K9’s of the red wine world…

We welcomed a new pooch into our homes last week (a Shetland collie, at least this is what the animal welfare said, we still need to see how he turns out, but the early signs looks promising). Looking at the dogs running amok in our back yard, while sipping on some Shiraz, I thought about […]

Age before beauty?

You have treated yourself a bit and bought an expensive case of red wine. Now you would like to know when the optimal time would be to drink this wine. In my line of work I often get this question…In other words, what is the ageing potential of a red wine? I attended a great […]

Someone who thinks small means insignificant has never been in bed with a mosquito…

I have been absent for quite a while due to a back injury and would like to pick up the pieces (not literally!)…. So this is now my first attempt in a while to write an article on my blog and I thought to perhaps skip the science part this time and write about an […]

On caravans, ships, temperatures and wine…

A winemaker once told me how he sold quite a lot of wine to a father whose daughter was to be married in a few months’ time. After the wedding the enraged father told the winemaker that the wines were not the same as when he bought it and tasted awful at the wedding. Turns […]

The wood must respect the fruit…

A favourite motto of barrel producers (coopers) is that the wood must respect the fruit in wine, something a certain ex-president of ours were not really inclined to do with our constitution… So let’s zoom(a) into the main differences between new and old oak barrels used for winemaking… About a decade ago the use of […]

Variability is the spice of life in wine…

If there is one thing I have learned the past 17 years while doing research in wine in is that wine can be quite complex. Due to the effects of variability in wine production, doing research and to a certain extend training in wine can be quite daunting. However, this makes investigations into what makes […]

Fine with fining your wine?

The other day I received a notice from the traffic department, a speeding fine. I required a large glass of wine before opening it, but fortunately not too bad…. However, did you know that fining often also takes place when wine is made? No, I am not referring here to a disciplinary action, but rather […]

Cool compounds: pepper and raspberry in Shiraz wines

This festive time of the year, being summer time, one tends to drink more white wine. However, spending Christmas in CAW (Cold and Wet George), I will probably open a bottle of Shiraz to go with the cold meats tomorrow. Shiraz is a very versatile cultivar, making wines that can be either spicy, more fruity/flowery […]

Big bad Brett in wine

Ever heard of the bad boy in wine making? No, I am not referring to a winemaker and his mood at the end of harvest… Winemakers will often add yeast to grape must to complete the alcoholic fermentation, but not all yeasts are equal and good for the wine’s quality for that matter! Brettanomyces is a […]

Romancing the Stone: minerality in wine

I love 80’s adventure movies. I was thinking this morning about the movie “Romancing the Stone” and suddenly thought about a term sometimes used to describe wines: minerality…. In this post I’ll talk a bit about this description in wine (Word does not even seems to have it in its spell check!). Minerality is sometimes […]