Cork battle reaches fever pitch. By some estimates, 3 to 10 percent of all wines are corked -- which, strictly speaking, means that a cork contaminated with trichloroanisole, or TCA, has given it a musty smell or at least dulled its normal flavors. Some producers in Australia and New Zealand have revolted and are now using screw tops even for high-end bottles. To judge from this article, various American producers' hesitation of abandoning cork has more to do with tradition and fear of offending snobs than with a conviction that cork is superior: "Maybe in a couple of generations, people won't associate screw-caps with what I do," one guy says.
     In the fall Bonny Doon Vineyards ostentatiously joined the fray by announcing plans to use a "Stelvin" on some of its wines. In this article (originally from the San Francisco Chronicle), Grahm says, "Corks are just not the best closure available now, and I want to do the best thing I can for the wine."
     European cork processors -- most cork comes from Portugal and Spain -- have been studying the issue for quite some time. They've made a lot of promises. And they are very defensive; this pro-cork page fussily declares, "It has become prevalent to associate natural cork stoppers with TCA mustiness -- hence the misleading term 'corked wine' -- but TCA contamination may have various sources. Since the 1980s, TCA has been found in many places - it has been detected in bottled mineral water, in wine bottles with screw caps, in cans of soft drinks, in packaged food products and even raisins." The industry also says that most corked wines really aren't: "Only one third of those wines identified as tainted by the samplers were confirmed by expert independent laboratory analysis. The incidence of TCA was found to be 0.6 per cent of the 5,735 bottles tested, with oxidation being a greater problem at 1 per cent."
     Now the World Wildlife Foundation and other environmental groups are weighing in on cork's behalf, for reasons unrelated to taste. Cork, apparently, is a model for sustainable agriculture, and the survival of the Iberian lynx depends on it.
     Like most people, I kind of enjoy removing natural cork from wine bottles. But my own guess is that the wine-buying public will get over its aversion to synthetic stoppers, just as it got over its former aversion to California wines -- and that, at some point, corks will go the way of the water wheel and slide rule. What do y'all think?
 :: posted by Dante Ramos at 11:24 AM
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Winter wines. Here, belatedly, are the results from December 4. Thanks to Steph and Charles for choosing the wines and Chip and Charles for the food and the hospitality.
     1) "Slippers." 2000 Montes Limited Selection Cabernet Sauvignon-Carmenère, Apalta Valley, Santa Cruz D.O., Colchagua Valley, Chile; 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Carmenère. $14.11 at Bacchanal. Average 13.5; range 11-16. Mushroomy and earthy, with a hints of blueberry, leather and new car. Makes your tongue tingle in a nice way. Your Webmaster, a carnivore who wasn't hugely impressed with this wine and thought the nose was a bit rubbery, noted that the two vegetarians in the room really grooved on it. It won't stand up to steak, but try it with portobellos.
     2) "Cocoa." 2000 Renwood Fiddletown Zinfandel, Amador County, California. $20 at Elio's Wine Warehouse, $25 at Dorignac's. Average 13.3, range 11-16. This wine would also go well with light veggie fare. While the nose reminded some of us of peat, tobacco and even Vaseline, the main sensation in the nose is of intense fruit -- prunes, cherries, etc. Some people thought this wine smelled like watermelon Jolly Ranchers, and the slightly citric finish calls to mind Sour Patch Kids.
     3) "Parka." 1997 Belvedere Cabernet Sauvignon, Dry Creek Valley, California. $17.13 at Bacchanal. Average 13.2, range 8-16. Finally, a wine that goes well with meat. We got some coffee and cocoa out of this, but we also got pine, menthol and eucalyptus. Smooth and pleasantly oaky. A dissenter's view: John found it too alcoholic and "rummy."
     4) "Hot Fudge Sundae." 1999 Renwood Grandpere Zinfandel, Amador County, California. $24 at Elio's Wine Warehouse, $27 at Dorignac's. Average 13, range 9-15. Another meat wine, one that could benefit from sitting for a couple of years. It has dark, intense fruit, like raspberry or cranberry. Different people found a whole spectrum of unusual smells and tastes, including turpentine, asparagus, acetone and even Chicken in a Biskit crackers. (The crackers are/were made by Nabisco and may or may not still be on the market. I was quite fond of them when I was a kid, but for a more jaundiced view go here.) John thought this wine was too sweet and too heavy.
     5-tie) "Fever." 1999 Château des Annereaux Lalande de Pomerol, Bordeaux. Average 12.2, range 8-15. On this wine, there was a big split between the people sitting on chairs and people sitting on the couches. The couch people thought it was pleasantly mushroomy and smooth, though even one person who liked it thought the nose smelled like Chloraseptic. People on the chairs found it skunky, rubbery and reminiscent of chewy cough drops or watered-down chocolate port.
     5-tie) "Rage." 2000 Château de Seguin Bordeaux. $9.70 at Bacchanal. Average 12.2, range 10-15. This wine was very perfumy, and either you like that or you think a sperm whale threw up in your wine. Some thought it was marvelous and smooth with a hint of mint. Mark applauded "a bite right at the end, so I wouldn't take it for granted." But Terri thought the fake name "rage" was about right. Other people said it was "bitter, dry and not very pleasant" and, in reference to the acrimonious Senate runoff, "the Suzie Terrell of wines."
     7) "Soup." 2002 Domaine Manoir du Carra Beaujolais Nouveau. $10.80 at Bacchanal. Average 10.2, range 8-12. A strange wine. The kindest thing anyone said was that it was playful and juicy, the Gummi Bear of wines. But it was also pretty thin, and what flavors it has reminded us of cough drops. Kate only liked the color and noted an odd green apple aftertaste, which is kind of odd in a red. "It would be OK at 16, but not now," Mark said.
     TASTED BUT NOT RATED: "Capra." 2000 Justin Obtuse, Paso Robles, California; 100% Cabernet Sauvignon port-style wine. $23 at Dorignac's. This was the last wine of the evening, and it was a berry explosion -- like blueberry liqueur or blackberries and boysenberries fresh off the vine. We didn't rate it because the hour was getting late and we were all feeling pretty addled. Anyway, everybody really liked it but one person, who thought it was too sweet and alcoholic. To which a second person replied, "Well, fuck, it's a port. What do you expect?" But the second person meant that in a friendly way.
     The fake names refer to thinks that make you feel warm inside.
 :: posted by Dante Ramos at 12:14 AM
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Tasty Merlots. My faith in this divisive grape has been restored of late. I've had two delicious wines during recent dinners out in New Orleans: Michel Schlumberger of California and Robert Sinskey Los Carneros of Napa Valley. Both are at Martin's -- for $17.99 and $22.99, respectively. It seems like this grape is either acrid and petroleum-like or smooth, velvety and complex. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot in between.
 :: posted by John Biers at 11:31 PM
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Petroquest. Bet you didn't think the oil and gas beat would intersect with wine club, did you? Turns out Petroquest, a small independent based in Lafayette dubs all its offshore prospects after wine varietals. This is something akin to Shell Oil's use of constellations like "Ursa" and "Mars" to describe its giant offshore platforms. Only with Petroquest, the names are "Pinot Grigio," "Bourdeaux," "Syrah" and my favorite, Chardonnay. I wonder what the roughnecks think, (but not enough to ask them).
 :: posted by John Biers at 10:21 PM
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