Frankston Amateur Winemakers Guild

Newsletter

September 2021

Well everyone it’s the September issue 2021 and our show had to be postponed again; new date the 9th October, Peter has informed our sponsors and I have informed our judges as I have informed you, our members via the presidents blog a week ago something different I am trying for emails to get your attention, I hope you like it!.Everybody is very understanding with the situation and at this stage we have not lost any participation yet for

the show, so fingers crossed. You probably have heard that Samepage is shutting the doors on the Aussie market; David Wood has been working on an alternative for the members to chat on. So watch this space!!.

Just because of lockdown, it doesn’t mean that wine making stops.Just on Tuesday I was racking off my wines that were sourced from Shepparton; yes a bit late for some, but I’m very busy, there are only so many hours in a day! But I am pretty happy; yes the sugars were down so the wines are a little bit light; Shiraz, Durif, Pressed Merlot, CabSav, Mataro; not bad I say, easy drinking for the future,

but the most impressive I thought was the blend, Merlot/Macaptan free run juice which I can’t wait to share with you all the next time we meet face to face, hopefully September meeting; the subtle notes of rotting vegetables, surrounded by the unique tones of a well oiled road having a seven ply eight inch tyre spinning over it at 4500

RPMs! Magnificent!. One thing for sure, faults in wines don’t seem to go off they just get better and better. Until we meet again stay safe and well and enjoy this newsletter.

President’s Message

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FAWG September 2021

Keep up to date with upcoming events, news and

announcements

What’s Happening?

Coming Up in September

September 14th

Monthly Meeting via Zoom

Forum Tutorial –by David Wood

October 9th

Wine Show—New date

Details to follow

In this Newsletter

Committee Members 2

Life Members 3

Cordon Corner 4

Slow the Ripening for a better Outcome 5

Grapevine Growth Stages 6

Meet the makers: Rob Dolan 7

Members Forum 9

For your Entertainment 10

My Vintage Year 11

Natural Wine and the Debate over Healthy Wine 15

The role of Hops in Beer 18

Daniel Pambianchi. Takes us through Residual Sugar 20

The Winemaking Quiz 21

Recipe of the Month: Cooking with Cognac 22

Major Sponsors 23

If you have any interesting

information, issues you would

like brought to the members

attention or items for sale/

wanted etc., please email the

newsletter editor

newsletter@fawg.org.au

COVID UPDATE

Members are reminded that COVID-19 restrictions on

attendance at public events, are still in force. You are reminded

that the following are required for our meetings:

• Do not attend meetings if you are unwell

• Sign in, and/or scan the QR code, so that we have a way

of tracking who attended the meeting

• Social distancing is required

• Do not pass around bottles of wine. The person that

brings the wine should pour it for others.

• Food consumptions should be for your

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FAWG September 2021

Committee Members

President- Glen Fortune

Secretary- Kevin Murphy

Treasurer- Pierre Rault

Show Director- Noel Legg

Newsletter editor- Leah Mottin

Past President Peter Enness-

Ordinary member David Hart-

Webmaster/ Assoc Secretary David Wood

Social Secretary Dave Chambers-

Ordinary member Zenon Kolacz-

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FAWG September 2021

Cheers to our life members, thankyou for all you have

contributed and your continued support

Check out our website to review their achievements

Just click the LOGO

Life Members

GORDON EVANS

ARTHUR STONE

JOHN LEE

SHEILA LEE

CHRIS MEYERS

ELAINE HALL-FOOTE

JACQUES GARNIER

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FAWG September 2021

Mike Payne

Cordon Corner

Spring is in the air and the Cordon Corner returns so hopefully we are all ready to go again and have some fun in the vineyard.

It doesn’t matter if you have 15 vines, 15 hun-dred vines, or 15 thou-sand vines, the require-ments are the same, it’s just the way you go about doing what’s needed that’s different.

Hopefully by now you have fin-ished pruning or planting, cleaned up the vineyard, dealt with the weeds and finished the yearly maintenance. I have just finished replacing a few

rotted posts and stays while there is minimal load and have moved on to giving the twenty year old irrigation system a rev up. All good jobs to do while the ground is nice and soft.

Probably the next thing we should be looking at is your spray program. It’s no good waiting until the vines are about to flower and you find you have nothing in the shed. Getting your hands on some Ag chemicals may be a little more difficult with all the re-strictions and supply issues going on so you really need to decide on what you are going

to use this season and get it when you can.

Maybe talk to your colleagues and share with them if there is a problem. Either way, I am sure there will be lots more fungicide talk from me in the coming issues of “CC”.

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FAWG September 2021

RD&A News | August 2021

https://www.wineaustralia.com/news/articles/slow-the-ripening-for-a-better-outcome

Slow the Ripening for a Better Outcome

Climate change is presenting a number of challenges for the global wine sector. For fruit devel-opment, longer and warmer sea-sons mean that optimal berry sugar is achieved before the fla-vour and colour profiles are fully developed. This is expected to be an increasing problem as the world continues to warm.

However, the dilemma of whether to harvest grapes when sugars are ready – but colour, flavour and aroma are not – may soon be a thing of the past.

For the first time, researchers

have shown that it is possible

to increase the flavour potential of

Cabernet Sauvignon

grapes by slowing down the rip-

ening process with strategies in-

cluding crop load manipulation

and irrigation management.

The results of the study, led by Pietro Previtali, a PhD candidate at the University of Adelaide’s School of Agriculture, Food and Wine (supported with a Wine Australia scholarship), were re-cently published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

While earlier research found that techniques such as bunch remov-al, or intensifying irrigation late in the growing season could alter wine composition, this study ex-amined how the techniques could affect the development of aroma compounds in the actual fruit.

