Frequently Asked Questions

The most obvious answer is personal choice, but there are some underlying factors that make good wine better. The balance of a wine is very important, and relies upon factors including what you can taste, the level of acid or oak, the amount of fruit and the length of the wine, ie how long the flavour stays in your mouth. Concentration is another huge factor in wine quality, for example; maybe the wine tastes like water which has only a dash of wine in it. This doesn't necessarily mean the bigger, or more concentrated, the better, light wines can have great concentration also.

Wines that offer true reflection of the variety or the style in which they are made can often be held as good examples of 'better' wines.

These wines are both made from the same grape, the most significant difference is that Pinot Gris is the French name and the other, Pinot Grigio, is Italian.

Other countries have different names for the grape as well, for example the German name is 'Grauburgunder'.

In addition, traditionally the wines in each country have been made in different ways and if you are drinking a 'Pinot Gris', then it should be richer, more scented and possibly have a suggestion of sweetness. A 'Pinot Grigio' on the other hand is usually picked earlier and therefore the wines have more assertive acid and a much fresher leaner feel to them.

This is a matter of taste for many wine drinkers, I think that the more time that anyone spends drinking lots of different wine then the more you will find that the expensive ones do offer you more: more texture; more flavour; more length; and more enjoyment. That is not to say that you can't enjoy a wine that costs $10, for equally, wines that costs ten times as much can also disappoint.

Syrah is the name given to the grape that we in Australia know as Shiraz, however, as with Pinot Gris and Pinot Grigio, there is a difference between the two styles based upon the way they are made. Syrah is more savoury and gamey at times and Shiraz is more obviously fruit sweet and dare I say, at times jammy.

A wine is corked when it has been infected by 2 4 6 trichloroanisole (cork taint). Generic descriptions of the smell include smells of "wet dog", "musty cellars" or "dank cardboard".

Commonly thought to be the result of small particles of cork being in the wine, cork taint actually occurs when the bark of the cork tree (used to make corks) is brought into contact with chlorine during production. Cork taint is detectable at very low concentrations, and its detection does vary from person to person, it also strips the wine of flavour and fruit sweetness, making the affected wine 'dumb' or 'flat' on the nose.

This is a very wine specific question and varies from bottle to bottle.

To enable the wine to breathe sufficiently I suggest decanting the wine properly, with the length of time varying depending on the wine you have chosen.

However, I would suggest that unless you are separating the wine from any potential deposits such as sediment, it is equally as acceptable to open it just as you are about to drink it and swirl it in your glass to give it some air. I think that watching a wine evolve in the glass is more fun than letting it sit in a decanter for too long... you might miss out on the good bits.

If you have any questions specific to your chosen bottle of wine, click on 'Sommelier Online' and I will provide you the relevant information.

Note: The concept of opening a wine and leaving it to breathe in the bottle is a waste of time, as the amount of wine exposed to air is negligible and you will notice little difference.

Generally the answer to this question is 'no', as a large part of this question relies upon what you think is cheap. Also the type of wine concerned plays a major role. Some wine varieties aren't designed to be cellared for more than a year or two and are mostly likely those at the bottom end of the pricing scale.

Absolutely. They are at risk of cork taint as much of the rest of the wines. The only argument that they may be at less risk is due to the use of a cork that has agglomerate cork at the top and slice of pure cork at the end that has direct contact with the wine.

No. The changing of the colour of wine is a perfectly normal physiological change in a wine's life. Some wines do better than others at aging gracefully, but a change in a wine's colour is by no means an indication of a fault. Typically red wines get lighter with age and white wines get darker. Wine does evolve in the bottle and change of colour is to be expected over time, in most cases however, premature colour change is a good indicator of oxidation in a wine.

No. Any mould on the cork is not related to a problem in the wine and once you take the cork out, wipe the top of the bottle and don't give it another thought. Corks are very resilient products and not much can get through them (as long as they aren't faulty) When a product like cork is compressed to half it's size to squeeze into the bottle, they are as near a perfect seal as you can get.