DECORKING WINE

One of the hot topics in the wine world these days is corking. The problem is not new and has no doubt been around since cork was first used as a closure for bottles in the 17th century. Until recently, however, it only attracted the attention of a few serious wine freaks. Most of us who just enjoy a decent drop now and then wouldn't have recognised a corked wine if it stood up and waved a red flag at us. Now the world seems to be full of cork bloodhounds who sniff their glasses repeatedly in the hope of finding the merest hint of imperfection. As soon as they think they have found it their eyes glaze, jowls salivate, tails wag and throats let out tremendous barks. "This wine is corked!" they cry.

Cork is harvested from the bark of the cork oak or quercus suber, by stripping the outer layer every nine years, which leaves the tree undamaged. Most of it comes from forests in Portugal. The sheets of this bark are left out to dry and occasionally mould grows on it. This impregnates it with a mustiness which is virtually undetectable until it ends up in a bottle, contaminating the wine inside. One of the most common such contaminant is a substance called trichloroanisol or TCA. The average snoz is so sensitive to TCA that it can detect it in the most minute amounts, even when it is diluted to the equivalent of 3 seconds out of a century. Just imagine that! Fortunately, severe corking is infrequent but lesser degrees, which can dull a wine, rather than make it smell overtly off, are more common.

No one wants to spend their bucks on a bum product. Nothing is worse than opening a long treasured bottle to find it's off. To try to prevent this, a few wineries have gone to using plastic stoppers, some of which are made to look like corks. However, they have their own special problems and after a year or two they may impart a plastic taste. Generally they have been used for inexpensive wines produced for early consumption.

There are, of course, plenty of other ways of sealing bottles, including crown caps and screw caps, the latter being the so-called Stelvin closure. The romance of the corkscrew has gone, but what the heck, if you end up with better wine. It has been thought that corks allow tiny amounts of oxygen to penetrate a bottle and that this is important in allowing wines to mature, particularly reds. For this reason, screw caps, which are impervious, have generally been restricted to white wines. It sounds great but there can be problems. A well known Auckland wine merchant recently evaluated the same wine closed with screw caps and reported surprising bottle to bottle variation when there should have been none. There were also faulty screw caps, which had to be attacked with a knife to prise them open.

Not surprisingly, the boys in the cork industry aren't taking it sitting down and are looking at ways of improving their product. They are now producing corks with laminated ends of either plastic or high-grade cork and, as it is only this which contacts the wine, the chances of taint are substantially reduced. Laminated corks have been standard in Champagne for many years and it is general experience that corking in Champagne is decidedly uncommon.

The last battle of this wine war is yet to be won and will eventually be determined by you, the consumer. Every day we get asked what we think about screw caps but it is not our view that is important, it is yours. Whether consumers will find screw caps acceptable or whether they would prefer to stick with tradition remains to be seen. In the meantime, you won't lose out. We are buying high quality corks to minimise the risk of offending your nose but if you get a corked bottle don't drink it. Just put the same stopper back in, so it can be analysed, and return it. We will replace it. If you buy a bottle with a Stelvin closure and your wine seems off you won't be able to complain about corking but you will be able to tell your waiter that it is definitely "screwed".

LYNNETTE HUDSON IN PURSUIT OF THE PERFECT PINOT

Pinot noir has been called the "winemaker's holy grail" and "the heartbreak grape", which provides remarkable insight. At its best it makes the greatest red wine in the world but it requires more care in the vineyard and winery than other varieties, which by comparison almost seem to make themselves. Pinot gives winemaking lassies and laddies more sleepless nights and tears than any other variety but it can also bring more laughter and smiles. They have to be really passionate about pinot to do anything really special with it.

Our winemakers, Lynnette Hudson and Matthew Donaldson, are passionate people. They have many times visited Burgundy, which is the home of pinot noir and is still regarded as the benchmark for this variety, and have both worked vintages in prestigious wineries there. Not satisfied with this, Lynnette is currently fulfilling her ambition of working there for a year. She spent last vintage with a top winemaker, Nicolas Potel, in the famous village of Nuits St Georges. She is now working amongst the vines prior to being involved in the next Burgundian vintage later this year, when she will work with another gun producer, Pascal Marchand. After that she will be joining us again. In the meantime she has made a couple of fleeting visits home, including one for the 2002 vintage at Pegasus Bay. It is a lot of hard work and we admire her infectious enthusiasm and passion. Hats off to you, Lynnette!

WINTER DINING AT THE BAY - NOW OPEN 7 DAYS

Because of construction work we closed our restaurant over the winter last year. This year we will stay open for daytime dining and thus be in operation throughout the year. What better way to spend a chilly day than sitting around a blazing fire sipping our recent releases and sampling Leungo Lippe's splendid food. He has put his creative thinking cap on and come up with a stunning winter menu, which we are sure will surprise and delight you. Come and see us.

