What's in Australian wine?
re consumers well-served by Australian wine labelling? Probably not. In an era of legally enforced truth in labelling you can still find Australian wine for sale with labels alleging that the contents are 'champagne', 'white burgundy', 'port', 'sherry', 'tokay' etc.
Yes these labels are gradually and I suspect reluctantly being phased out but local winemakers have ridden on the back of European geographical nomenclature for over a century, happily foisting misnamed wines on an unsuspecting public. I won't even mention the millions of litres of wine made from sultana juice, legally but misleadingly sold as cask 'riesling' until very recently.
But consumers are becoming more educated about food and beverages and they are encouraged in this by media stories about health problems such as cancer and allergenic reactions - rightly or wrongly attributed to chemicals and additives introduced to the food chain. Consequently, one has only to walk down a retail aisle to see shoppers peering at product labels proclaiming 'Fat-free' 'GMO-free' 'No salt' 'No preservatives added' and so forth.
And wine consumers concerned about food purity may be surprised to learn that most wine does not consist solely of the fermented juice of fresh ripe grapes. In fact, Australian wine law permits the use of over 50 additives and processing aids in winemaking. Permitted animal products used include collagen, egg white, enzymes, gelatine, isinglass, lysozyme, milk and milk products. (Source, Food Standards Australia New Zealand.)
Most of these chemicals/additives do not have to be listed on labels but if they are, the ingredients are rarely spelt out in plain English, marketers preferring to use cryptic code numbers that are incomprehensible to many.
Newish wine labelling laws concerning allergens will indicate the presence of some additives but a significant and increasing number of consumers maintain diets that prohibit consumption of products that contain certain additives, or that contain or may have contained animal products.
What's that all about?
Australian wine writers will persist in using language in wine reviews that is incomprehensible to most of their readers. How do I know? I read out bits of reviews to my introductory wine classes and ask them if they know what the reviewers mean. Most often they don't.
Some examples, cassis (French – blackcurrant liqueur) gooseberry (acidic fruit – hardly any of my Australian students would know a gooseberry if they fell over one), sweaty saddle (somewhat archaic but used to be a desirable! constituent of Hunter Valley wines), tobacco (many younger people don't and have never smoked), cigar box(see previous), barnyard(how many yuppies know or want to know what a barnyard smells like? And if they did why would they want to drink wine that smells or tastes like cow manure?), Brett. (brettanomyces – yeast that can spoil wine.) redolent (a top shelf word that means pleasing odour of whatever.) malo (malolactic fermentation – induced secondary wine fermentation e.g. character found in wooded, soft, buttery chardonnays.)
Books
Oz Clarke's Australian Wine Companion $39.95
Oz Clarke is a UK-based wine writer and an enthusiastic friend of Australian wine. In fact if there was an EU Ambassador for Australian Wine he'd win the job before you could say Penfolds Grange. Clarke writes in an engaging chatty style and his vignettes are replete with personal anecdotes, snippets of history and yarns about the winemakers he has met here. His book looks at Australia wine state by state, visiting most important wine producers, the text supported by glossy photos and maps. A well-researched and entertaining introduction to Australian wine which should appeal to both local and international wine lovers. The timing of its publication is no doubt aimed at the holiday gift market.
Large format hardback, illustrated, 175 pages. Time Warner Book Group London 2004.
Taste treats
Asparagus Danish - Bleu
Asparagus is just coming into season and it inspired me to fake a dish we had at a wine tasting in Vancouver earlier this year. (Successfully and absolutely goluptious - as it turned out. Apologies to the anonymous original chef.)
You will need some raw green or white asparagus spears, thawed sheets of commercial puff pastry, animal-rennet-free blue cheese, and a little melted butter and lemon juice mixed. (Read the label. *Try fetta or chevre instead of blue cheese.)
Pre-heat oven to 200C. Grease baking trays. Rinse and dry the asparagus and bend the spears near the blunt end until they snap – discard the blunt bits. Crumble the blue cheese to the consistency of dryish scrambled eggs by gently pulsing it in a food processor.
Cut each sheet of pastry into four squares. Rotate the squares 45 degrees – so that there is a pointy bit at the top and bottom. For each portion spread a heaped teaspoon of cheese down the middle of the square and place two pieces of asparagus on top of the cheese – the ends should not extend beyond the pastry. Lightly brush the asparagus with the melted lemony butter and season to taste. Fold the left corner of the pastry over the asparagus and then the right corner over that to form an open-ended parcel. (*Or vice versa.)
Place on trays and bake for 15 minutes or, depending on the oven, until nicely puffed and golden. Serve as a side dish. For finger food, follow the same procedure but cut each sheet of pastry into nine squares and trim the asparagus to length. (Save the off-cuts for soup or quiche.) Accompany with a Clare riesling or a Hunter Valley semillon. An NZ sauvignon blanc might do. Red wine will tend to clash with the blue cheese.
Recommended
Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2004 around $30.
Screwcap. Marlborough, New Zealand. The benchmark of Australasian sauvignon blanc. Moreish, beautifully balanced varietal fruit and acid with a whisper of lemon sherbet. Could convert a confirmed red drinker to ordering an occasional SB.
Moss Wood The Amy's Blend Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Sauvignon 2003 $30.
Screwcap. Margaret River, Western Australia. Dark red, faint purple edge. Nose shows raspberries and blackcurrants. Mouthfilling chewy tannins lead to fine fruit intensity in an elegant dry red.
Zema Estate Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2002 around $25.
Deep dense red. Nose of blueberries, hint of leafiness and oaky vanilla. Powerful young red with fruit and tannins in abundance, needs a year or two to come together. Will drink well to 2012.
Croser 2002 $35.
Straw to pale gold. This sparkler (76% pinot noir and 24% chardonnay) has a biscuity nose with faint traces of spring blossoms. It is well-weighted on the palate with hints of the bakery and apple pie. The finish is firm without depending on the savage tooth enamel stripping acid evident in some other top shelf Australian fizz.
Nautilus Sauvignon Blanc 2004 $24.
Screwcap. Marlborough New Zealand. Nearly water pale, edge of green. Aromatic with lychees and passionfruit. Light dry clean and grassy on the palate with pronounced acid on the finish. Picture: A sunny lunch, a loaf of ciabatta, herbed olive oil, sun-dried tomatoes, marinated olives, and a bottle of this in an ice bucket.