The ‘corked wine’ challenge

By Green Connect general manager Kylie Flament

It’s funny how things work out sometimes. You do someone a favour and that sets off a chain of events that comes back at you in ways you can only shake your head at in bemusement.

Recently a neighbour called me up in a panic because the demolition crew had been in and knocked down their house and she had forgotten about some well-established potted plants in the backyard that they had intended to save. In the chaos of moving house in the midst of a pandemic it had slipped her mind until 6pm on a Tuesday night. I agreed to pop over the road and see what I could find, locating her three most precious plants in the rubble but also discovering four unopened bottles of white wine on her driveway.

I rang to update her. She told me the wine was corked and they were throwing it away. Me being me, interested in zero waste and home cooking projects, I asked if I could take them home and make wine vinegar from them instead.

As I walked down the road with four bottles of wine in my arms, another set of neighbours stopped me, chuckling, to ask what I was up to. I told them, offered them a bottle (which they laughed at and declined) and went on my way.

That night I opened a bottle and had several things to tell my first neighbour. Firstly, the bad news… after searching online I had discovered that you cannot make wine vinegar out of corked wine. Corked wine contains a mould that keeps its odour and taste even when turned into vinegar. Then the good news… the wine wasn’t corked! And finally the best news… the wine was not only drinkable, it was absolutely delicious! In its old age, this chardonnay had turned into a rich dessert wine.

It turned out that by “corked” my neighbour had actually meant “past its best”. Given how well it went down in my house, I would say its teenage years might have been rough but it had come into its own as a 20-year-old vintage. She didn’t want the other three bottles back, despite my assurances, and my husband and I agreed they were too good for vinegar, so we gained some wine but lost an opportunity to make wine vinegar for the first time.

The following night though, there was a knock at the door. “These two reds are past their best. I thought you might want to have a go at making red wine vinegar too! To be honest, I’ve been wondering what to do with them for ages, so this is perfect.”

It was my other neighbour, bearing gifts. And I can report I tasted his wine too and it was truly the worst red wine I’ve ever tasted, so there’s now some red wine vinegar ageing its way (hopefully) to perfection in the back of my pantry.

BEE HAPPY: Summer workshops planned at Green Connect’s permaculture farm in Warrawong include Introduction to Beekeeping (15 January) and In-depth Beekeeping (5 February). Book online at green-connect.com.au