WAFTING IN THE VINTAGE BREEZE

Around vintage time when the days are warm and mellow and the grapes plump, juicy and sweet, there is a gentle breeze on which the most amazing birds fly. They waft in from all over the globe, bringing with them sweet songs, an array of colours, a wide variety of experience and amazing talent. They are industrious creatures, not given to strutting and preening, but rather to help hatching eggs and bring the new vintage into the world. Once this is done they become restless and, as winter approaches, they take flight, often migrating to warmer climes in the northern hemisphere where they repeat the process. Every garden, however, needs a balance between these and the non-migratory birds. This vintage we have got just the perfect balance.

This year we have François Hure, who has a degree in wine making from Dijon University in Burgundy. He has done vintages in Burgundy, the Rhone Valley and at Coldstream Hills Vineyard in Australia. His family owns a vineyard and winery in Champagne. Craig Lory has a Polytech diploma in winemaking and viticulture. He has two vintages with Rosemount Winery in Australia under his belt and has been working at Neudorf Vineyard in Nelson. He was at Pegasus Bay last vintage. Shane Thurston also did the 2001 vintage with us while completing the Bachelor degree course in wine making and viticulture at Lincoln University and had earlier vintage experience in Waipara. Bridget Venning did the same diploma as Craig but has worked for three years for Amity Vineyards in Oregon as well as gaining experience in Australia. These migratory birds are assisted by permanent winery staff, Lynnette Hudson, Matthew Donaldson and Duncan McTavish. Duncan had extensive winery experience in California's Napa Valley, Australia, Marlborough and Canterbury before joining us full-time prior to the 2001 vintage. As you can see, they are an experienced and talented lot -- a force to be reckoned with!

FROM THE PRESCRIPTION PAD

As a neurologist, I think the brain is number 1. Kidneys are filters, the heart is a pump, the lungs are bellows, the gastrointestinal system is a series of pipes, the liver is a septic tank but the brain is a super-duper computer. That bowl of custard at the top of your neck does more than just hold your ears apart and in order for you to savour life your brain has to be sweet.

Now, I have always thought that those who don't enjoy a good glass of wine need their heads read, but I didn't know that vino enabled your head to read; not until recently, at any rate. A little while back I mentioned that a group of French doctors published a study suggesting that drinking moderate amounts of wine reduced the incidence of developing brain failure or what we neurologists call dementia.

Well, this work has subsequently been confirmed by other scientists. Japan's National Centre for Research into Ageing has published work showing that those over 40 years of age who drink moderate amounts of wine have a higher average IQ than non-drinkers. They concluded that "alcohol appears to protect certain brain functions against the ageing process which means it has some influence on intelligence as well."

Other workers are reporting similar findings. A group of Italian geriatricians has just published the results of a study of almost 16,000 patients, looking at their average alcohol intake and comparing it with their ability to think, known in the trade as cognitive performance. They also looked at a lot of other possible factors which might bias results and even after allowance was made for these they found that moderate alcohol intake may significantly decrease the risk of cognitive impairment. While they didn't specifically separate out the effects of wine from other forms of alcohol, we all know what Italians tend to drink, given they are the largest producer of wine in the world and have an average daily intake second to none. The Japanese study specifically looked at wine drinking habits.

But is it wine or is it really alcohol that is having this effect? No one really knows. Wine contains alcohol but unlike other alcoholic beverages it also has a complex and unique spectrum of substances. These include powerful antioxidants such as tannins, which are found in high concentrations in red wines. The compounds which give wines their flavour, so-called flavinoids, are also antioxidants and they are found in white wines as well as red. In a recent study from a medical research centre in France, it has been reported that flavinoids also appear to reduce the risk of dementia.

But it is possible to have too much of a good thing? Both the Japanese and Italian studies mentioned above found that excessive consumption of alcohol was associated with deterioration in mental function. What is excessive consumption? The Italians put it as a daily intake of over a litre of wine for men and half a litre for women. A litre of wine is quite an amount and, from the general health point of view, somewhat less than this would seem more sensible. It is no good having a brain if the rest of your body isn't in good trim. Whatever the exact maximum safe intake, there is one thing all studies agree about and that is sex. No, I don't mean more of it, although there is also medical evidence to suggest that this has similar positive health benefits to wine, but gender. I know it's unfair, but women's bodies just can't handle the same amount of alcohol as men's.

I hope you will excuse me while I go off and have a think. I wonder if you would mind passing me that glass of pinot noir as you go out as I need to load the floppy into the hard drive as well as flushing my arteries out. Life's a bitch!

Cheers, Ivan Donaldson