Popping his cork

Press, 4 February 1982, Page 12

Popping his cork

Maurice Hunter’s

GRAPEVINE

I cannot truthfully say that one of my favourite TV programmes was ruined last week but I was so incensed that my vituperation drowned but several exchanges of dialogue, causing Thirza to make all sorts of soothing noises, both to reduce my blood pressure and to ensure her uninterrupted viewing for the rest of the feature. In “To the Manor Born,” the nouveau riche lord of the manor, resplendent in dinner jacket, was preparing to entertain Audrey fforbesHamilton to dinner, and had apparently done all that he should have done except what was clearly his duty — to see to the correct preparation of the wine. Suddenly he noticed that his peasant bred Czechoslovakian mother had placed the red wine in the ice bucket and the champagne in front of the fire. "Mother!” he exclaimed, in tones of unctuous horror, "You should chill the champagne and chambre the red.” He whipped up the champagne and disappeared off the set, where the sound of a loud report indicated that the bottle had exploded. He then returned, removed the red wine from the ice bucket and placed it where the champagne had been, on the hearth before a roaring fire.

Chambre is French for a room. The verb chambrer means to take the chill off a red wine, in fact, to room temperature so that when the wine is poured there is no feeling of coldness when the hand meets the glass. And what does the great oaf do? He cooks it! We did not see the dinner scene but I have a mental picture of Audrey fforbesHamilton tasting the stuff and then scanning the label with the comment. “Funny! It doesn’t say ’Mulled in this bottle’!”

It was not the only social gaffe committed by the man in that episode and I'm on Lady Audreys side — I despair of the fellow. That brings me to another misconception which, fortunately. is more understandable.

When the seal is removed from a bottle, exposing a layer of mould on the top of the cork, many people believe that the wine is “corked." Now, it is impossible to tell whether a wine is corked or not until it is sppelled and tasted, and then the symptoms are unmistakable. The mould on the cork is caused by moisture being trapped between the cork and the seal at the time of bottling. The moisture dries out and a film of mildew forms. But a wine becomes corked only because of a fault in the’texture, mainly a flaw along the side which allows the mould to spread to the wine and taint it. That is why a good wine steward will always produce the drawn cork for inspection before pouring. It pays to carry out the inspection, too. A good sniff of the cork will indicate whether the wine is in good condition, and the extent to which the cork is stained with wine will tell you how well, or how badly, it has been stored. If there is no staining at all. the chances are that it has been stored upright for some time and is to be considered suspect. But don't be hasty in rejecting the wine if the cork does not smell right. I have known an instance when the cork had a definite smell of mildew and it would probably not have been long before the wine was affected but, on this occasion, it proved to be quite clean and acceptable. The presence of crust in a red wine also upsets some people, but there is no call for alarm. Crust is a deposit

of tartrates thrown out during maturation in the bottle and the wine should be the better for it. Care should be taken, however, not to shake the bottle and to decant, leaving the crust in the bottle. If this is not done you run the risk of pouring cloudy wine and serving your guests a mouthful of tartrates. Tartrates also sometimes appear in a white wine in the form of flakes or crystals They’ are often mistaken for sugar crystals and cause all sorts of unkind accusations to be made against the winemaker. They appeaar to be caused mainly through the wine being stored at a lower temperature than that of fermentation. They sink rapidly to the bottom of the bottle and, if anything, indicate an improvement. Apart from being asked to explain aspects such as these, I am often approached by enthusiasts who wish to join a wine club. It embarrasses me not to be able to help them and, while being aware of a fewprivate groups of people who like to get together for discussion and assessment, I know of nothing specific. My commitments prevent any personal participation but if there are any readers out there who are keen to form a group, or any group willing to accept new’ members, I would be happy to put them in touch with one another. For those who have the time and a basic knowledge of wine, the opportunity is available for them to participate in a three-day seminar to be held at the Christchurch Polytechnic from February 17 to’ 19.