The research team studied Cab-

ernet Sauvignon grapes in a vine-

yard in California. The vines were

either

bunch thinned, irrigated late in the

growing season – or both. The

fruit was then compared with

grapes grown in the same block

where neither technique was ap-

plied.

The team say they used “simple but effective” vineyard practic-es during the project.

“We removed one bunch per shoot to advance ripening and combined crop removal with late season irrigation to delay ripen-ing,” said Mr Previtali.

“For late season irrigation, we added 50 per cent extra water starting at 20 °Brix until harvest at 26 °Brix, which in total represent-ed an increase of 20 per cent in the amount of water used for the full season. Yield was decreased by 30 per cent in response to bunch thinning.”

A delay in ripening of up to three

weeks was achieved in their ex-

periments. However, in terms of

increased water usage over this

extended period, this may not

necessarily be commercially at-

tractive.

The results also show that by de-laying sugar accumulation, it is

possible to allow flavour (and col-our) to accumulate

“At the end of the day, it is about re-establishing the balance be-tween grape sugars, colour and aroma. The conclusion that slower ripening is beneficial for grape quality applies even if other delaying practices are em-ployed. There are several tech-niques to do so[1] and we are cur-rently working to understand which are more suitable for each environment and growing condi-tion,” said Mr Previtali.

The researchers say the key

message for growers and wine-

makers is that the rate of sugar

accumulation in grapes is an im-

portant parameter and has an

effect on the balance between

sugars, colour and aroma com-

pounds. Fast ripening leads to

poor colour and aroma develop-

ment, while slow ripening increas-

es the compounds important for

winemaking.

The research is a first small step to more attractive wines, with growers able to monitor the ripen-ing rate as °Brix or °Baume per day (or week) and adjust it ac-cordingly using vineyard manage-ment.

By decoupling sugar accumu-lation and the development of aroma and colour compounds in Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, we can make more flavourful and richer coloured wines for people to enjoy,” said Mr Previ-tali.

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FAWG September 2021

https://www.canr.msu.edu/grapes/uploads/files/Growthstages.pdf

Grapevine Growth stages

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FAWG September 2021

Published on 04 August 2021

by DOUG WALLEN

https://www.broadsheet.com.au/melbourne/travel/article/meet-makers-

rob-dolan-rob-dolan-wines

Meet the Makers: Rob Dolan From Rob Dolan Wines

With three decades of wine-

making – and an AFL career

– behind him, Rob Dolan’s

wine tale is one of success.

In partnership with Visit Vic-

toria, we talk to the gentle

giant about the importance

of ensuring winemaking is

accessible.

Even among the elite class of Yarra Valley winemakers, Rob Dolan cuts an impressive fig-ure – and not just because he stands 6.5 feet tall. Affable and enthusiastic, he studied psy-chology and played footy for Port Adelaide before falling in-to winemaking in the 1990s, soon establishing himself as senior winemaker at Yarra Ridge Winery.

Fast-forward to today, and it’s Dolan’s own name on the la-bel. After helming the success-ful brands Sticks – a reference to his footy-era nickname, which his wife Jude still calls him – and Punt Road, Dolan founded Rob Dolan Wines in 2011. Securing 100 acres of green wet zone in Warrandyte South, formerly the home of Hardy’s Yarra Burn winery, Dolan established his name not just locally, but nationally

and beyond.

“You build up your reputation over a long time,” says Dolan. “You don’t just turn up. It doesn’t happen in five sec-onds.” He says of the nearly 30 vineyards he draws from for Rob Dolan Wines, some of those relationships date back to 1991.

Other relationships have been just as fruitful. Gin distillery Four Pillars got its start operating out of Dolan’s space. And because that space is a mere half-hour from Melbourne’s CBD – and thus halfway closer to the city than most Yarra Valley wineries – he’s in prime position to be the first to stop for Melbourne trav-ellers to the region.

Like other Yarra Valley wine-makers, Dolan is best known for his pinot noir, which is pre-sented across four styles. There’s the soft and easy-drinking True Colours range, then the single-vineyard (or sometimes two-vineyard) focus of his Black Label range, offer-ing more “grippy” wines with notable tannin structure. The White Label range showcases the top-end vineyards, and the small-batch Signature Series is

what Dolan calls “the best of the best”.

Dolan’s chardonnay also thrives across the four styles. But the winemaker thinks he’s actually doing best with caber-net at the moment. He says it’s been the standout from three of the last five vintages, and that’s backed by his winning Best Cabernet/Cabernet Blends at 2020’s Hong Kong International Wine & Spirit Competition. “That shows we can make it at the top level,” he says. With a delicate body and pleasing blackcurrant notes, it sits closer to 13 per cent than 16 per cent, giving it similarities to a bordeaux.

Dolan’s also focused on com-munity and transparency. His brand’s in-house wine club, Huddle Club (another footy ref-erence), sees two groups of 20 people come to the winery each year and make a wine themselves, receiving the re-sulting case in time for Christ-mas. The winery also publish-es a quarterly newspaper called Quarter Time to keep up that community engagement. And hosts pairing sessions, virtual tastings and charity events.

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FAWG September 2021

During the initial impact of

Covid-related restrictions and

lockdowns in 2020, the winery

headed in the opposite direc-

tion of many and em-

ployed more people, introduc-

ing an education focus. Hiring

Meg Brodtmann – the first fe-

male Master of Wine in Aus-

tralia – as the head of educa-

tion at the winery’s newfound

multipurpose “cube”, Dolan in-

troduced courses and other

forms of outreach designed to

make wine more approacha-

ble.

