A brief look at the past week in wine...
Are sulfites in wine harmful?
SO2 definitely has a bad rap when it comes to popular opinion. That could have a lot to do with the terse couplet ‘contains sulfites’, legally required to grace almost all bottles of wine sold in the US since 1988, and within the EU since 2005. Only those with less than 10 parts per million (PPM) are exempted, and here’s the rub – the fermentation process can produce more than that naturally, without any added SO2, meaning that even many ‘no added sulfite’ wines must display the offending words on the label.
Does this mean sulfites in wine are harmful? Probably not, at least not in the minuscule amounts found in modern wines – typically 20-200 PPM. Compare that to a handful of dried fruit, which will have been dosed with anywhere from 500-3,000 PPM. While this amount could theoretically cause an adverse reaction in an asthmatic, it’s extremely rare: sulfite intolerance reportedly affects less than 1% of the population. Sulfites are probably not responsible for your hangover either, as Andrew Waterhouse, professor of enology at UC Davis, asserts: ‘There is no medical research data showing that sulfites cause headaches.’
Given the apparent lack of health risks, why do winemakers like Muster insist on reducing their sulfite usage to a bare minimum, or even to zero? Despite its usefulness in slowing oxidation and knocking out harmful bacteria, some believe SO2 also mutes the delicate nuances that express vintage or vineyard character, as Muster proved to me so definitively in our tasting.
What’s happening in the market?
The latest market figures from Bordeaux négociants, care of Eleanor Wine in February 2016, show that the 2013 vintage (the one that is hitting the market now, just as the 2015 en primeurs are to be tasted) is being offered at either at or below release price in 90% of cases. A full 63% has not budged in price either way, with 27% trading at below opening price and just 10% showing a rise (the best rise, with an impressive 74%, is Petit Mouton, and there is also a cheering 19% rise for the increasingly strong Chateau Carmes Haut-Brion). The percentage drops for the worst performers are not as miserable as you might think by the way – the worst drop is 7% for Pagodes Cos d’Estournel, but its release price was only 2% under that of 2012, clearly not enough for the vintage.
Even the better quality 2012 vintage has 55% of estates being offered either at or below release price, and just 45% seeing an increase since En Primeur (although this compares favourably to two years ago, in 2014, when only 17.6% had increased in price).
But the Bordelais are both super resilient and super thick skinned when it comes to valuing their wine, and it has been pretty much universally accepted that their exit prices for the 2015s are going to be higher than the last few years.
The logic of Bordeaux when it comes to pricing a quality vintage makes this a certainty, and after four years of relatively weak vintages (even if that is a little unfair to the 2014s) there is an appetite for the good stuff.
On top of that we all know that, whatever they say, the historical set up of Bordeaux means that châteaux don’t have to worry too much about whether Berry Bros, Corneys, Zachys or Watson’s are happy with the prices – they just have to worry about whether the Bordeaux négociants are going to buy.
Osbourne singles out wine trade
Wine was the only alcoholic drink not to benefit from a freeze in duty in Osborne’s Budget speech to Parliament today (16 March).
Miles Beale, chief executive of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA), said ‘We are disappointed that 30m wine consumers have been singled out for a duty rise.’ In last year’s pre-election budget, Osborne appeased wine drinkers with a freeze on duty – but wine still fared the worst, because beer and spirit duties were cut.
Osborne’s announcement may put more financial pressure on the wine supply chain, particularly at a time when the sterling currency has weakened against the euro, effectively making it more expensive to import wine from the eurozone countries such as France, Spain and Italy.
‘The freeze in wine duty in 2015 has resulted in £118m extra in revenue to the UK Treasury in the last 10 months, up 4% [on the previous year], which makes it very unfair that wine has been penalised,’ said Beale. ‘We also deeply regret that the Government has missed this important opportunity to support the emerging English wine industry, which is a real home-grown success story that needs nurturing rather than being hit by another unfair tax increase.’
Cheers!
