Posts Tagged: Andrew Waterhouse
The fine art of spitting: Allowing underage students to taste alcohol
Not until students turn 21 can they taste the wine and beer they make and learn to assess its sensory quality. Learning the characteristics of a wide assortment of good (and not-so-good) wines and beers is an important component of winemaking and brewing. Having to wait until their junior or senior year to learn these skills is a disadvantage for these students.
Legislation (AB 1989) has been proposed by California Assemblyman Wesley Chesbro (D-North Coast) that will allow students, ages 18 to 21, enrolled in winemaking and brewery science programs to taste alcoholic beverages in qualified academic institutions. The students can taste, but not consume — which means they must learn the professional practice of spitting during the tasting process.
Professor Andrew Waterhouse, an enologist in the Department of Viticulture and Enology at UC Davis, notes that tasting is critical to the students' education.
“Winemakers taste wine daily during harvest to quickly make critical decisions as the winemaking is underway,” Waterhouse said. “Our students need to start learning this skill here, with our guidance. And, they also have to get over the embarrassment of spitting — after every taste.”
Chik Brenneman, the UC Davis winemaker, said that the bill, if passed, “will allow students to move on to the sensory program a lot sooner, before they've finished most of their winemaking classes. Earlier sensory training will help them when they go to work in the industry.”
If the legislation passes, it will benefit enology and brewing students at UC Davis, which is the only University of California campus to offer undergraduate degrees in viticulture and enology and in brewing science (an option within the food science major).
While parents of college students may worry that the bill will open the door to widespread drinking, Waterhouse and Brenneman both noted that the focus of the bill is so narrow that its impact will benefit a limited number of students, and that it's unlikely to lead to excessive drinking. They say that the over-21 students routinely spit what they're tasting in a standard industry manner, and that “drinking” in class is not a problem.
With passage of this bill, which is backed by the University of California, the state will join 12 other states that have allowed this educational exemption for students.
Read more:
- California legislative information on AB 1989
- NBC Bay Area: Reality check: Bill calls for underage tasting on college campuses, Feb. 27, 2014
- Bill by Wes Chesbro would allow underage beverage students to sip; PressDemocrat.com, Feb. 28, 2014
Farewell corks? Screw caps may outshine corks in wine quality
While many of us cherish the mystique of popping a wine cork, screw caps are becoming more commonplace in the wine industry. Half a century ago, screw caps were associated with cheap rotgut wine, but now they have replaced corks in many premium wines and at many of the world’s best wineries.
Wine bottles are sealed primarily in three ways — natural corks, synthetic corks or screw caps. All have their advantages and disadvantages, and most certainly their proponents and opponents. While synthetic corks never gained much of a foothold in the wine industry, screw caps are being studied more frequently for their efficacy and quality.
While screw caps were originally thought to be airtight, resulting in the unpleasant aroma of hydrogen sulfide inside some sealed wine bottles, screw caps have been developed with different levels of permeability. Most aluminum Stelvin caps are lined with a polyvinylidene chloride–tin foil combination (Saran-Tin), or a polyvinylidene chloride–polyethylene mix (Saranex); each yielding different permeabilities, and chemical and taste profiles in the wine.
Research is weighing the value of screw caps on wine quality and consumers’ ability to taste differences in wine bottled with a cork or a screw cap.
The study, which will be completed next year, is not touted to give a definitive answer to the best type of wine closure, but it will, according to Waterhouse, give winemakers reliable information on which to judge the type of closure that works best on their wines. (Watch Waterhouse explain the study in a video.)
An earlier study at Oregon State University, and reported in ScienceNews, said that consumers could not discern a difference in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines capped with natural corks or screw caps.
Perhaps what merits future study is the type of linings in screw caps. As screw caps continue to gain a foothold in the wine industry, it’s reasonable to assume that additional research on cap linings will produce additional options for winemakers, resulting in high-quality wines with greater longevity.
Based on research studies and wine experts’ judgments, here are some advantages and disadvantages of different types of wine closures:
Natural Corks:
- Traditionalists claim that "real" corks allow healthy gas exchange for flavorful wine
- Some claim that good sources of natural cork are dwindling
- Not all natural corks are alike, resulting in variable cork properties
- Higher chance of “corked” wines and trichloranisole (TCA) taint
Synthetic Corks:
- Considered expensive and unpopular with consumers
- Many synthetic corks let too much air into the wine bottle
- They’re often difficult to remove from the bottle, and to re-cork the bottle
Screw Caps:
- Less chance that wines will be “corked,” and probably fewer tainted wines
- Some say that air-tight screw caps are “suffocating” to wines
Read more:
- Corks and screw caps? Can wine consumers taste the variation? UC Davis study
- Wine corks are going: the screwcaps are winning. HubPages
- Cap or cork, it’s the wine that matters most. ScienceNews
- Great wines under cork and screw cap. Forbes
- Corks vs. screwcaps. Total Wine & More
- Chateau Margaux corks a problem with a screw cap. The Wall Street Journal
- 7. Cork vs. screw cap: what’s all the fuss about? Imbibe Liquid Culture