“That’s the key to our busi-

ness,” he says. “I want wine to

be immediately accessible

right through to the top end of

the market.” Rather than offer

masterclasses on wine, he

prefers to focus on “down-to-

earth classes” that help to de-

mystify the process of making

and appreciating wine. On that

same note, Brodtmann and

Rob Dolan Wines’ marketing

manager, Mel Gilcrist, started

up a popular podcast to contin-

ue the enthusiasm.

With the brand now reaching

Korea, Singapore, Malaysia,

Japan and Russia, Dolan is

looking far beyond the Yarra

Valley. And the winery’s cellar

door is operating at a stronger

pace than ever, offering guided

tastings at the table and

cheese-and-wine flights that

hero the on-site cheese brand

Stone and Crow. Again, it’s all

part of sharing Dolan’s dec-

ades of experience with every-

one he can, coming from a

place of playfulness and pas-

sion rather than detached ex-

pertise.

“We’re trying to get everyone

to understand wine and have

fun with it,” he says. “That’s

been really important. You’re

growing with people, and they

feel like part of the business.”

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FAWG September 2021

What is the Forum?

The forum is an interactive

space for all members of the

Guild. It is designed for easier

access and use.

What happens in the forum?

Just like samepage, the forum

will hold discussions on hot

topics brought up by guild me-

members. There will be access

to speak to all registered mem-

bers allowing you to converse

and debate the art winemak-

ing!

Is this replacing Samepage?

Yes!

The forum will be replacing

Samepage.

What do I do now?

You can go onto the webpage

by following the link below.

Link is www.fawg.org.au/forum

Sign in as a ‘guest’ and peruse

the site.

Once familiar with it. You can

register yourself and one of the

committee members will ap-

prove your access, Then you

are set to go.

I am having difficulty using

the forum, what do I do?

We have several key commit-

tee members who are experts

in the new forum, with David

Wood leading the charge. He

will be taking everyone through

an interactive session of how

to use this new site in the Sep-

tember meeting. If you have

any questions in the mean-

time, please don’t hesitate to

reach out to a committee

member and they will point you

in the right direction.

Members Forum:

Bulletin Board

To members,

Part of the meeting this month will be dedi-cated to a tutorial by David Wood.

On the use and navigation of the guilds new chat forum to replace samepage.

I think It would be beneficial to join the meet-ing via your computer rather than your

phone.

This will enable you all to see Davids screen in full as he will be sharing it with you all. It

will also show more about zoom as well. Us-ing a smart phone might not give you the full

experience

Regards Glen Fortune

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FAWG September 2021

What do you listen to while you make wine?

For your Entertainment

Podcasts

On Spotify/Apple Music

This woman was driving home in Northern Arizona, when she saw an elderly Navajo woman walking on the side of the

road.

She stopped the car and asked the woman if she’d like a ride. The woman thanked her and got in the car.

After a few minutes, the Navajo woman noticed a brown bag on the back seat and asked the driver what was in the bag.

The driver said, “It’s a bottle of wine. I got it for my husband.” The Navajo woman thought for a moment, then said, “Good

trade.”

Podcast Episode Recommendation

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6q5izpo5N2wlAPSrBQtLJa?

si=rzknglDFTPOjYQEvoZih3Q&dl_branch=1

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FAWG September 2021

My Vintage Year:

If you were like me fascinated

by Michael from Mammoth

Wines at his very instructive

chat about his wine journey

recently at our guild, you will

find his Interview more than

satisfying. I did. Michael is a

passionate and considered

Wine Maker. He is not in the

order of those that follow con-

vention. He is more likely to

throw convention to the wind

and forge his wine out of what

nature provides. Not for him

the tidy trimmed, fully

greened, chemically extermi-

nated and irrigated vineyard.

Give him a tortured vine strug-

gling to exist with grapes full

of texture mineralisation and

mystery from the earth. Out of

that grape within he will ex-

tract the elixir, somehow. He

is a bon vivant of wine, ever

searching for the magic, mag-

ic that releases flavour and

uniqueness from a grape. A

rare clear thinking, sharp indi-

vidual, always looking for an

edge.

Make interesting wines, you

bet he will. Michael has no

time for the sycophants and

bootlickers of the wine indus-

try, the also ran wine writers

and popular pedlars of wine

parlance are an anathema.

He, on his own admission

wants wine makers of his ilk to

throw bouquets of praise

about what can be achieved

with effort and smarts. I can’t

wait to try his wines. After

reading this I’m sure you will

also.

We need to get him back

again for a Wine Masterclass

of his own wines and some of

his favourites. Wouldn’t that

be a memorable evening. I’m

putting my hand up to ask

him. We will pay for the wines

Michael, you can’t buy experi-

ence.

Where we interview wine people. They may be your fellow guild members or significant others in the Wine Industry. Was

this their vintage year: by Dave Chambers.

Today it is Michael Glover.

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FAWG September 2021

Dave: What is your first experience that you remember that led to an interest in wine.

Michael: I was born into a wine drinking household that became grape growers and winemakers when I was about 14 or 15 so wine was kind of always around. It was when I was about 15 or 16 and had a glass of 1979 Chateau Malartic-Lagraviere that bells rang…I could have smelled that glass for hours. I can still smell it in my mind – cigar box, cedar, tobacco…intoxicating.

Dave: Did that immediately lead to your career in making wine.

