What was the occasion? None really. One doesn't have to have an occasion to pop open a bottle of bubbly, do they? Although it is great to have bubbles on hand for something special.

When there is an occasion, the pop of the cork is part of the whole experience of bubbles - unless you are launching a ship or using a champagne sabre of course.

I carefully opened my bottle of Daniel Le Brun Methode Traditionelle NV. I didn't want the cork to eject across the room, spurting half it contents as it did so. No, the Michael Schumachers and Dean Barkers of the world can show off their popping prowess like that. The wine I had was for drinking.

As I eased the cork out of its tight recess there was a hiss as the climax was reached, the gentle popping accompanied be a waft of smoky gas. No wine was spilled.

I poured the straw yellow liquid into the glass and marvelled at the fine persistent mousse and the tiny bubbles endlessly appearing from the bottom to race towards the top. I inhaled the yeasty 'baked bread' aromas then took a sip to find bready yeasty flavours too, then a bright and steely sherbet-like acidity followed by an earthy full-bodied depth. It was creamy in texture with a concentrated lemon citrus flavour and the subtle hint of sweet strawberry, then the spritzy zest of ginger before yeasty flavours emerged again to linger on the very long finish.

It was an excellent start to the evening. I just wish I'd had some strawberries to accompany the wine. And no wonder, as according to the Cellier Le Brun website the wine is a blend of 60% Pinot Noir, 26% Chardonnay, 14% Pinot Meunier. Strawberry is perfect for light pinot noir.

I specifically wanted to open this wine to see how it reacted to its new cork, in my opinion the ideal solution for cork lovers in the fight against corked wine.

The people at Cellier le Brun are as concerned, as many other wine producers are, about cork taint and discolouration. But a bottle of bubbly just would not be the same without the traditional 'pop'. So Cellier Le Brun have taken things in hand by investing in the Cortex 'Le Préserveur' cork.

It is a simple solution really. An inert silicon disk, about 1mm in thickness, caps the end of the cork like a birth control diaphragm to stop the wine in the bottle impregnating its cork closure and giving birth to cork taint.

The picture shows the cork from the bottle that I opened - the inert silicon disk is slightly wider in diameter than the bottle opening and is compressed along with the even wider cork during the corking process to provide a tight seal.

It had worked for this wine. There was no cork taint. There was no discolouration in the wine. And the wine was good! Very good indeed!

A few people are trialling the corks on still wine as well. I've heard complaints that it is more expensive and the corks have to be oriented the right way. But the extra expense has to be money well spent. What's the value of 6 to 10 percent of corked wine, after all? For sparkling wines and producers who are anti screwcap, this has to be an excellent solution.

For more information about the 'Le Préserveur' cork, check out the www.preserveur.com.

The publicity says cork has been tested in France. Corks specifically contaminated with TCA (at the level of 100ng of TCA per cork) showed no change in bottles fitted with 'Le Préserveur'. Results of the tests can be found in an article in Vigneron Champenois No. 6 - June 2000.

The cork is being marketed in New Zealand by Anne Batley of Regency Imports, e-mail abatley@attglobal.net or telephone Auckland (09) 377 0740.

Daniel le Brun Methode Traditionnelle Brut NV costs about $27 a bottle in New Zealand. It is now my wine of choice in this price bracket. I feel safe in the knowledge that when I open a bottle it will be as the winemaker wants it to be and won't be affected any packaging faults.

© Sue Courtney