It’s a Worry

In this month’s Winefront Monthly (which as usual is an excellent read,) Campbell Mattinson has a column headed “What the PR staff don't want you to say…” In it, Campbell outlines one of his experiences at a wine tasting dinner and if Campbell’s experience was not bad enough, this next one certainly is an eye-opener. Campbell said, “but that's just me, how about this: wine writer Huon Hooke, at a separate function in a different region, was asked to comment on his findings as chairman of the Wine Show of Western Australia recently. After noting that there was a wealth of ‘highlights’ in virtually all 39 of the show's classes, he added this: ‘but there was (also) a lot of crook wine, a lot of Brett - in some classes, 25 -- 30% of the wines were Brett-affected. If the industry thinks it is on top of Brett, it isn't.’ Bet the producers weren't expecting that.” Damn right!

There are now over 2,000 wineries in Australia producing who knows how many tens or hundreds of thousands of labels. A mere decade ago, Australia was producing about 500 million litres of wine. Today that figure has more than tripled.

It took 200 years of settlement for the wine industry to reach approximately 600 producers (the number in 1990.) By the year 2000, a scant 10 years later, the figure had doubled. In a microscopic five year timeframe between 2000 and 2005, that number has increased by a further 75%.

The top 21 companies, and remember, most of these have not got there overnight and the majority of them are long-term, well-established organisations; are responsible for 89% of total wine production. The other 2000 producers produce the final 11% and are fighting against the big boys for their survival.

It would be foolish to say that the large, well-establish and medium-sized wineries were immune to producing wine with faults like Brett, but let's face it, they have the knowledge, the skill level, the experience and the know-how to produce fault-free wine; and in some cases, have been successfully producing wines for over a century.

On the other hand, many of the small wineries are utilising the services of wine makers that do not have a great deal of experience or a track record in making fault-free (or) quality wine. Whilst I have been a strong supporter of the boutique and artisan producers, as time goes on, it is becoming increasingly apparent that unfortunately many of them need to “clean up their act."

On a number of occasions I have tried a blended sample that was meant to be representative of the finished product, or a “just bottled last week” example of a wine and was impressed with what I tried. It is only later, when the wine had been bottled and had a settled down that the problems have started to surface and rear their ugly heads.

In many cases, what seemed like a clean wine, or a wine that may have been suffering from a touch of a bottle shock, actually started to show Bretty characteristics with a little bit of a bottle age.


Clearly, some people are more sensitive to Brett than others; a number of wine drinkers actually feel that in small quantities, Brett can actually add complexity to wine. I must admit, I am fairly sensitive to Brett and generally don't like it, although in tiny quantities it can be palatable. In a very young wine, especially when there is a load of fresh fruit dominating the flavour profile, it is easily possible to overlook Brett, especially if the wine has just been blended. To make matters even more insidious, Brett does vary from bottle to bottle so it is quite possible to try one bottle that shows virtually no Brett, and another where it is much more obvious.

Fairly recently, Mount Langi Ghiran decided not to release their 2002 Shiraz “due to a technical problem.” Interestingly enough, samples of the wine had already been set to a large number of journalists and many reviewed the wine very favourably; for example James Halliday gave the wine 94 points and said it was a “beautifully poised wine." The “technical problem” turned out to be Brett. Full marks to Mount Langi for scrapping the wine rather than unleashing it on an unsuspecting public, but unfortunately many other wineries are not as considerate or as ethically responsible.

To make matters even worse, based on my own experience, it is clear that a number of small wineries don't even realise their wines are infected with Brett. I have been to a number of trade tasting’s where wines are clearly Brett infected, some badly, and have asked the wine maker if the wine “was meant to be like that?” Whilst in some ways this is akin to asking someone when they stopped beating their wife, if phrased correctly and with consideration, the question can be put politely.

For example, it is possible to talk about the metallic edge on the wines finish and the aromas of Band-Aid or mousey characters. Unfortunately, in a number of cases, the wine maker or owner of the small winery just looks at you as though you have just arrived from outer space. They clearly have no idea what you are talking about. They also probably wind up wondering why their wines are not selling as well as they had expected them too.

Brett is not the only problem, although it is a big one. Another problem which I can see rearing its head has to do with bottling wine under Stelvin. Whilst I have nothing against alternative closures, it is now a known fact that any wines with reductive tendencies will have the reductive nature exacerbated if sealed with a Stelvin closure. This does not mean the closure is at fault, it just means the wine needs to be squeaky clean if Stelvins are going to be utilised.

Although this has been well publicised, unfortunately some small winemakers are deciding to switch to Stelvins when their wines have not been properly prepared and a minor reductive character which could be overlooked if bottled under cork, becomes an issue when bottled under Stelvin. The fill level and amount of S02 used is also an exacting measurement using Stelvins, something that some small winemakers fail to realise.

The emphasis of this article has been on two categories of technical faults; it has not even touched on the importance of grape quality and the critical effect this has on the finished wine, something that is not to be overlooked, but a subject in its own right.

There is no doubt you can get some great wine from small producers, but unfortunately you can also get a lot of faulty wine, so in some ways, the big producers can be a safer bet, something which is fairly attractive to the casual wine drinking public.

If the small wineries are to survive, and unfortunately many of them won’t, they will need to produce good, fault free wines or they will lose their existing customer base and find it difficult to attract new ones.