The pros and cons of oak use in wine prompted quite a debate.

Publication: Europe Intelligence Wire

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COPYRIGHT 2005 Financial Times Ltd.

(From Off Licence News)

At Decanter's World Wine Award tastings this year, I found myself arguing Devil's advocate against one of my judges, Tony Jordan, who wanted to reject each and every oaky Champagne. This opened a debate as to the role of oak in Champagne today 50 years after its widespread demise throughout the region.

The presence of oaky aromas in a number of Champagnes was not only proving a controversial point with some of my judges, it also presented me with a personal dilemma. On the one hand, as anyone who has read me on the subject knows, I harboured more than a sneaking respect for Tony's position.

For example, under 'oaky in the glossary of my Christie's World Encyclopedia of Champagne & Sparkling Wine, I wrote: 'Sparkling wines seldom benefit from new oak characteristics, which are too overpowering for the subtle effects of autolysis and deny the wines most of the finesse they might otherwise have had. On the other hand, as chairman of the panel, I felt I had to demonstrate a stylistic impartiality. It was not our duty to dictate the legitimacy of a style. My contention was that if a trend exists for the use of new and relatively new oak in Champagne, then we should recognise that and reward its very best examples.

However, I had fought long and hard to get Tony Jordan on the Champagne panel, and I was not about to dismiss his objections out of hand. The Aussies wanted him to judge on their panel, but this is the man who achieved an international standard at Domaine Chandon Australia in 1989 after only three vintages, when the quality of the original Domaine Chandon in California was still struggling, despite having a 13 year head start.

Furthermore, being part of LVMH he is no stranger to Champagne, and when it comes to discussing the pros and cons of the technical process of producing and appreciating a sparkling wine, he is one of...

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