Michael: Not immediately but it did kind of sow a seed for the future. Bit by bit I just grew into wine until at about 24 years of age I made the decision to pur-sue it professionally.

Dave: What is an interesting unknown fact about you that members of our Frankston Guild may or may not find interesting.

Michael: Well, it is kind of linked to the above question. I was a road cyclist and represented New Zealand as a Junior. I was obsessed with it and still am as a spectator. I was about 23 and knew that I just wasn’t tough enough to ride in Eu-rope, so I re-focussed on wine…much to my father’s delight and disappointment.

Dave: If money was no object what wine or beverage are you buying with these unlimited funds.

Michael: Goodness, what an open ques-tion. I think I would be buying great wines from genuine and committed peo-ple from everywhere. The thing is that the ‘people’ bit is critical. I want friends and heroes in my cellar not arseholes. Although the sales and marketing side of the game likes to focus on real estate, soil types and weather events…wine is very much about people. I would buy

wine from the ‘goodies’…the Bon Guis of the wine world.

Dave: What are you making now or have recently that you are most proud.

Michael: I am just about to release a chardonnay called Kākāpō which has been in an old barrique for 4 years on gross ferment lees. It was made from fruit that was dry grown and organic. The wine sat in the barrel for 4 years with no additions and no stirring…this time renders the wine naturally stable, and the lees imparts texture and length. It is a wonderful beastie.

Leah Mottin has a Guest Question for you:

With reference to dry-grown vineyards, have you seen a shift in vine perfor-mance from the first harvest to the most recent?

Michael: It really depends on how you assess vine performance. The first year of any vineyard going dry after being irrigated can be challenging…the vines need time to adjust…but vines are re-markably hardy plants and they do adapt. I have noted greater resistance to both disease and seasonal changes (e.g., A sudden downfall that can result in fruit splitting etc.) from dry grown vines.

It is a generalisation, but the concept of dry growing is: Less water = less growth = less shade = less disease = less spraying. Yes, you also must accept less yield, but this also allows bestows earlier ripening, flavour ripeness at lower sugar levels and greater site expression.

Unfortunately for many in this ‘business’ or ‘industry’ vine performance is meas-ured purely by yield rather than quality.

“Not everything that counts can be counted” – Albert Einstein (my favourite quote to accountants)

Dave: Does technical astuteness give you an edge in your wine making skills. Wine making is skill that unfolds with experience. Are you finding this to be true for you in your own wine making?

Michael: In a way this is true for me. You need to know what is going on technical-ly and scientifically and try and master that. It is only then that the true wine-making begins…expression and individ-uality only come when you have con-quered the basics. Until you are doing your own thing you are merely copying someone else’s way. Why copy?

Dave: Are you into the intellectual part of the discussion about wine. Wine can be so many things to so many people. But what does it bring to you?

Michael: Although I am without doubt a hedonist, I recognise that I am attracted to wines that are quite cerebral or diffi-cult. I am attracted to the idea of a wine being made without any thought to the desires or tastes of the consumer or critic. There is purity in that. I also be-lieve that for every batch of wine in any given year there is a ‘perfect’ way to make it. The larger, broader, and deeper your armoury of winemaking options and the braver you are then surely the more likely it is that you will make the right winemaking decision. Of course, you will never achieve the perfect wine, but you must believe it is possible.

Dave: Are you a pedantic fussy wine maker or do you prefer to feel your way along steady as she goes. It will work out in the end.

Michael: Now days after making wine for over 20 years I am lazy. I used to be fussy and pedantic but have realised that there is no need to do anything un-less it needs to be done…this is so much harder than it sounds. Winemak-ers like to feel ‘in control’ which is kind of ridiculous. Control = beverage.

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FAWG September 2021

Dave: What is wine making to you. I suspect it is not just a job. But a con-suming passion that excites you. Is this true.

Michael: I have often been described as passionate etc. What people don’t real-ise is that great passion also brings with it great emotion, sleepless nights, anger, tears, fights, and frustration. It is not all ticket tape parades and adulation. I have some wine journo’s who think I am bril-liant, and I have some who hate me to bits. I know where they live and make firebombs in my spare time.

Dave: What are you excited about for the future of wine making. Markets are changing with China causing so much heartache. How do you see it unfolding over the next ten years?

Michael: Who knows? I suspect that consumers will become ever more de-manding and knowledgeable.

I think there will be a huge growth in environmentally positive practices such as biodynamics and organics. We are at a crossroads with our environment, and I’d like to think that this is an opportunity for producers to realise this and involve their grape growing and winemaking in a way that connects themselves and their consumers with the land that their wine has come from.

Dave: What inspires you to make better wine. Is it the gold medals or the knowledge that you are ever improving on your skill?

Michael: I have not entered or judged at a wine show for a long time now and now feel embarrassed that I ever did. If I think back to my road cycling days it would have to be respect from your peers along with a good dose of curiosi-ty, astonishment, and wonder. There are so many exciting, interesting, and dy-namic ways to make wine but unfortu-nately so many boring dull clone-like wines made the same way.

Dave: Who or what has been your big-gest influence in wine making.

Michael: Without question that would be my late father, Dr Dave Glover, who was pushing the winemaking boundaries way back before it was cool to do so. I re-member a trip from Australia back to Upper Moutere about 10 years ago where dad greeted me with a sauvignon blanc that he’d made that had sat for 6 years in large wood under flor yeast! Inspired by a Vin Jaune from the Jura that he’d drunk he effectively made a NZ version. It was sensational and in true dad style did not sell it. He just gave it to people who understood the madness.

