Post
by LaConseillante » Mon Sep 17, 2018 5:06 pm
Interesting notes on some young wines. I'm glad the VCC wasn't wasted. It is often a scene stealer.
I notice a lot of references to "Brett" throughout many of your notes and had to look it up to get a better understanding. You usually refer to it as a major flaw and I can see how it might be. There was one strain that left a "bacon" scent which reminded me of Ch. Clos de Menuts, a minor St. Emilion that happened to be open the day I was in town. We found it attractive and carried home 3 bottles (you could back then) but when the wine aged the attractive smoky bacon flavors had vanished. While not a devotee of CA wines I did buy a Franciscan chardonnay that boasted of wild yeasts which had great character which I liked very much.
As for the old stable of Cordier wines (only Talbot remains, but Gruaud-Larose was a wine often compared to it, as well as Meyney, etc.) the wild yeast smell was a hallmark of the wine, and one could always identify an older vintage by it. Curiously it was not noticeable in young wines. Broadbent made reference to it in one vintage, and I got the impression he was not a fan, while allowing a segment of tasters were. I have not had every vintage of Talbot and Gruaud-Larose, but have had many from 1900 (before Cordier) to ... well I guess I have tasted the 2000, but the 1989 is the most recent "drinking wine" and I can attest that nearly all have some of that "Talbot smell" which to us reminds one of descending into a cool French cellar, a most pleasant memory. I had the 1978 Talbot recently, which I consider perhaps the wine of the vintage. I guess my point is that a chateau that displays this nuance in... lets see if I remember; 1900, 1942, 1949, 1959, 1961, 1964, 1966 1967, 1970, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, 81, 82, 83, 85, 86, 88 and 89 (the recent vintages still aging) twenty-plus vintages and counting... can be considered a flaw.
I think a number of other wines have unique characters based largely on bouquet and that it contributes to their character. I saw from the research that these "wild yeasts" can be eliminated if so desired. But to strip all wines down to their clones and growing conditions, plus terrior, of course... well I think that might make it a lot less enjoyable, or interesting at least.
My concern was that you might have been attributing this normally subtle nuance to some other factor which is essentially ruining some bottles for you. Is there any possibility of the wines being "corked" or having withstood some neglect in its provenance? Perhaps there are certain strains that you are more sensitive to than others. But a 1985 Gruaud-Larose (and didn't you mention an 85 Clerc-Milon in another post?) ought to be a wonderful bottle, in the shank of it's pleasure zone right now. I don't think the problem is "Brett" as you suspect.