DAN'S WINE BLOG
Dan Traucki MWCC
WINE ASSIST P/L Freelance Wine Journalist. Also facilitating the export of Australian Wines to the world.
DAN’S WINE BLOG
Despite our wildly varying weather from droughts to floods (although it now seems to happen to much of the world) and our plethora of lethal creatures, Australia is a bloody brilliant place to live the vibrant outdoors life and enjoy a raft of world class wines.
Therefore, I say unto thee- HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY!!! Today.
So this week we kick off with:
ROLL OUT THE BARREL.
Everybody has heard of “natural” wine, yet it is actually ill defined and rather nebulous. The original natural wine was created by the Georgians who place the grapes- stems and all, into an earthen clay pot called a Qvervi, which is usually buried in the ground, fill it right up, seal it and go away. They come back next spring, syphon out the wine straight into bottles and hey presto- job done- No additives, no oak no preservatives- nothing, nada added. They have been doing this for at least 8,000 years.
Now according to an informative article in the excellent European wine journal Wein.plus, a Croatian and a Moldovan have “re-invented” the wine barrel by creating the Isobaric wooden barrel. Huh? What’s that you say? Well Moldovan winemaker Vitalie Popa and Croatian barrel maker Alexander Gantenbrink got together and created a wine barrel that is designed to make the whole wine making process airtight without introducing additives, preservatives or oxygen into the barrel. i.e. more natural.
Isobaric vinification is designed to be a work saver (no topping up barrels, no leaky barrel etc.)
Being a non-technical person, I am sure that I didn’t quite grasped it all (might be best to read the whole article- see the link below) but apparently installing silicone seals between each stave and having eight adjustable hoops round the barrel seem to be the salient points, along with an air-tight barrel bung. They claim that their ‘Auric Infinity’ barrel is isobaric because the wine in effect seals the barrel thereby providing uniform pressure within the barrel be it for maceration, fermentation or maturation. They have patented the design and won an innovation award at Vinitech Sifel 2022.
They also claim that these barrels will allow amateur/home winemakers to make wine without the need for any other equipment.
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TERRIFIC FROM THAILAND.
In other potentially good news for Aussie winemakers, the Thai government has recently announced that it will be removing import tariffs on wine as well as slashing the excise rate on wine. I haven’t seen the specifics as yet, but it will help significantly to open up Thailand for Australian wines, as the tariffs were pretty steep- in the range from 200-400% depending on where the wine came from.
So before the “experts” start touting Thailand as a replacement for China (as they did with India), let me say that I think it will offer a good opportunity for those wineries who are already exporting to south east Asia and therefore aware and accustomed to the vagaries of the regional bureaucracies.
It will be a chance to increase wine exports somewhat, rather than a panacea for the industry’s oversupply. We and Wine Australia in particular need to be focused on emerging and potentially emerging markets rather than continuing to put almost all of our efforts into the old established markets. By this I mean- Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam, South Korea and yes even Indonesia (which has over 7 million ex-pats and non-Muslims). How about some of the eastern European states? Like Poland who are drinking more and more wine these days.
Oh well it will be interesting to see what happens as the Wine Australia- One Grape & Wine Sector Plan is rather, same old same old and underwhelming.
CATASTROPHIC FROM CHINA.
In a recent report the OIV (the International Organization of Vine & Wine) said that wine sales in China had dropped by 260 Million bottles- which equates to 16,250,000 cases (dozens) of wine or to put into other terms 146,250,000 litres of wine- or the equivalent to 15% of Australia’s total 2023 production of 964,000,000 litres.
So even if the Chinese get rid of their iniquitous punitive import tax, do not expect Aussie wine sales to China to skyrocket, as the Chinese are drinking “metric shit tonnes” less wine than the used to.
Celebrate Australia Day today, have a great week and always #chooseaustralianwine and when possible enjoy #emergingvarieties.
Cheers
Dan T