Dave: Can you describe where you make your wine now.

Michael: Not really. I live on the Morn-ington Peninsula having returned from 6 years in Aotearoa almost a year ago. I have made a tiny amount of Mornington Pinot Noir and Chardonnay but will still make wine back in Nelson when Covid allows me the freedom of flight again (fingers crossed). I don’t have a winery or a vineyard, so I am free to seek out quality fruit that excites me from any region I like. If it is dry grown and organi-cally farmed, I am interested.

Dave: What were you drinking in your twenties.

Michael: Everything and anything that I could afford that lay claims to quality and greatness. I remember my wife Cath and I living in Wagga Wagga studying at CSU and surviving on Austudy. We bought a bottle of 1993 Latour and two bottles of 1993 Leoville Barton for 2 weeks’ worth of Austudy and got by on bread and water.

It was worth it.

Dave: If you could tell the young Michael about life, what advice would you give.

Michael: “Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist” – Pablo Picasso.

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FAWG September 2021

Dave: Is there a wine challenge that you particularly enjoy making over any other.

Michael: I am not sure that ‘challenge’ is the correct word but my favourite thing about winemaking is adventure.

Exploring different ideas and trying to find uniqueness expands your horizons on how to make wine.

Every year I have a map of what I am going to try to do and every year the map goes out the window on day 3 as you ride the vintage wave. You need a map to truly know that you have left the path!

Dave: Enlighten us with a couple of your favourites wine tweaks.

Michael: Hmm...there are entire vistas of texture, flavour, and structure to be found outside of today’s concept of the ‘norm’. I am an advocate of whole bunch use in reds (and whites), time on gross ferment lees with whites, skin fermenta-tion of whites, barrels made of acacia…the list goes on. Think broadly and with curiosity!

Dave: I have heard some complete dis-asters, from both commercial and hobby wine makers. What is your biggest dis-aster you can share with us?

Michael: Hmm…during vintage 1996 at The Rothbury Estate I oversaw the red ferments. All the red fermenters were static and required pump overs with a pump and hoses. We did have one soli-tary rotary fermenter which for those unaware is essentially like a giant con-crete mixer that you can roll to mix the cap. I had been well drilled to NEVER leave the door of the Roto-Vat open for obvious reasons. In 1997 I was again in charge of the red ferments, but we had a new red winemaker who decided to leave the door of the Roto-Vat open and told nobody. I remember very well going to the Roto-Vat and hitting the button to roll the 20-tonne fermenter, ten seconds

later the sound of liquid slapping con-crete as 2 tonnes of Hunter Shiraz burped out! Horrific. A river of red racing down the drive to Broke Road. It is times like these when you find out how popular you are in the cellar.

Dave: I have asked this question of eve-ryone and so far, a hundred percent have said making wine was never a fi-nancial consideration. What was the motivation and still is for you after so many years?

Michael: Simple, I want to make wines that my peers think are exciting and dy-namic. It’s always about ‘respect’ from those that you want respect from! I want to be thought of as a bloody good wine-maker by bloody good winemakers.

And Finally

Dave: You are going to a desert island to spend some chill time. You are taking with you one piece of music, one bottle of wine, a book and food. To be clear, that is a choice of one bottle of wine, one meal and so on. What will be placed in your suitcase.

Michael: Extremely tough question…but the wording seems to imply that I am expecting to be rescued or picked up, so I don’t have to be too ‘lifelong’ in my selections.

I have always had a thing for Italy and Italian wine. My first few overseas vin-tages were in Italy and one of the great food wine and wine moments was travel-ling to Alba for the truffle festival. The trip to Alba is an end of vintage tradition at Tenuta di Valgiano, just out of Lucca in Tuscany. I travelled with the winemak-er, Saverio Petrilli, up to Piedmont and purchased truffles that we then took to a neighbouring restaurant where they shaved them on to fresh pasta. It was the first time I had truffles and I was completely blown away. The wine that we selected was a huge gun…Giacomo Conterno 1996 Barolo…the truffles total-ly tamed the Barolo’s tannins…they were made for each other. Glorious. I’ll have a repeat of that thanks. The mu-sic? Let’s stay in Italy and indulge in Lucca’s very own Giacomo Puccini and Madam Butterfly. I’ll be having the great-est Butterfly, Renata Tebaldi if you don’t mind. Through various purely coinci-

dental contacts and luck I actually ar-ranged to meet Renata Tebaldi at her address in Firenze. We got to her ad-dress on a cold October night and rang the phone. We could hear movement inside and the phone being taken off the hook! Ha! I got close!

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FAWG September 2021

By Molly GlickAug 11, 2021 5:25 AM

https://www.discovermagazine.com/health/natural-wine-

and-the-debate-over-healthy-alcohol

Natural Wine and the Debate

Over 'Healthy' Alcohol

While companies suggest that natural wines are good for you, it’s unclear whether wine itself can bring medical benefits. Some researchers think so.

Now a staple at trendy restau-rants, natural wine has been described as funky and unusual tasting. Some say it has similar flavors to cider. While it doesn’t suit everyone’s palette, natural wine has undeniably made its mark in the past decade. In fact, some sustainability- and health-oriented consum-ers say they’re willing to pay more for it than conventional varieties.

What is Natu-ral Wine? The answer is complicated. Technically, the drink lacks any legal definition, which gives companies free rein in what they deem as “natural.” (The French govern-ment recognized a certification system in 2020, though it’s un-clear whether any companies will pursue it.)

