But Shiraz has not always held such a hold over market. Until mid nineties Cabernet Sauvignon was regarded as superior variety and this was reflected in prices paid at cellar door. But demand for exports has been mainly for Australian Shiraz and Cabernet has lost ground in battle for consumer preference in Australia as well.

Shiraz's reign at top of tree really started in middle of 1950s when it replaced Grenache as most popular red winegrape variety. In those days a much larger proportion of wine market was devoted to fortified wine, what we used to call Port.

Looking into future role of Shiraz seems unassailable, but there are a few challengers on horizon. The wine consumer is a fickle creature and fashions can change fairly quickly.

Merlot is third most popular red winegrape variety in Australia. Much of production goes into blends with Cabernet Sauvignon, reflecting its major role in Bordeaux. There are quite a few varietal merlots also produced. There are two reasons for thinking that Merlot won't displace Shiraz as our major tipple. Firstly there are viticultural problems relating to poor clones and it performs poorly in cooler regions. Secondly at consumer end wine often lacks a distinctive varietal character. There seems to be no consensus among winemakers about what a good merlot should be like. Meanwhile consumers think of Merlot as meaning mellow. It is hard to find any passion, for or against, this variety.

Another contender is Grenache. This variety is widely planted in South Australia, particularly in Barossa and McLaren Vale regions. In 1980s it was subject to government sponsored vine pull schemes in belief that its days were over. Its star is on rise again both as a varietal and as key to blends with Shiraz and Morvedre. Notwithstanding this recent return to favour, Grenache will not seriously challenge Shiraz because of its need for a relatively warm climate.

The Norwegian Institute of Public Health in Oslo, Norway, recently did a study of correlation between coffee consumption and gallstones health; specifically, they evaluated mortality rate from cirrhosis of liver.

When researchers looked at those who died from alcoholic cirrhosis of liver, there was no benefit to drinking coffee. However, for those who suffered from cirrhosis of liver not related to alcohol, drinking coffee reduced effects of liver cirrhosis.

When Department of Medicine at Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program (Northern California Region) in Oakland, California, did their study, they recognized that most heavy drinkers do not develop alcoholic cirrhosis of liver and other gastrointestinal disorders.

The researchers found that those patients who drank four or more cups of coffee per day had one-fifth risk of cirrhosis of liver as non-coffee and tea drinkers.

This relationship remained constant even when weighed against other risk factors such as other gastrointestinal health issues. The Department of Community Health Sciences at University of Calgary in Canada examined relationship of coffee consumption with various gastrointestinal cancers, including bladder, colon, and rectal.

The study was unable to find any correlation between coffee or tea consumption and bladder or rectal cancer. However, study again found that drinking five or more cups of coffee daily significantly reduced risk of colon cancer.

This was especially pronounced with cancer of proximal colon rather than distal colon. The Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri in Milan, Italy, choose to look at a different gastrointestinal health issue, colorectal cancer.

They reviewed twenty-five studies published between 1990 and 2003 to try to determine any sort of statistical relationship between drinking coffees or tea and colorectal cancer. The analysis concluded that there was no benefit to drinking either decaffeinated coffees or any kind of tea.

However, drinking caffeinated coffees repeatedly was shown to reduce risk of colorectal cancer, regardless of any demographic biases.

This same facility also looked at relationship between coffee consumption and cancers of bladder, pancreas, colon, and rectum in a separate epidemiological study.