Following a review of wine industry standards the Australia New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA) has recommended to Australian wine regulatory bodies that lower wine production standards should be implemented. According to the April edition of the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation’s newsletter "The Wine Contact" the ANZFA proposals would allow "previously prohibited ingredients" to be used in Australian winemaking.

If these recommendations, which the newsletter says "reflect current international best practice", are accepted, winemakers will be allowed to add sugar, unlimited water, spirits and any food additives during the winemaking process. Further they will be permitted to make wine from juice concentrate rather than fresh grapes.

Sounds like sheer lunacy to me. Clearly these changes have the potential to damage and undermine Australia’s excellent reputation as a producer of clean, fruit-driven wine. The history of winemaking abroad and in this country is littered with cases of wine fraud and illegal adulteration. Removal or diminution of standards in this manner can only provide incentive to dodgy winemakers to increase profits by using water to dilute, using spirits and/or sugar to increase alcoholic strength and using food additives to change flavours and colours to mask defects or for cosmetic effect.

As the mere suggestion of fraudulent winemaking can lead to devastating effects on a country’s wine exports one can only hope that the ANZFA and wine industry peak bodies will consult with exporters and wine consumers before they implement such drastic and unnecessary "best practice" changes.

Winepros

Timing is everything. The launch of the wine portal, www.winepros.com.au on 31 March, was shortly followed by the e-commerce stock market "correction" which saw the company’s share price fall from around $1.30 to $0.70. Major shareholders, including Len Evans, James Halliday and directors of HarperCollins and Coles Myer, may still be crying in their champagne.

And how will Winepros make a profit for shareholders? Well, through sales commissions and the sale of site advertising space presumably. Visitors to Winepros can buy wine via Vintage Cellars and books from Dymock’s Books. But in such a competitive marketplace the commission on already discounted profit margins on wine and books is sure to be slim. Winepros accountants must be praying for enormous advertising revenues.

The site is worth a look. Their launch blurb boasts 10,000 pages of information, a host of famous wine writers, 5,000 tasting notes and 1,200 Australian winery profiles. Highlight for me is online access to Jancis Robinson’s brilliant Oxford Companion to Wine. Will I be buying Winepros shares? Nope.

Wine Q&As

Astrid of Alphington writes that she has had a bad run with three dessert wines tasted recently, she believes they were all corked. One smelt like kerosene, she reports, two were metallic and flat. "Do botrytised wines go off more easily because of their high sugar content?" she asks.

Firstly, the problems do not sound like cork taint, which is usually manifested as a musty, mildewy smell and taste. While the wines should not taste metallic a faint hint of not unlikeable kerosene character is sometimes detected in both sweet and dry rieslings, especially aged bottles. Botrytised wines - those made from grapes affected by the fungus known as noble rot - are no more susceptible to wine faults than other wines and can in fact exhibit greater longevity than many dry table wines.

Tastings

Red Hill Estate Pinot Noir Chardonnay 1997 Lemon-gold with the faintest pink hue, smallish bead. Floral nose, hint of yeast lees. Full-flavoured style, dry and clean with a lingering finish of integrated acid. Excellent with entrée courses. Rating: silver. Cellar: to 2004. Price: RRP $28.

Hanging Rock The Jim Jim Sauvignon Blanc 1999 Almost water pale. Upfront nose of ripened kiwifruit. Medium dry in the mouth and mid-weighted, soft acids support delicate fruitiness. The finish is somewhat short. Prefer as an aperitif. Rating: silver. Cellar: to 2002. Price: RRP$22.

Brown Brothers Nebbiolo 1996 Light red, shade of tawny on the rim. Inviting nose of mature sweet berries and subtle oak. Beautifully balanced red, the developed savoury flavours nicely intermixed with blackberry like fruit. Firm tannins leave the mouth with a likeable grip. Ideal with main course foods. Rating: gold. Cellar: to 2005. Price: RRP $16.50.

© Martin Field