The recent Queensland floods and the flooding by the Brisbane River has caused monumental loss to both personal and business cellars in the River City.

Reports are now coming out that one Milton-based storage facility which went totally under was storing wine worth USD 20 million.

The other puzzling information to hand was that the operator made little effort to move the contract cellar stock to dry ground.

News of such losses emerge when owners are debating how to recover from this muddy dunking. They really question whether the wine is potable while assessing the contamination risk after the floodwaters are known to have high E. coli levels for this developed country.

On the face of it cork loses out. Wines closed with cork which in itself is a highly variable commodity, and terribly unreliable, can be deemed to have taken in water (and bacteria) and would not be a very enjoyable drink.

The older the wine, the more likely the water ingress given that cork has a bad habit of crumbling or going soft with time. One in 10 old bottles that I open would ever stand the test of holding together.

That being said, if the wine in question is Penfolds Grange (and one former Penfolds employee who owned 200 cartons of many vintages of this great red lost all in the Milton submersion), one would tend to overlook the contamination issue and try it.

Of the corks which are questionable closing Bordeaux and Burgundy after the flood, one category which should not have succumbed will be Champagne – due to the internal pressure preventing any liquid ingress.

Then the above discussion is predicated on the assumption that the bottle, label and all, has been sanitised with a solution to kill the hazardous bacteria on surfaces and more likely wedged under capsules and the cork-glass interfaces. This will be some cleaning procedure.

Although I could give a tutorial on flooded wine bottle sanitation, that is best kept until another time.

Wines under screw caps are expected to be fine provided they are sanitised before drinking, as they are totally sealed down to bacteria level.

Just another advantage of the Australian use of screw cap; the only pity is that 80 percent of super-premium red wines remain under cork. But Moss Wood and Cullen cabernets for example, now USD 100, are reliably closed under screw.

Most Brisbane restaurants along the Boardwalk and Eagle Pier in this fair city suffered some water damage; and as a usual practice, wine was stored at lower levels – the ones which get wet first.

Liquor hygiene laws prevent restaurants from selling ex-flood wine in principle, however provided the customer is warned of the wines’ origins, there is an opening for restaurateurs to move it out at a discount. Many will, after a big washing job to clean down bottles.

Unlike the 1974 flood where the main integrity issue was loss of label (the days of gummed labels have gone), this time around the identity is quite plain given the strength of self-adhesive materials used in today’s label products.

However, wines of the ’70s and older will have lost labels if they went under!

Writer Tyson Stelzer took some technical advice on the consumption of wine after flood inundation and that can be found here:

http://www.clearaboutwine.com.au/wp/index.php/how-to-clean-a-wine-bottle-after-a-flood/

Flash Flood Damage-Boireann www.boireannwinery.com.au

By the time the Brisbane River had broken its banks in several places the rain and flood devastation wrung on Queensland’s agricultural crops had been apparent for up to two months.

The Australian Wine Trade Flood Relief Raffle went up on writer Tyson Stelzer’s site www.clearaboutwine.com.au last Thursday, January 13 after a groundswell of Australian wine businesses wished to support flood victims in principle but also their fellow wine producers who had lost crop.

And it became a no-brainer that wine grape crops would be lost after such incessant rain as the grape vines tried to turn off the torrents around their roots and the pelting rain, fog and mist that lashed leaves and developing bunches daily for so long.

Here is an update on the raffle progress from Tyson Stelzer’s site:

The plan is to raise a donation to the Queensland Premier’s Flood Relief Appeal and other similar appeals through a wine raffle in a similar format to the Australian Wine Trade Bushfire Raffle of 2009.

Winemakers, importers, distributors: We would appreciate donations of raffle prizes. Perhaps a case of wine or two, a special bottle, a membership or event ticket? Please send the full name and retail value of your pledge to us by Monday January 31 but do not send wine yet (it will be sent directly to winners later).

Value of pledges to date: Day 1: More than $35,000. Day 2: More than $100,000,Day 5: More than $135,000 (from more than 180 companies); and on day 2 Fosters Ltd donated $500,000 via the Queensland Premier’s Appeal.

Retailers (online and shop front): We would like your help to sell tickets. This is a simple process as tickets will be generated and emailed automatically. Bank and foreign exchange costs will be covered. To date 46 retailers will be selling tickets when they go on sale on February 4 until March 4.

Within the wine industry there is a call to assess the levels of crop loss as there is every possibility of likeminded grape producers in other parts of Australia prepared to donate grapes to assist their Queensland colleagues who have seen the years’ work go down the river.

The flooding of Brisbane last week has been the most devastating in living memory; more particularly as the population and housing growth has doubled since the last memorable flood of 1974 which inundated Brisbane in exactly the same areas. The flood proofing dam-Wivenhoe has failed.

Elsewhere in Southern Queensland it is obvious now that urban development has run rampant in areas which were flood plains before white settlement; and over centuries river courses have changed little despite what is put in their path. In today’s case-housing.

