February 2006 : More money than sense?

A 200 year-old bottle of Sauternes has just been sold for $90,000 making it the most expensive bottle of wine ever sold. It was a 1787 vintage Chateau d’Yquem and from a private collector in France. The wine was inspected and recorked in 1980 and again in 1991 when the wine was tasted and proved excellent. The bottle is being hand delivered to the USA by private plane – it works out to $15,000 per glass. Only in America!

Puts a new twist on the subject!
The New Zealand Screwcap Initiative is going global. Founded by a group of quality wine producers, the idea is to convert wine producers to use screw caps instead of corks. For example, the famous Michel Laroche in Chablis has converted to screwcaps, including their red wines as well (vineyards in Argentina), so there is no doubt that screwcaps will go international.

From the customer’s point of view, it’s good news. No more messing about with corkscrews. I wonder what effect this will have on sommeliers in classy restaurants when they usually smell the cork when opening wine at the table! It would be very strange to see them smelling a screwcap – which also proves my point regarding this practice! The sommelier should be pouring a little into his glass before serving and smelling the wine – NOT the cork – only then offering the customer a taster for approval. It’s the wine that’s important – not so much the cork.

Sense and sensitivity?
How is your sense of taste? This summer there will be a Masters of Wine Symposium to test critics’ taste buds. The idea is not to judge the various experts on their taste buds – but to discover who makes good or bad tasters. People live in different ‘sensory worlds’ and one person might experience things very intensely while others can’t sense them at all.

We would all like to be supertasters, but in fact these people might be very limited in the wines they are able to appreciate, because intense and concentrated flavours overload their senses. The symposium is designed to try and understand why people like what they like.
I’m glad to say that at the ripe old age of 74, my taste buds still work perfectly well – thank goodness.

Happy & Healthy Drinking!
Kenneth Harry Putt

This Month's Recipe : Israeli Salad

Here’s a very easy salad recipe from Kenneth Harry – for when guests turn up unexpectedly and you’ve only got a few items in the larder! For this you will need very good organic vegetables, olive oil and an enjoyment of the simple pleasures life has to offer!

Ingredients:
2 large tomatoes
2 cucumbers
1 large onion
4 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
half a lemon
quarter cup of best olive oil
salt and black pepper to taste
chopped fresh mint – optional

Method:
Dice the vegetables with a very sharp knife – small and evenly cut.

You could even add red cabbage, green pepper or garlic if you wanted to!

Squeeze and strain the lemon juice over the vegetables, then add the other ingredients. Toss well before serving.