Still, the industry tends to agree on several factors in the natural winemaking process: The grapes should ideally be grown without pesticides and herbicides, and later fermented without additives, like sulfites and faux oak fla-vors. Advocates also call for the use of indigenous, or wild, yeast that originates on grapes and around the vineyard and is adapted to local environments — unlike the ones bred in labs to hasten fermentation.

Despite its recent exposure in the U.S., some advocates say that natural winemaking hark-ens back to the olden days — before industrialization on the heels of World War II sped up a once-delicate process.

The natural movement's French founders start-ed ditching pesticides and chemical additives in the 1960s, in response to the high-productivity model that was widely expanding. Yet it only really took off in the U.S. after Isabelle Legeron kicked off the RAW WINE fair in 2012. Within five years, the trend turned the sommelier world upside down.

Some critics simply dismissed

natural wine and didn’t attempt to understand this changing style, says Ann Sperling, a proprietor and winemaker at Sperling Vineyards in British Columbia, Canada.

She became interested in nat-ural wine after seeing an ex-plosion in the use of oak alterna-

tives, which are cheaper and more practical materials that can mimic the smoky, toasty taste that comes from oak bar-rel storage. Sperling worries that manufacturers use this technique as a crutch, and she prefers to focus on the fla-vors derived from the grapes themselves.

Still, Sperling says, natural wine techniques can be highly demanding. For example, she observes how fungal diseas-

es make it harder for wild yeast to succeed in fermentation. Overall, the process can

bring significant financial con-straints and doesn’t work for every vineyard.

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Bottled Bene-fits The beverage’s fans (and foes) often point to the unusual and unpredictable flavors that differ from, say, a reliably fruity riesling or peppery cabernet sauvignon. The unique tangs come from the wild yeast that generate a variety of flavor molecules, says Andrew L. Waterhouse, a wine chemist at the University of California, Davis.

These distinctive tastes also result from the lack of fining and filtering process-es. Usually, winemakers use materials like gelatin or egg whites to remove certain pro-teins or microbes that would give it a brown, cloudy look and a bitter flavor.

In some cases, Waterhouse says, small traces of these fin-ing and filtering agents could remain in the final product — people with certain allergies or dietary restrictions may there-fore unknowingly consume them, since U.S. companies don’t need to add this infor-mation to labels. But this prob-lem can be avoided with natu-ral wine, since many producers forgo fining and filtering pro-cesses as part of their minimal intervention philosophy.

Such purists also oppose the application of insecticides and pesticides in the growing pro-

cess. This omission reaps obvious environmental advantages. As for convention-al wines, the fermentation pro-cess removes most of these substances. It's therefore un-likely that drinkers will be exposed to pesticides that exceed safe concentrations. (Some pesticides could al-ter taste, though.)

Additive Con-troversy Perhaps its most hyped-up feature: Plenty of natural brands advertise bottles free of sulfites, which are sulfur com-pounds that prevent the growth of certain bacteria and yeast that can turn wine into vinegar. These compounds pop up naturally as a result of fermentation, but additional amounts are often added to finish the job. Even the ancient Romans applied sulfites to pre-serve their wines. They’re also found in plenty of foods and drinks, along with certain medi-cations.

While it’s commonly believed that sulfites are to blame for icky booze side effects like hangovers, they’re likely not the culprit. Only about 1 per-cent of people are sensitive to sulfites, though it may increase to 5 percent among those with asthma. Still, companies are eager to bank on peo-

ple’s sulfite fears.

“They’re portraying it as some deadly substance, which I think is not really the case,” Waterhouse says. “In general, people want their foods to have less additives, so I think it fits that sort of global trend … but I don’t think [sulfites] are particularly toxic.”

Perhaps less infamous, a chemical called histamine in wine (which also occurs in the body) could also factor into re-actions like headaches, nau-sea and even heart palpita-tions. Researchers have found that commercial yeasts tend to produce higher levels of his-tamine, which also shows up in certain foods like tomatoes and spinach. In some cas-es, native yeast may actually help reduce histamine for-mation.

All in all, if someone were to eat sulfite- or histamine-rich foods and top it off with a glass of pinot grigio, it’s hard to tell which component of the day’s menu caused physical symp-toms — or if the sulfites and histamines specifically had an-ything to do with it. So, isolat-ing the cause can be a real headache.

Regardless, Waterhouse notes that winemakers must ensure that their addi-tives are “generally recognized as safe,” according to FDA standards.

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Additionally, sulfite levels above 10 parts per million must be disclosed on labels. But he would like to see great-er transparency from compa-nies, natural adherents or not, by clearly stating the pro-cessing materials that may or may not linger in the final prod-uct. A growing move-ment agrees.

A few companies list additives and other ingredients, though it’s far from the norm and hard to verify. “There’s no legal re-

quirement to reveal the pro-cessing materials that were used to make the wine," he says. "It’s concerning."

Wine ‘Wellness’? Natural wine marketing also

suggests that it can boost drinkers’ health, a claim now explored in epidemiological research on wine as a whole. In the past few decades, scien-tists have considered vino’s prospects in preventing a host of conditions, including heart disease, depression and cancer.

Critics say that it’s tricky to conclusively say whether a few glasses each week do the trick. After all, there’s plenty of confounding factors, like life-

style and genetics. It’s also im-portant to note that any type of alcohol can impair one’s health, particularly when con-sumed excessively over long periods.

But experiments have identi-fied micronutrients called poly-phenols derived from grapes and the fermentation process as a source of potential bene-

fits, like lower levels of inflamma-

tion markers in the blood and a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Plants produce these molecules in the wild to manage environ-mental stressors like ultraviolet light and free radicals. That could explain why they offer antioxi-dant and anti-inflammatory properties, among others, with-in the human body.

