Low- and no-sulphur wines at Cambridge Road (Martinborough)
This low-SO2 riesling re-fermented to sparkling. In New Zealand, several producers are making very low- and no-sulphur wines (Seresin, Rippon, Alana, Cambridge Road, Pyramid Valley, etc.). These bottlings are usually sold at the cellar door or made for personal consumption, and many winemakers are still experimenting with them for export. Mike Weersing from Pyramid Valley notes that if you put a little CO2 into the wine to fill the ullage, it acts as a preservative as the wine travels. This is a common and accepted practice in many of the world's wine regions that are becoming famous for low/no-sulphur wines. But the difference in New Zealand is that the common closure is the screwcap, and in this environment, the CO2 will stay dissolved in the wine longer and do its job better on arduous global journeys.
You see this quite often as a sommelier-- the lower-sulphur wines that I'll open will frequently have a small spritz at the beginning from CO2 preservative that has dissolved into the wine. I'll decant the wine until the spritz is gone, then serve it to the guest who ordered it. That CO2 spritz is sometimes mistaken for a fault, but a little extra effort from sommeliers and a little more consumer education could fix this. (Yes, sometimes you get wines that have undergone a secondary fermentation and are spritzy, but this type of spritz, in my experience, is usually much more intense than CO2 preservative spritz, plus re-fermented wines tend to taste out of balance because of the unexpected changes in alcohol and sugar content. But sometimes, you get an an unexpected surprise, like the riesling pictured left.).
You see this quite often as a sommelier-- the lower-sulphur wines that I'll open will frequently have a small spritz at the beginning from CO2 preservative that has dissolved into the wine. I'll decant the wine until the spritz is gone, then serve it to the guest who ordered it. That CO2 spritz is sometimes mistaken for a fault, but a little extra effort from sommeliers and a little more consumer education could fix this. (Yes, sometimes you get wines that have undergone a secondary fermentation and are spritzy, but this type of spritz, in my experience, is usually much more intense than CO2 preservative spritz, plus re-fermented wines tend to taste out of balance because of the unexpected changes in alcohol and sugar content. But sometimes, you get an an unexpected surprise, like the riesling pictured left.).
Low- and no-sulphur trials at Seresin. About corks and low-sulphur wines, Clive Dougall (Seresin) notes, "it seems counterintuitive to use an oxidative closure on a wine that is more vulnerable to oxidation." And he's right. If you set aside all cork vs. screw cap debates that center around issues of aesthetic and tradition, and consider it from a technical and practical point of view, the screw cap (and the crown cap for low-sulphur sparkling wines) has major potential for winemakers around the globe wishing to use less sulphur.
I wonder if a regimen of CO2 injection + screwcaps on low/no-sulphur wines could make a difference in the world of natural wine. I absolutely love no-sulphur wines, but I am always crestfallen when I get a faulty bottle, which can be often. So many sommeliers and wine drinkers complain that natural wines have too many faults once they reach the consumer, because they just aren't built for global travel. Well, Clive has sent no-sulphur bottles (under screwcap) around the globe by ship and airplane, then had them returned to New Zealand. He's blind tasted these travel-trials against the same bottling that had never left the cellar, and he couldn't tell the difference.
I wonder if a regimen of CO2 injection + screwcaps on low/no-sulphur wines could make a difference in the world of natural wine. I absolutely love no-sulphur wines, but I am always crestfallen when I get a faulty bottle, which can be often. So many sommeliers and wine drinkers complain that natural wines have too many faults once they reach the consumer, because they just aren't built for global travel. Well, Clive has sent no-sulphur bottles (under screwcap) around the globe by ship and airplane, then had them returned to New Zealand. He's blind tasted these travel-trials against the same bottling that had never left the cellar, and he couldn't tell the difference.
No-sulphur pinot noir at Alana trial and no-sulphur gamay at Rippon trial. Might [screwcap + CO2] be a new paradigm for the more successful travel of low- and no- sulphur wines around the globe? There are many people working with it already, but if this idea was more widespread, it has potential to enhance the travelabilty of low-sulphur wines in a global market; especially in regions where winemakers tend to adhere to cork closures.
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