The day after my Pichon Lalande dinner a neuroscientist came for lunch. I had soft pedaled the appointment, not knowing if I would have time to sit down and taste but when someone calls for a 1:00 reservation with the promise of interesting juice I let them earn credibility.

Considering the winking words of Clive Coates the night before about the “wines of the third world”  it is relevant that this year is the official celebration of 350 years of wine being made in  South Africa.

I sat with them after they had had lunch and was introduced to Mark Solms, owner of  Solms-Delta who had left London in 2001 to return to his family farm in Franschoeck in the Western Cape and had decided that the climate and soils would be best suited for Rhone varietals. He began by telling me about his study of ancient Greek and Roman techniques and how he had become intrigued by the Roman practice of  “strangulation”  where the vine was literally twisted and choked to preserve acidity. This has now become the slightly more modern practice of  “dessication” in which pliers are used to clamp on the vine at two crossing ninety degree angles to trap acidity while the grapes then desiccate on the vine,  still ripening but losing over 40% of their liquid between 2-7 weeks.

Winery: Clusel Roch

Vintage: 1999

Appellation: Cote-Rotie

Varietal: 96% Syrah, 4% Viognier

Winemaker: Gilbert Clusel and Brigitte Roch

Oak: 24 months in oak (15% new) no filtration

Average Price: N/A

The times of irrationality are over. The financially harder times are here, and I actually think this is a good thing for the food and wine industry. We have seen over the last few years wineries and restaurants open like never before. It seemed, terms like talent, skills and life long enthusiasm in our field has been in the background for money. It was no problem for untalented – but rich – ‘fools’ to start the business. If the quality wasn’t as high as the neighbours, you could always just out-PR them! But now, with everyone talking about the financial crisis, only the best will survive. Only the best and most skilled people can win – the market will always be here, and quality will beat quantity. This series of articles will guide you through my absolute favourite value wines.

left, Gemtree’s Melissa Buttery & Mike Brown

While organic or biodynamic wines coming out of Australia have been far and between, the movement does exist Down Under; and certification agencies such as Australian Certified Organic (ACO), Demeter in Australia’s Bio-Dynamic Research Institute (BDRI), and National Association for Sustainable Agriculture, Australia (NASAA) have recently stepped up activities, with a number of leading producers (such as Henschke, Burge Family, Elderton, Noon, Wirra Wirra and M. Chapoutier Australia) making the transition to chemical-free, sustainable grape growing as we speak.