Irregular Update
Sydney Time
Copyright © Ric Einstein 2008
Welcome to the last scheduled Irregular Update of 2007.
Last weeks Snippet: "Tesco man gives our wine
exporters an earful"- and the room reeks of bull$hit" unfortunately did not
have the feedback option encoded in the text, which was a pity as it proved to
be a hot topic on many of the wine forums. The report certainly caused a
brouhaha in the press too. As a result, the Winemakers' Federation and the AWBC
published a clarification of the facts, but after reading it, I still had many
unanswered questions. I decided to try and get all the facts. There was no
recording, no complete written copy, just a Power Point presentation, but the
Federation sent me a copy so I could see for myself what it was all about. After
I read the copy I realised the press had not only got their facts wrong, they
had written the wrong story. Tesco/Jago Presentation - the Real Story
provides a completely new twist and perspective on the original, controversial
story.
The old adage, save the best till last comes to mind with this weeks Feature Story. I didn't plan it to be the last of the year, it just worked out that way, but it is guaranteed to be an thought provoking read. When I started doing the research for this story, never in a thousand years did I think I would wind up coming to the conclusions I came to, because at first site they defy conventional logic. If you think that screwcaps are the best solution for red wine that is to be consumed young, think again. If you think that screwcaps are the best closure for c-through wines that will be drunk young, think again. If you think that corks are best seal for all red wines that require long term ageing, think again. However, when you look at the facts clinically and objectively, "conventional wisdom" may be conventional but it from many perspectives, it is certainly not wisdom. There is no such thing as the perfect closure for any one group of wines. Now that screwcaps have been around for sometime, far more is known about them than was previously the case and this new knowledge turns many of the existing ideas upside-down. Although this information won't stop "progress" and the direction in which we are heading, hopefully once the facts are better understood by all winemakers, not just some winemakers, better wines will be the result. This Feature Article, The Quest Continues throws completely new light on the cork versus screwcap debate and will challenge your thoughts on the subject, no matter what side of the fence you sit on. It can be found here.
Over the Silly Season, although there are no Irregular Updates planned, the news will be added as and when necessary. Snippets will also be posted if anything interesting come to light. You can either check the home page yourself, or subscribe to the RSS Feed function.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my readers for taking an interest in my jotting, and to all of you that have emailed me through the year, a special thanks for your kind words and thoughts. Being completely politically incorrect, I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
The News section has been reasonably quiet over the past week. Stories of possible interest are:
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Falling dollar and drought could end Australian wines' price advantage
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Wine exports grow by 8% on pricey reds
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Penfolds wins best export wine trophy
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Wine exporters face EU crackdown
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Fermenting a plan to shake, rattle and roll the vineyard
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Evans & Tate end in sight - report
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Foster's to truck grapes across Australia
Those stories can be found here.
This weeks quote. "Wine had such ill effects on Noah’s health that it was
all he could do to live 950 years. Show me a total abstainer that ever lived
that long.” - Will Rogers
Until next year .... Cheers!
Ric
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