I read recently that there’s a move to ban treated pine posts impregnated with chromated copper-arsenate (CCA) from children’s playgrounds due to the possibility of kiddies absorbing these toxic substances through the skin. Vineyards of course are dotted with these poles to hold up vine trellising – about 200 to 400 posts per acre. The questions that arise are: does CCA from the poles leach into vineyard soil and if so, is there uptake into the vines and eventually into wine? Are vineyard workers at risk when installing treated pine poles in the vineyard? How can poles that are past their use by date be disposed of without poisoning the environment?

I asked a few people in the business for an opinion.

Winemaker Andrew Hickinbotham of Hickinbotham Winery: “Treated pine poles do apparently leach into the soil, and at least in Tasmania, you can't get organic certification if using these poles.”

Winemaker Dr Bailey Carrodus of Yarra Yering: “The CCA thing is a nightmare in the making. I don't think there is much problem in the handling etc. in the vineyard. The real problem I foresee is disposal of the posts at the end of their lives.

“They can't just be burnt - arsenic is volatile, and chrome in the ash is a nasty problem. Landfill? The only safe method is burning with a column to take out the arsenic, and recovery of the chromium from the ash. Not cheap, and there must be millions of these things around. I moved to white cypress posts for this reason, but the damned things are not lasting very well. Creosote works but is unpleasant to work with, and they are talking about carcinogen problems there too.”

Dr Laurie Cookson, Team Leader, Wood Preservatives & Chemicals CSIRO Forestry and Forest Products: “Arsenic does not readily absorb through the skin. The main potential method of exposure is by getting it on the hands, and then ingesting when eating food or licking hands etc. There have been a number of studies looking at whether CCA goes into the fruit of plants, including a study on vines. The results showed that vines do not take up CCA. Although supportive studies under Australian conditions would be useful.

“Soil analyses around treated poles and posts suggest that over the service life of the structure, elevated CCA levels in the soil occur only slightly, and no more than about 100 mm from the timber. CCA that leaches binds quickly to the soil, so probably does not pose a ground water problem, but again, I am not aware of any local data.

“Vinepost workers are not at risk if they follow the treatment industries safety guidelines, for example wear gloves when handling posts, wash hands before eating, wear a mask if generating CCA sawdust etc. Also, there should be a period of at least 2 weeks between the time posts are treated and then installed or handled, to allow time for all chemical fixation reactions to occur, and so that there is no unreacted or liquid CCA on the posts.

“Disposal of CCA treated posts is a problem. A project has recently begun, supported by the Forest Wood Products RDC, and involving Auspine, to look examine this question at their new biomass/energy plant. We are also about to start a vinepost project, which includes looking at ACQ [copper quaternary ammonium] rather than CCA treatment of posts.”

See also, “Review of the Landfill Disposal Risks and the Potential for Recovery and Recycling of Preservative Treated Timber Consultation Draft” (pdf file, requires Adobe Acrobat). Contains disturbing information that some vignerons have actually burnt off CCA poles.

Quotes
Health is not just being disease free but the ability to enjoy life physically, mentally and environmentally with wine. Dr Philip Norrie

I can drink like a god but I’m pukin’ up a lot these days Liam Gallagher, Oasis

I was convinced 40 years ago–and the conviction remains to this day-that in wine tasting and wine-talk there is an enormous amount of humbug. T. G. Shaw, 1863

Gadgets
Drop-Stop. People who’ve attended my wine courses or indeed my dinner table will tell you that I am not a sommelier. When pouring wine from a bottle or a decanter I can spill wine with the best of them. On clothes, tablecloths, and notes – you name it. I seem to have a propensity for spilling red wine in particular – messy huh?

Anyway, a marketing company sent me a sample of their DropStop® and when I read that the “discs are known and used throughout Europe by royalty and sophisticated wine lovers alike” I thought “That’s for me!” and immediately opened a bottle to try one. The DropStop® is a silvered flexible disc about 7.5 cm across that you twist into a hollow tube and insert in the neck of a bottle – and somehow the drips go back into the bottle rather than onto random easily stainable surfaces. I used one of the discs (re-usable after a rinse) on my last wine course and the students were both unstained and impressed after I poured some 25 bottles with nary a drip. Price: $6.95 for a two-pack.

Acme Eine Klein Weinflasche. What I want to see is some enterprising wine entrepreneur market wine in a Klein bottle. The Klein bottle, for the uninitiated, is a 4-dimensional topological oddity where the inside and outside comprise one continuous surface – sort of like a Moebius strip – but different. So much wine, so little space/time.

Anglophiles beware
1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British, Aussies or North Americans.

2. On the other hand, the French eat a lot of fat and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British, Aussies or North Americans.

