So this premox thing is real?!

Admitting failure to trust all of you wiser people here. Thought this issue was being exaggerated but obviously it isn’t…

Have to be honest that I haven’t had a ton of white Burgundy and most has been less than 10 years old. But here I am, having had 2 of 3 bottles this past weekend that were totally rotten, all 2005s.

At least one was good, and it was pretty damned good. These were H Chavy Meursault, Puligny — and the other was Voillot Meursault. FWIW it was the two Meursault wines that were bad.

Seems like you learned well

Not at all exaggerated. I have lost several 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2005 to premox. So much so that I quit buying white Burgundy to hold but drink early mostly Chablis with which I have had better luck.

It would be difficult to exaggerate or to overstate the issue of premox in white Burgundy.

It is not just white Burgundy. Any wine sealed with a cork is susceptible to tca (obviously) and oxidation (white and red). I was speaking to a well-regarded Barossa winemaker yesterday. He switched to screwcap in 2001. When opening any bottles of red prior to 2001 it is a crapshoot, with him having wild variations in how the wine shows. From screwcap he has never had to pour a bottle down the sink. The adage ‘no great old wines, just great bottles’ is a function of the variability of cork as a seal.

Jeremy, what’s your opinion on DIAM? Many people seem to think it’s as good as screwcap.

Learned well you have, young Skywalker.

just reading about all of the posts on this board on premox was not real to you? SMDH.

I agree, it’s the same problem with white Bordeaux, white Rhone, and lots of other wines, but we just drink (and especially age) so few of those, it doesn’t make the conversation much.

Thus the first line of my post.

And FWIW, I can’t think of a single other bottle of this age that has had the same problem. I’ve had plenty of tired wines that clearly should have been consumed earlier. But this was the first time I’ve had to immediately discard something. Oh well. Back to Riesling.

Most wine ages a lot longer than most people give credit, if the seal is doing its job. These tired wines you have experienced may have been oxidised and would have shown totally differently under an alternative closure.

I hope the Rieslings you are going back to are sealed under screwcap. Those under cork from Alsace and Germany still have plenty of instances of oxidation (a recent bottle of 2010 Frederic Emile was completely shot). Australia experienced a huge amount of oxidation in Riesling and Semillon in the 90’s. Grosset, who build wines for the cellar, had plenty of issues too. The industry moved to screwcap on mass in the early '00’s and fixed the problem completely. My '02 and ‘05’ Grossets under screwcap are brilliant and should easily live another decade or two.

Hi James,

I haven’t had enough examples of older wines sealed with Diam to comment with authority, but I haven’t had any wines that have been oxidised. Don Cornwell has now had 30 wines sealed under Diam in his excellent White Burgundy assessment dinners, and every bottle has been in perfect condition. This is telling.

Cheers
Jeremy