Natural wine may offer more abundant polyphenols by cut-ting out the fining process, which is thought to remove them. And orange wines (which are often consid-ered natural, but not al-ways) could contain even high-er levels of polyphenols than reds — which are thought to offer more protective effects than most types of alcohol.

Waterhouse thinks that poly-phenols could benefit the gut’s microbiome, where it may de-crease the odds of develop-ing type 2 diabe-tes and cardiovascular dis-ease. Interestingly, he says, research may also prove that combining wine and a nutri-tious meal may deliver the op-timal health advantages. May-be those fancy wine-pairing menus are the right idea.

All in all, researchers still can't seem to agree whether most of-age adults are truly better off sipping an occasional glass of red (or, some glou-glou) as op-posed to no wine at all. But fur-ther evidence may point in that direction.

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Hops may be one of four es-sential ingredients in beer (alongside barley, yeast, and of course water). But from the current spectrum of craft beer offerings—and the heavy em-phasis on hoppy IPAs—it might seem like hops is the marquee ingredient behind all worthy and delicious beer.

That isn’t the case. Hops are magical, absolutely, and hoppy

styles are recently trending as hard as the Kardashians, but hops are part of a spectrum; an ingredient—a really inter-esting one—in the magi-cal recipe for beer.

So what are hops? As far as beer is concerned, what we call “hops” are actually just the

cone-shaped flowers of the fe-male hops plant, aka Humulus lupulus. A cousin of canna-bis—with none of the THC, alas—hops contain acids and oils that impart bitterness, fla-vor, and stability to the finished beer. Generally, hops are add-ed to the boil stage of brewing, as it takes a pretty long time (around an hour) to unleash the “alpha” acids that bitter and balance the sweetness of the

malt (this is why hops weren’t incorporated into beer produc-tion until around the turn of the 1st Century A.D.– ancient man probably wouldn’t have had time or inclination to chill out around a fire as his hops boiled).

Hops are most often associat-

ed with bitterness, but that isn’t the only reason to use them. Depending on what you’re go-ing for, you might add more hops later in the boil (since ar-omatic oils are destroyed in a long boiling process). But a beer could also be dry hopped (added to the fermenter) or even fresh hopped (when just-picked hops aren’t dried but instead brought to the brewery like so much fresh cut grass).

Again, depending on the style you’re going for, and where you’re brewing, the choice and timing of hops will vary.

The Role of Hops in Beer

words: VINEPAIR STAFF

https://vinepair.com/beer-101/the-role-of-hops-in-beer/

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FAWG September 2021

If you’re looking for a great basic example of how hops can vary in flavor and regional characteristics, try a West Coast IPA alongside an East Coast IPA. You’ll notice simi-larities—an unapologetic, but pleasant bitterness, e.g.—among a world of differences. Bear in mind, these are so-called “hop-forward” beers, with a pronounced bitterness which you may or may not like. But fear not, because in many cases—and many beer styles—hops don’t have a star-ring role but a supporting role, and are often even shunted into the background for struc-tural support as a brewer looks to emphasize other flavors (say, the roasty character of a grain in a darker ale).

Beyond knowing your basic beer styles, a good way to know how hops have been used in a particular beer is checking the IBU level. An in-creasing number of beers will display the IBU, or “International Bittering Units,” which measures the iso-alpha acids in a beer (and thus, the bitterness). But whether you notice them or not, if you’re drinking beer, you’re reaping the benefits of the hops plant.

The Role of Hops in Beer

words: VINEPAIR STAFF

https://vinepair.com/beer-101/the-role-of-hops-in-beer/

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FAWG September 2021

Quiz time! Would two wines fer-mented to the same final SG/Brix have the same amount of residual sug-ar? Please explain your answer. LONG RESPONSE BUT I WANTED MY ANSWER TO BE INFORMATIVE TO HIGH-LIGHT CERTAIN RISKS Thank you all who have re-sponded. There were many excellent answers. The intent of the quiz and the way it was worded was to highlight a risky assumption that some winemakers make, that two wines with the same final SG have the same amount of residual sugars (RS).

There are online calculators and formulae that convert final SG (or Brix) into a RS amount with no consideration for other parameters. Two wines with the same final SG can have significantly different amounts of RS and risks of refermenta-tion.

SG (and Brix, Baumé, Oechsle, Balling, etc) measures density. Measure-ments made with a hydrometer are approximate as they are affected by alcohol, acidity, and many, many other wine components. For all practical purposes, they are good ap-

proximations, but not for deter-mining RS. And standard hy-drometers are not accurate. A reading of 0.995, which is commonly used to determine end of fermentation and dry-ness, can easily be off by one point and even 2, i.e. it can be 0.996 or 0.997, and so it can have significant amounts of sugar and cause refermenta-tion. Personally, I use a high-accuracy hydrometer to as-sess end of fermentation and dryness.

Yes, alcohol (% ABV) affects SG readings and the amount of RS. Many of you mentioned OG (Original Gravity). That too is a factor but keep in mind that two wines with different OG can ferment to the same final SG and same final %ABV as different yeasts metabolize sugars differently. Of measura-ble parameters, acidity too af-fects RS. All this too say that estimating final RS is very complicated, with different methods yielding very different results, and that therefore the only recommended method to determine RS is to measure it. The type of sugars (glucose vs fructose) in the final wine is not a factor in this context, but yes, two wines with the same RS can taste differently – one may taste sweeter depending on the proportion of sugars. Why is this all important? Consider that a white wine with 12.5% ABV and a final SG of 0.995 can have as much as 8

g/L of RS, which clearly puts the wine at high risk of refer-menting. Ditto for a red wine with 13.7% ABV (initial SG 1.110) and a TA of 5.0 g/L, which can have as much as 7 g/L RS.

