It is with great amusement that I watch the French wine industry and media attempt to come to terms with the ‘blight’ of ‘premature oxidation’ that is ‘cutting a swathe’ through its top vineyards. French wine producers stand accused of attempting to ‘cover up’ this debacle, in which even the most expensive Grand Cru burgundies come to taste just like ‘sherry’ when they’re supposed to be drinking at their peak.Earnest, well-meaning websites like oxidised-burgs.wikispaces.com provide detailed analysis of the condition of many great wines, vintage by vintage, tasting date by tasting date. Oxidised-burgs reckons the problem has affected between 9% and 23% of the best wines from the top vintages from 1996 to 2001. Winemakers are defending themselves by accusing their customers of not cellaring their wines properly. Critics are saying the industry is burying its head in the sand. Is there a better recipe for a Gallic stouch than this? Is there a mystery wine disease? Has the anti-alcohol lobby found a means of chemical warfare on wine?Welcome, Australian winemakers would say, to a clear understanding of the world of cork. This very issue, which for years was called ‘random oxidation’ before its incidence was discovered to be anything but that, is now referred to over here as ‘sporadic oxidation’. This concept acknowledges that from time to time, as even the Burgundians discovered with their 1995 and 1996 vintages, corks have poorer seasons than usual as well. This causes major incidences of corks that let air in, and spoil wine over time. Corks can also have good seasons as well, as those of us still with Australian red wines from years like 1991 and 1994 will certainly attest.What leaves me shaking my head in wonderment is not so much that the problem has been identified Ð for it was always going to be Ð but that there is such a broad level of denial in Europe and the US over the cause. Australian winemakers clearly agree, since judging by the wines arriving daily at my office, less than 5% of Australian chardonnays are sealed today by natural cork. All the doubters need to do is get over here and taste them.
