certificate. Late last year,  I tripped over a pup at work and thought I had broken my ankle. The x-ray showed no break so I thought it would be fine. Wrong! I had torn a tendon. Unfortunately it did not heal properly and after five months, it was finally fixed in an operation. During that five months, it was like having a permanent, aggravating, toothache. That was not conducive to wine writing, so I took a break. The ankle is on the mend now and I should be back to work in three weeks. Thanks to all those that sent emails asking if I was still alive. :)   

This weeks article is one that will make you think and question many of your conceptions about corks. Recently I received more feedback and comment from John Casey, the former Chief Chemist for McWilliam’s Wines and a man with a lifetimes scientific training and experience. At first, John's initial thoughts made me wonder what he had been smoking, but past experience has proved the man is no "dope" (and probably hasn't been smoking any,) so I fired back a few questions that I thought exposed potential holes in his thoughts. The response blew me away; the more I thought about it, more sense it made. Much to my surprise, I can away thinking that "corks are not all bad" (except for TCA) and that much of the problems associated with random oxidation and cork failure are in fact not cork issues. Now if that seems like a surprise to you, it was to me too, so find out why it is so in this article titled "More on the Fizzics of Corks - (Article with Questions and Answers.)"

Many people emailed me wondering what had happened to the final Chapter of last years Tour Diary. Good News! It's 99.9% done and will be posted next week. Hopefully, readers will find that it is worth waiting for; from my perspective it contains two featured experiences that were a couple of the best of the whole trip.

I have not been completely slack over the last few months. A few Snippets have been posted so check them out on the home page.

A fair number of Tasting Notes have also been added. The new Picardy releases are fantastic. There are also a few that are incredible value; the likes of Torzi Mathews for example. There are also notes for Bullers and a number of others. They can be found here. 

The one section that has been constantly updated in the News section. Recent tories of possible interest include...

• EU Happy With Wine Deal With Australia

• Makers of wine corks say they've cured 'taint'

• Two Australian Wine Companies Get New Backing

• China 'huge but possible' for wine importers, conference hears

• London wine merchant Cellaret collapses

• Wine giant tips $6m loss

Those stories and more can be found here.

This weeks quote "A great way to lose weight is to eat naked in front of a mirror. Restaurants will almost always throw you out before you can eat too much."  - Frank Varano

Until next week: Cheers!

Ric

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