Winemakers often use a threshold of 4 or 5 g/L (0.4 or 0.5%) to determine if a wine is stable and that it will not refer-ment. I use 2/gL to be safer. And now you see why the above white and red wines are at high risk of refermenting. Sure, if you bottle the wines with sufficient SO2 and drink them relatively quick, it’s a moot discussion, but the long-er you age the wines, the greater the risk. I have seen many wines at 0.995 or 0.996 start refermenting after 6 months in the bottle.

To minimize such risks if you intend to age wine, and espe-cially if you don’t use SO2, fer-ment to as close to 0.990. Oth-erwise, where sterile filtration (to remove yeast) is not possi-ble, it is recommended to add sorbate (when possible, i.e. not in wines that have under-gone malolactic fermentation) in conjunction with SO2.

Daniel Pambianchi.

Daniel Pambianchi Takes us through Residual Sugar

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https://www.decanter.com/

learn/winequiz/wine-

making-quiz-378451/

1. Which one of these de-

scribes the traditional

process of making

Rose’ wines?

A - Using rose’ grapes,

crush the grapes to get

out the rose’ coloured

juice

B—Using red grapes, mac-

erate the fruit for a short

time on skin

C—Blend red and white

wine before aging them

D—Macerate white wine in

red lees to give it colour

2. Which one of these is not

a fining agent?

A—Wool

B—Blood

C—Fish Bladder

D—Egg

3. Which of these best de-

scribes a common tem-

perature in the fermen-

tation of wine?

A— 15 Degrees Celsius in

stainless steel

B— 30 Degrees Celsius in

Stainless steel

C– 5 Degrees Celsius in

Barriques

D—87 Degrees Celsius in

oak

4. If you were making

Champagne method

sparkling wine, where

would the second fer-

mentation take place?

5. What does malic acid

change into during

malolactic fermentation?

6. Where does the fer-

mentation traditional

occur for a pet nat

wine?

7. What is the point of rid-

dling?

8. What two gasses are

produced during fer-

mentation?

9. Why do winemakers add

forms of nitrogen to a

fermenation?

10. What are the two forms

of wine stabilisation?

11. Why do winemakers

add carbon to a wine?

12. Why do white winemak-

ers separate the free

run and pressings?

The Wine Making Quiz

Answers

1. A

2. A

3. A

4. In the bottle

5. Lactic Acid

6. In the bottle

7. To move all the yeast to the cap

8. Hydrogen Sulphide and Carbon Dioxide

9. To feed the yeast/to reduce H2S Production

10. Cold stabilisation/heat stabilisation

11. To remove colour/smoke taint

12. The pressings can be bitter and contain

more phenolic compounds, they need to be

treated with different rates of additives

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FAWG September 2021

Send in photos of your delicious meals and have them

featured in the next issue..

By Maureen Callahan— Cooking Light November 2014

Recipe of the Month: Featuring Cognac

ROAST BEEF TENDE LOIN WITH COGNAC BUTTER

Ingredients

Cognac butter:

1 1/2 teaspoons butter

3 tablespoons minced shallots

3 tablespoons cognac

6 1/2 tablespoons butter, softened

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black

pepper

Tenderloin:

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons honey

1 teaspoon lower-sodium soy sauce

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black

pepper

1 (2-pound) beef tenderloin, trimmed

2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme

Cooking spray

Using tenderloin, a leaner cut of

steak, allows you to indulge in a fla-

vored butter topper. You'll only use

half of the cognac butter, but make

all of it--cutting the amount in half

doesn't work as well. Use the leftover

butter within the week, on pasta or

over fish, or freeze up to one month;

bring to room temperature before

serving.

Step 1

To prepare cognac butter, melt 1 1/2

teaspoons butter in a small nonstick

skillet over medium-low heat. Add

shallots; cook 2 minutes or until ten-

der, stirring shallots occasionally.

Carefully stir in cognac; cook 1 mi-

nute or until liquid is reduced by

about one-third. Remove from heat;

cool.

Step 2

Place 6 1/2 tablespoons butter in a

small bowl; stir in cooled cognac mix-

ture, 1 tablespoon thyme leaves, and

1/8 teaspoon black pepper. Cover

and chill 10 minutes. Divide butter

mixture in half. Scrape each half of

butter mixture onto a piece of plastic

wrap; shape each portion into a 4-

inch-long log. Wrap each butter log in

plastic wrap; refrigerate or freeze 1

log for another use. Preheat oven to

425°.

Step 3

To prepare tenderloin, combine mus-

tard and next 4 ingredients (through

1/2 teaspoon pepper); stir with a

whisk. Spread mustard mixture over

all sides of tenderloin; sprinkle with 2

tablespoons thyme. Place tenderloin

in a shallow roasting pan coated with

cooking spray. Bake at 425° for 38

minutes or until a thermometer in-

serted in center of tenderloin regis-

ters 135° or until desired degree of

doneness. Let stand 10 minutes.

Step 4

Cut tenderloin crosswise into 16 slic-

es. Arrange 2 slices on each of 8

plates. Cut 1 butter log into 8 slices;

top each serving with 1 butter slice.

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FAWG September 2021

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