In the suburbs inundated, a veritable volunteer army turned out to assist the clean-up last weekend, so much so that after passing the 25,000 mark, bus transport ran out. So some volunteers went home empty handed but most just turned up in areas heavily affected with gloves, boots, squeeze-gees and water blasters like the writer.

Our group headed for Sherwood Road, adjacent to the Rocklea wholesale fruit markets where a massive clean was under way to get back in business.

Our cleaning property was 36 Melbourne Street, Rocklea, the mid-40s owner Simon was still in shock over this disaster. His double story cottage had flooded one metre over the upper floor and we were in the process of removing everything and water jetting the black mud from walls, and sludge from floors.

The debris from floods take on their own stench. In this case the mud was black as the surrounding paddocks are black soil, although the visuals of the Brisbane River in flood were very much a red, swollen torrent in turmoil.

Ruined Possessions at 36 Melbourne Street-authors IPhone pic

The flood smell is penetrating: and I can still smell it subliminally days later in the back of my nose. It’s a cross of a strange array of country smells; rotting timber, fungus, cow-yard, wet earth, horse urine, dog poo, even decomposing carcass. So for the thousands who aided the clean-up this was their background aroma for several days, and some for weeks.

For the volunteers, meal support was organised on the Twitter hashtag #bakedrelief or www.bakedrelief.org having thousands of hits from day one.

Currently from the website: Baked Relief – ADOPT A FAMILY is now taking registrations from people who are prepared to provide a meal once a week {possibly for up to a year} to a family who has lost their home to the floods.

The groundswell of wine industry support is reaching far and wide. Steve Flamsteed (born in Toowoomba where two residents lost their lives in a flash flood), winemaker at Giant Steps, Yarra Valley tweeted that next Friday’s Pizza and Pint night in the restaurant (21 January) would be fully subscribed.

In Whistler BC, the flood relief function at the Crystal Lounge will be held February 10th at 8:30 pm.

For further donations: http://www.clearaboutwine.com.au/wp/index.php/the-australian-wine-trade-flood-relief-raffle/

Voyager in WA’s Margaret River held an outstanding world styles tasting across all Australian states this year.

And their visit to Queensland was an eye opener for quite a few young sommeliers as the wines were served scrambled.

But Aussies are trained to become quite special at recognising style without obvious bias, and no doubt this accounts for the ongoing wine pre-eminence in the country, irrespective of origin.

Voyager Estate’s wines showed up very well; from my humble scores, equal top in chardonnay, equal fourth in shiraz, third in cabernet merlot, pointing the way for such outstanding wine examples grown in Margaret River, irrespective of variety.

The six chardonnays from the 2007 vintage went:

Bonneau du Martray (it is grand cru from Corton Charlemagne, Burgundy); pale, linear nose, closed, taut, lees, tight, very, very, restrained, 95 (USD 259),13.5%; Voyager Estate Margaret River; pale, linear, lot of oak, barrel-ferment, fruit weight, taut, good solids funk, 95 (USD 74 ),13.2%; Leeuwin Art Series Margaret River; pale, linear, sweet lemon oak nose, lemon curd fruit, linear, powerful, taut, 95 (USD 106) 14.5%; Craggy Range Les Beaux Cailloux Hawkes Bay NZ; pale, linear, lot of oak, lemon, barrel ferment, aromatic, agro acidity says NZ, 95 (USD 72),14.5%; Giaconda Estate and Nantua Vineyards Beechworth; straw, bacony, clumsy, lot of funk, lot of flavour, some botrytis, complex, 91, (USD 72),13.9%; Kistler Vine Hill Vineyard, Sonoma, straw, advanced age, bacony, forward, clumsy, plenty of everything, 89, (USD 110),14.1%. The latter was clearly not in sync, and was from a much warmer growing region.

There were six shiraz from 2008 vintage, and one Rhone 2007, were:

Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier Canberra; light purple, red fruits, cedary-sweet oak, brute flavour, fine soft tannin, 95, (USD 72), 14%; Dalwhinnie Moonambel, Pyrenees, cherry, red fruits, aromatic oak, spicy red fruits, juicy, 94 (USD 67), 13.5%; Craggy Range Le Sol Syrah, Gimblett Gravels, NZ, purple, smells of extract, cold soak, power and pepper, lot of spice, fine, 93, (USD 120), 14.5%; Cote Rotie (Rene Rostaing) La Cuvee Classique, Rhone, pale, dull, whole berry ferment, plump and ripe, pepper, funk, tannic and chewy, black fruits, warmer area, 92, (USD 120), 13%; Shaw and Smith Adelaide Hills; deep purple, shavings, aromatic fruit, sweet and juicy, lot of tannin, some of it hard, 92, (USD 36), 14%; Voyager Estate, Margaret River, deep purple, funky fruit, brambles, juicy, oyster shell oak, very fine and soft, 92, (AUD 33) 14%.The Voyager has made using 40% new oak, 80/20 French to American, has lots of anise oak and blueberry fruit.

