What Wine Changes Flavor as You Drink It?

Hello Everyone,

I am new to the wine world and this is my first topic post, so I apologize if I miss any of the lingo.

I am looking for a wine that significantly changes its taste as you drink 1 to 2 glasses of it. Preferably, I’d like this to be a red, but I’m open to anything that might fit this description. If possible, I’d also like it to be available to me at a local store in Southern California at a reasonable price.

From what I know about wines, as well as cooking, my assumption would be to think that a wine would change significantly for two reasons. One, it is effected by air quicker than most wines and changes within an hour or two. Or two, the wine has a starch or acidic nature that changes the chemistry of the taste buds as you drink.

Thank you in advance for the suggestions.

Welcome, Jacob. First off, I don’t think your assumptions about how this would happen are correct. Oxygen almost never has much effect on a wine over the course of a few hours. There are wines that will evolve significantly (or seem to) over the course of an hour or two, but they tend to be very old and/or wines of extremely high quality. I think in the latter case there might only be the perception of change because there’s so much complexity that we sense the wine a bit differently each time we smell or taste it. In either case, we’re not talking about inexpensive wines, and in fact, I’m guessing anything that would qualify would seem quite expensive to you (of course, everyone has their own definition of “reasonable price”).

This being the board that it is, I’m sure some people will disagree with me, but I do think in most cases it’s our perception that might change, not the aromas and flavors of the wine itself.

All of that is more related to reds than whites. I do think there are whites that really “open up” with a bit of air (young Riesling and white Burgundy come to mind), but even there, I think it’s a matter of sulfur dioxide escaping and other aromas becoming more noticeable, so not a real evolution, just a wine becoming more expressive.

Cheaper grocery store wines are generally made in a “drink me now” fashion where you won’t see significant changes. A reductive wine is one that will have oxidative changes for the better over the course of a few hours. Especially in the aromatics. Perhaps someone could steer him towards a wine like that?

Maybe not exactly what you’re looking for, but still an interesting experiment…

Chill down a bottle of wine and taste it, then allow it to warm up. I think you’ll pick out very different flavors and aromas over the course of the temperature shift. I know most people will recommend exact temperatures for you to serve wine at, and I’m not saying you should do this with every bottle, but it may fit the concept that you’re looking for.

If I may propose an easy tweak –

Open a bottle of a structured wine – maybe something with firm tannins like a young Cabernet Sauvignon. Open the bottle in the morning and put half in a decanter. With the other half of the bottle, cork it and throw it in the fridge. Come back in the evening and compare the two. The bottle in the decanter has a good chance of being “softer” and more expressive. The wine that is coming out of the fridge should be more muted on the palate and nose. As the fridge wine warms, you will probably get a more flavors/aromas wine, but likely it will still be more difficult to drink than the batch that has been decanted all day.

But a “structured wine” . . .?

It’s a good experiment, or one might even open two bottles, one in the morning that can be decanted for most of the day, and the other at night.

Jacob - I don’t know where you are but you can go to a wine store like K&L or Winex or Hi Time in the south LA region, or Vintage Wine or the Wine Connection in San Diego and ask them for some suggestions at a reasonable price point.

Some wine will change on exposure to oxygen - for example there may be sulfur compounds in the wine that react with the oxygen to form heavier sulfur compounds that are less volatile. That’s what people mean when they say the funky smell will “blow off”. The sulfur is still there but it’s less noticeable so people think it blew away. That happens with both white and red wines.

And then as Doug and Corey mentioned, there’s also your perception, the temperature of the wine, the slow reaction of the wine with some air, whatever you’re eating, and your own changes as your hunger and thirst are sated and you sit back to contemplate the wine.

Anyway, welcome to the board. You should do a search on this board regarding things like aeration, oxygen, letting a wine “breathe”, and so forth. There are a lot of threads on this very topic.

That’s a pretty good take.

A lot of what changes is that aroma compounds dissolved in the wine begin to evaporate. The speed with which they do that varies a lot with different wines. Wine without aroma doesn’t taste great. (Try it when you’re stuffed up with a cold.) It’s acidic and tannic, if red.

