Food & drink: Tainted red and white

HASTINGS, New Zealand, 5 November 1998. There are five of us sitting outside the early-19th-century stables at Ngatarawa Wines, talking, sipping wine, and spitting on the lush green grass. This is work, and I'll be reporting on it fully in due course. What concerns us here is the last bottle to be sipped, Alwyn Noble Harvest 1994. This top-of-the-range dessert wine is made from botrytised Riesling grapes, matured in oak for 18 months.

We are all looking forward to drinking it, even Alwyn Corban, who makes it. The cork is pulled. Six glasses receive a few tablespoonfuls. The first person sniffs it and says, apologetically, "This is corked." Uh oh. pounds 21 down the drain because of cork taint. Open another.

If this had been an isolated incident, even the unnecessary waste of pounds 21 might not have raised too many eyebrows. But we have been here for 10 days of intensive tasting, and only a single session has been free of cork taint. Indeed, the subject has become something of a theme in our travels. At one mini-marathon of 40 wines from different producers, eight bottles were corked. At another, it was two bottles in succession.

One winemaker says her former boss referred to cork as "a dirty piece of bark". Another says that if cork producers had to cover the cost of cork taint (instead of wine producers), they would all go broke.

Corked wine, to remind you, has been tainted by a cork-borne fungus - 2,4,6 trichloroanisole (TCA). The wine tastes (and smells) mouldy, musty, or woody. Affected corks can't be identified before bottling.

The obvious solution in my view - and the view of many - is to use a plastic closure of some kind. If not screw caps, then substitute cork- like cylinders. The best known example at the moment is SupremeCorq, which has been gaining in popularity at such a rate that the cork producers have been campaigning against it vigorously.

I mention all this partly because I hate seeing wine ruined, and partly because a leading anti-cork companies, Southcorp of Australia, is launching the second instalment of its survey of consumers' views on the proper way to close a bottle. Buy a bottle of Penfolds Bin 2 Shiraz-Mourvedre 1997 (widely available). Answer the questionnaire in the little leaflet dangling from the neck. Send it to a Freepost address.

Why go to the trouble? Because your name will be entered into a prize draw for a case of Grange 1993, Penfolds' most expensive wine and such a sought-after rarity that most UK retailers, when they get their measly allocation, keep it for themselves. Australian wine writer Jeremy Oliver, author of the OnWine Australian Wine Annual, describes the wine as "massive, intense, thick, rich and sumptuous ripe plum and blackcurrant fruit ... Long and ripe with huge depth ..." That's the good news. Only Oliver advises keeping the stuff at least until 2013. But if you do bag the big prize, contact me c/o the IoS to arrange a date for me to come to dinner. At the time of writing I have no plans for the year 2013, nor any of its successors.

Far away from the world of tainted corks, it's time to think of Christmas. Tesco sure has been. They've been laying in goodies for the festive season, and here are three good'uns available from their 30 Wine Advisor [sic] stores. Numero uno: Vittorio Puiatti Pinot Grigio 1997 (pounds 9.99), a classic grape treated in a modern manner to wonderful effect. Sprightly acidity, fresh citrus fruits with more complexity than you'd expect. A great aperitif or companion to oysters. Numero dos: Beringer Napa Valley Chardonnay 1997 (pounds 10.49). This producer creates consistently good wines (often at a higher price than the one Tesco is asking) for a rich, fat, silken Chardonnay of tremendous depth and balance. Delicious stuff.

Numero tres, and best of all: Etienne Guigal's Cote-Rotie 1994 (pounds 15.99). If you love the great wines of the northern Rhone, as you should, this is a top choice for a classic with all the bells and whistles. Ask someone to give it to you as a present and lay it down for a few years.

If, however, it's everyday drinking you're after, sidle along to Victoria Wine Cellars for a pair of well-priced South American gluggers. From Chile comes Los Caneses Sauvignon Blanc 1998 (pounds 4.49), lots of sprightly, fragrant gooseberries with a touch of peach. From Argentina: Lurton's Bonardarama 1998, selling at the same price - juicy, uncomplicated fruit with pleasant tannins which cries out for a bowl of tomato-sauced pasta. Pop a cork of either bottle and you will not be disappointed. Unless, of course, the cork in question harbours TCA.