Following this year's record Australian grape harvest of some 1.1 million tonnes and the resultant fall in grape prices, consumers can reasonably expect to see a decrease in the cost of wine over the coming year. White wine is most likely to be affected, industry commentators predicting a glut of chardonnay with possible price reductions of around 20 per cent for less expensive labels.

Latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics will also create uneasiness among white wine producers. ABS analysis indicates that in the year April '98 to April '99, white table wine sales fell by 4.2 per cent. This contrasts sharply with red wine sales, which rose by 13.8 per cent. Consumers it seems are getting tired of the "charred-oak-nay" or ABC (Another Bloody Chardonnay) styles and are instead switching to reds, especially shiraz. The Australian trend is mirrored in the UK with the release this week of statistics showing that red wine has for the first time outsold white in the British market - Australia's Jacobs Creek Shiraz taking out the number three position on the UK best-sellers list. Oversupply and stockpiling of wine in the EU led to what was cynically known as the "Wine Lake". Can Australians now expect to swim in their very own Lake Chardonnay?

Heard it on the e-vine

Zoe asks how long wine in wine casks will keep before it starts to deteriorate. If ever a wine product needed a use by date imprinted on it in large letters it is the wine cask. Although the collapsing bag in the box is supposed to prevent undue oxidation, wine casks can lose freshness over a relatively short period. In my experience they begin to decline in quality about three weeks to a month after opening.

The speed of deterioration also depends on how long the cask has been sitting in a shop before purchase. So, on the infrequent occasions that I buy a cask (to see, hopefully, if they've stopped using what seem to be vat dregs and floor sweepings as fillers) I always look for the date of packaging and choose a product showing the most recent date.

© Martin Field