Wine: Good tastes

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It's not quite the shortest day of the year but a wine called "Solstice" has already featured on these pages. Readers with good memories will remember the so-named French cosmic wine from last month. It not only has a hippy name, it goes the extra "organic" distance by remaining completely sulphur-free and, what's more, it's actually drinkable.

Sulphur is generally used in all wine in minuscule quantities to halt oxidation, which is inevitable unless the wine has enough tannin, natural grape sweetness and alcohol to hold its own. Call me cynical but the fact is it's extremely rare for winemakers not to use sulphur and emerge with a drinkable wine. Besides which, sulphur is a bi-product of fermentation, which is reabsorbed into wine as it ages. But I digress.

I've just been sent a sulphur-neutralising wine spray called SO2GO which should reduce headaches, rashes, sinus problems and nausea for those suffering sulphur allergies - a relatively rare occurrence.

The difference in taste after spraying SO2GO into wine is fascinating. It's like comparing tap water (before the spray) with filtered (after spraying).

A friend and I subjected three different wines to before-and-after spray taste tests - a fresh, acidic young Marlborough riesling, a slightly too-earthy mid-priced Rioja and a basic bottle of fruity shiraz. The wines tasted, respectively, softer, cleaner and more spicy after receiving a single squirt of SO2GO. The recommended dose is two squirts.

I then sprayed a cheap Italian montepulciano, a low-priced chianti and a slightly too sweet high priced viognier. Each wine tasted better again after being sprayed, as did a gold medal-winning Marlborough pinot noir.

Before leaping on to an anti-sulphur campaign, it's important to realise that if it wasn't for sulphur dioxide (SO2) we'd be staring down the glass at yellowy brown oxidised whites and muddy, nail-varnishy tasting reds.

For those who really do suffer sulphur allergies and adverse reactions, SO2GO is available in New Zealand, thanks to Ian Isaacs who imports it. SO2Go is, he says, a measured food-grade solution of hydrogen peroxide, which saturates wine with oxygen; neutralising free sulphur. It's colourless, flavourless and "totally harmless". It costs $7.90 for a spray, which lasts up to four bottles (so2go@xtra.co.nz).

WINES OF THE WEEK
Within your means: 2008 Nederburg Manor House Shiraz $18

Nederburg Winery has been around since 1791 in South Africa and for at least a couple of decades in New Zealand, where its name may conjure up memories of old-fashioned dusty reds. Lay those ideas aside, pull out your favourite red wine glass and pour a splash of this new wave of bright, fresh South African red into it. www.nederburg.co.za

Try it: 2008 Kingsmill Tippet's Race Riesling $27

Central Otago winemakers Phillip Horn and Donna Abrams made this outrageously good southern riesling from grapes grown in Bendigo, where the hot summer and chilly winter result in piercing fresh flavours of kaffir lime, which linger. www.kingsmillwines.co.nz

The splurge: 2007 Two Gates Gimblett Gravels Hawke's Bay Omahu $55

Grape varieties are not on this front label; just the word "Omahu" and two powerful badges of pride - Bio-Gro organic certification and Gimblett Gravels regional classification.

This staunch young red is still a baby and needs decanting - any jug will do the job - for a couple of hours before drinking, to soften its dark black fruit taste and bring out the mellow spice flavours of merlot, cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon in the wine.

For information visit www.twogates.co.nz or email wine@twogates.co.nz