The seven cabernet and merlot blends from 2005 were:

Tenuta dell’Ornellaia, Bolgheri, Tuscany; great colour, ripe and juicy, tannic/dry, a rush of plush fruit and lasting red flavours, 95, (USD 250), 14.5%; Stag’s Leap Cabernet Sauvignon Napa; medium colour, aging purples, earth, brett, bonox, juicy, very dry, power, 94, (USD 63),13.9%; Voyager Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot; medium purple red, smells tannic, brett, drying tannins, currants, could have more flesh, 92, (USD 58), 14%; Balnaves The Tally, Coonawarra, good purple-red, Italianesque, feral, earthy/aged, mint, sweet oak, quite tannic, greener fruit and acids, 91, (USD 95),14.5%; Cullen Diana Madeline Cabernet Merlot, Margaret River, light cherry, cedar, leafy, cool region, good backbone, powdery tannin, 90 (USD 115), 14%; Te Mata Estate Coleraine cabernet, merlot, franc, Hawkes Bay, NZ, medium red, earth, plums, spice, restrained nose, cedar, very powerful, tannins, a bit square, needs time, 90, (USD 92), 13.5%; Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, Pauillac, Bordeaux; cherry, red, mint, leaf, fruity, very high acid, bonox fruit development, only fair, 90, (USD 337), 13%; Mount Mary Quintet, Yarra, cabernet, merlot, franc, malbec, verdot, browning and fading, spicy, ripe, old and aged, angular now, dried out to oak, 87, (USD 154), 13%.Voyager is made from 32 year-old cabernet and 17 year-old merlot, is 79% cabernet, 15% merlot, 5% malbec and 1% verdot.

It was quite clear that the Mount Mary was suffering from an exhausted cork, allowing oxidation. Voyager winemaker Travis Lemm said that the Bordeaux had shown awful bottle variation out of the 36 purchased, to the extent that it was difficult to get a fix on what exactly was the wine. There was a high incidence of cork taint where bottles were tipped down the drain, and others either oxidised or cork-modified. On the day in Brisbane Travis indicated the bottle to be quite a typical Pichon-hurrah, but how disappointing for Bordeaux buyers of this Chateau.

As a benchmark tasting Voyager Estate wines figured very well, and no doubt the production team can workshop some ideas towards making their wines more elite to taste. www.voyagerestate.com.au

Margaret River winemaker Watershed Premium Wines announces a joint venture with India’s Mittal Vineyards.

Mittal Vineyards will be launching their brand Silk Route, a range of fine Indian wines with the technical assistance and know-how provided by Watershed Premium Wines.

Geoff Barrett, Managing Director of Watershed Premium Wines said: “Mittal Vineyards will market and distribute Watershed wines throughout India. Our joint venture has acknowledged the excellence of Watershed’s wines and winemaking processes and that contribute towards Mittal’s future products.

“This places Watershed in an ideal position to participate in the ongoing growth of this important international wine market and reinforces Watershed’s commitment to grow its brand throughout the South East Asian market.”

Although the development of vineyards has flattened over the past two years, and production has exceeded sales demand, over the medium term the domestic Indian wine industry is expected to show strong growth.

”We at Mittal Vineyards are really excited about this venture and are looking forward to launching Premium Wines in India along with the Watershed Premium Wines Portfolio. We believe they will complement each other well in India’s dynamic market with the help of the excellent team set in place by Mr Barrett at Watershed which can be seen by the cascade of awards being added to Watershed’s walls” said Ankush Mittal, Director Operations and Marketing.

The vineyards are situated in the hills of Nashik, about 200 kilometres north of Mumbai. The winery is being built in the famous Dindori district. Watershed Premium Wines have entered into a technical collaboration & marketing assistance agreement with Mittal.

Mittal Vineyard’s website is short on detail at present but boasts plenty of high end ideas and claims such as “Premium Quality Wines, Coming Soon from the vineyards of the Mittal Vineyards Estate at Nashik, India, the Vitis vinifera city of South Asia (Also referred to as the Bordeaux or Napa Valley of India)”.

Amit Mittal, Managing Director and Chairman of Mittal Vineyards said: “Margaret River has produced the winner of the prestigious Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy in two of the past three years and has demonstrated that it is a world class producer of cabernet sauvignon and cabernet blends.”

He has hooked up with a suitable producer here. Watershed’s 2008 Awakening Cabernet Sauvignon has recently won three gold medals and three trophies in the space of one month in Australian wine shows, showing how excellently Margaret River grows cabernet.

In early October Australia’s largest maker, Treasury Wine Estates, launched their Wolf Blass range through the Delhi-based builders the Pearls Group. Founded by business man Nirmal Singh, it’s primarily a real estate group expanding into education, hospitals and imports of Australian beer, wine and food products.

Mittal Vineyard are a subsidiary of Dooars Transport http://dooarstransport.com which has been in logistics in South Asia for over 50 years

www.watershedwines.com.au and www.mittalvineyards.com