3. The Japanese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British, Aussies or North Americans.

4. The Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British, Aussies or Americans.

5. Conclusion: Eat & drink what you like. It's speaking English that kills you. (Seen at www.aussie-rules-football.com.)

Wine Etiquette: a few infrequently asked questions
Can you recommend a vegetarian main course recipe that calls for a corked cabernet?

I have a jar full of sediment from decanted bottles - what can I use it for?

Is the glue used for bottle labels available in the supermarket - is it edible?

I have some expensive Waterford crystal "Hock" glasses - I daren't serve wine in them or clumsy friends will break them – how else can I use them?

When I empty a bottle of wine into a decanter does the wine swirl clockwise or anti-clockwise - does the hemisphere I am in matter?

When I'm drunk and go to donate at the blood bank does the blood recipient get a little tipsy?

When my kitchen catches fire and the only liquid at hand to put it out is a rare bottle of red, should I pour the red on the fire, or leave, drink the red and watch the house burn down?

Tasted recently
Peter Lehmann Blue Eden Riesling 2001 KKKK Cellar to 2010

Eden Valley. Lime-tinted, water-pale. Fragrant lemon and floral bouquet. Medium dry, generously flavoured. Citrus zest on the finish and pleasing lengthy aftertaste. Lovely on its own or with entrée weighted food. About $20.00..

Main Ridge Estate Half Acre Pinot Noir 2000 KKKK. Cellar to 2005

Mornington Peninsula. Medium to light red with pink to amber edge. Smoky nose with perfume of strawberries. Full-on dry palate – austere might sum it up. Forward tannins and acid lead to a very firm finish. At this stage definitely needs to be consumed with food. My palate prefers a touch more sweet fruit but the wine should soften off in a couple of years. Typicity for the Mornington peninsula is spot on – my friend picked the region on first sniff of a masked bottle. $47.00.

Straw’s Lane Gewürztraminer 1999 KKK½. Cellar to 2006.

Cold climate style from Mount Macedon. Pale, limpid, edge of green. Perfumed spicy and floral bouquet, faint lemon. Very dry with a pleasing acid zing (think Granny Smith apples) at the back of the tongue. Lovely palate cleanser for starter courses. Around $22.

Redman Coonawarra Cabernet Merlot 1998 KKKK. Cellar to 2008.

I’ve found Redman offerings over the last few years somewhat variable in quality but have nothing but praise for this one. It was one of the masked reds at a regular Tuesday lunch tasting and elicited the following comments from tasters. “An opaque purple number with a berry jam nose. Gorgeously fruit-driven. Fabulous red, big berry flavours. Coonawarra colour, tremendous potential. Elegant Coonawarra style. Beautifully balanced but so young we’re committing infanticide.” Nearly all those at the table picked it as a classic Coonawarra red before unwrapping the bottle. Highly recommended. Around $26.

Cheatin’ Recipes
Pickled onions in recycled vinegar. Don’t throw out the vinegar when you finish a jar of your favourite pickled onions. Peel and thinly slice a couple of brown onions, pack them into the jar with the leftover vinegar, (top up with a little cider vinegar if necessary) shake jar and leave in the fridge for a couple of days before eating. Will keep for a week or so in the fridge. NB Re-use vinegar only once. (I’ve tried the same trick with sliced cucumber in leftover dill pickle juice – not as successful and doesn’t keep.)

Aioli (garlic mayonnaise). Forget muckin’ about with mortar and pestle, garlic cloves, egg yolks, pouring cups of olive oil slowly into a curdled mess. Buy a jar of prepared mayo (around 500 grams is good) and a jar of minced garlic. Empty the mayo into a bowl or blender, add around a teaspoon (bit more or bit less to taste) of minced garlic and the juice of a lemon. Stir or pulse blend until mixed, return to jar and keep in fridge – lasts well. Use in place of mayo - on salads, spread on sandwiches instead of butter, spread croutons with a little aioli before adding to soup. The aioli should have a pronounced garlic/lemon edge - strong taste, use sparingly.

Tomatoes. Early autumn and the vines are laden with ripe tomatoes – too many at our house. What to do with them? Check out Bonny for simple but useful recipes from the Canary Islands. And don’t let that just-opened jar of tomato paste grow green mould in the fridge – freeze it in an ice cube tray and put frozen tomato cubes in an airtight container. Drop cubes as required into sauces when cooking etc. The ice cube method also works well with leftover wine (one does so like to pop a cube of Grange into an inferior red on a hot day); lemon juice from excess lemons, fresh herbs (eg make ice cubes stuffed with chopped fresh basil leaves) canned coconut milk (shake well) and so forth.

Rambo Fizz – I was wondering what to do with the best part of a bottle of absinthe bought for review – bit too strong for me taken in the approved manner. Simple solution: pour 10 to 15 ml of absinthe in the bottom of a champagne flute and top up with (cheap) bubbly. Voila! A glass of the faintest blue-green fizz, redolent of anise and herbs, dry as dry and a perfect aperitif.