Corey’s suggestion of a cabernet is a good one. For a more inexpensive experiment, you could try a lesser syrah-based Northern Rhone – say, a St. Joseph or a Crozes-Hermitage from a good producer – or a Nebbiolo d’Alba.

Take notes so you really focus on the experience. It takes time to develop a memory for tastes, so you may not recall the differences with a wine tasted a few hours earlier. And, of course, tasting alongside food will HUGELY affect the experience. I suspect that explains the improvement people experience – they sample a wine on its own when it’s first opened, then find it much better when they sit down to eat. But that’s not to minimize the difference some air time makes for many wines.

Have fun and report back!

…and if you are looking for flavour change, I think your best bet will be to have it on its own and then with or after a couple different types of food. Food often displays the ability to change the taste of a wine. Welcome to the board and glad you have chosen to post what is a good question.

Mahalo nui loa

Mike

if you could give us an example of the reasoning behind why you want a wine that changes significantly from glass 1 to 2, it might also help us with suggestions.

I was going to ask what Matt asked above and suggest what Mike said right above him.

If you want to try a wine that will evolve over the course of a bottle, try a red Burgundy. What price range are you looking for - or just talk to Greg at Envoyer (I think they are in Irvine but I have only dealt with them through email and phone).

Wow. I didn’t expect such great responses. I’m glad I joined this community. Thank you all for your feedback. This has been very educational.

To be more specific, I am in Orange County, so I can easily visit Envoyer in Irvine, but trips to San Diego and LA are not hard for me ether. However, for my purposes, I would prefer a wine that can be easily accessible to others, even if they have to order it online.

Unfortunately, my wife is limiting me to $40 for this purchase. My son was born a month ago, so we’re watching our money right now.

It would be fair for me to elaborate on my needs in relation to my question. I hesitated before because I was trying to avoid breaking this forum’s solicitation rules, but If I don’t give a name or URL, hopefully I’m still in the clear. The reason I am asking this question is because I run a new website for fun that contains articles about the horror film industry. The difference in this “online magazine,” compared to others, is that I want my writers to focus on culture and create thought provoking ideas. Where this relates to wine is that I am starting a section that pairs wines with horror films. I’m trying to bring sophistication to the genera. The current film to pair is The Thing, which is about a creature that changes its form to impersonate someone else by altering its own DNA. Hopefully this isn’t too weird of a concept for this forum.

With that said, other ideas on how a wine would “transform” may work as well. For example, I don’t know if there is a wine out there that changes color when exposed to oxygen.

While the temperature shift is an interesting concept, I’m looking for more of an effect that happens naturally.

I’m intrigued with what Greg said about sulfur compounds. In addition to the smell, does this affect the taste before it “blows off?” What would be a good red that would start with a very heavy sulfur presence?

I am starting a section that pairs wines with horror films

OK. I have to give it to you for that one. I think that’s the first I’ve ever heard of such a thing. Very rare for someone to bring up something utterly new here and I’m impressed.

Sulfur compounds often stink - rotten cabbage, bad eggs, dog farts, etc. They occur in grapes and fruits, and some sulfur is also added to the wine to preserve it. It’s kind of complicated what happens then, but if you have something like hydrogen sulfide, H2S, that’s kind of small and volatile. When you open a bottle, the bottle sometimes smells like eggs for a minute. Once there’s contact with air, sometimes reacts with other things and forms bigger molecules that sink back into the wine. It’s not unusual with many white wines, and also with sweet wines because they add a lot more sulfur to sweet wine than to dry reds. That’s a whole other subject.

However, if you want a decent overview, although a bit dated at this point, here’s a very good summary:

I can’t think of any. This is far more common in whites, and even there, not very common at all anymore.

I love it! It’s a refreshing antidote to the sickening ads for the Turner Classic Movie Channel wine club.

Rather than transforming wines, perhaps you should seek out really horrifying wines. Apothic Inferno, perhaps?

PoiZin

Certain Rioja wines do this for me.

Specifically, Lopez de Heredia Tondonia and Bosconia.

Coincidentally, Envoyer gets both in frequently, at the best prices I’ve seen - snag a bottle or 3 when they come in.

Winex in OC is a great shop too.