What am I tasting in this 2015 Vieux Telegraphe?

We opened a bottle of 2015 Vieux Telegraphe La Crau tonight. Teresa is miffed because instead of spending quality time together right now I’m hunched over my phone logging into Berserkers. Sigh - help me out guys!

Our 2015 La Crau is beautiful and for the most part a great CdP example, with two bizarre exceptions: First, it shows unexpected (but welcomed) signs of age: the color is pale with a hint of an amber rim, and the red fruit, while surprisingly muted, has given way to that rose or tea note typical in aged examples. It’s a really nice surprise but I was expecting more freshness rather than tertiaries at the 5-year mark. Second, and more oddly, I found a Swiss cheese / Comte (faint but unwelcomed) note on the nose that is confirmed in the mid-palate. This has not dissipated since opening.

What’s going through my head are the following, possibly compounding, explanations: 1. Heat damage - could this explain the impression of age? This was stored properly and I don’t get any stewed fruit, however. 2. Cork taint - this might be in my head but the cork feels a bit soft/giving and darker parts of the cork grain almost look a bit blue/aqua. However, I don’t get any “wet towel” and there is no issue with the lengthy finish, so perhaps some other non-TCA cork issue. 3. House style: this Swiss cheese is so beyond any CdPs I’ve had - has anybody else ever found this Swiss cheese note in VTs, or other CdPs for that matter? The only other VT examples I’ve had are the 2016 Telegramme, 2015 Piedlong, and 2010 La Crau. I don’t recall this strange Swiss cheese note in any of them but don’t want to rule out a stylistic possibility.

Would love to hear everybody’s thoughts. Cheers!

Hank

Could that cork have created a poor seal giving the wine a little more air?

Paul

I had the Swiss Cheese note in a mid-2000’s bottle of Mayacamas once. It blew off after 2-3 hours though revealing a lovely wine. Never experienced it in any CdP. I’d think of it as some sort of bottle flaw, as opposed to a producer or regional trait.

Sounds weird to me…I’ve had a lot of VT over the years and never experienced a cheese note like that. It’s possible that the bottle was heated somehow before it got to you, although KL is usually meticulous about any storage they are involved with. But there are other points along the channel (distributor and retailer) where it can happen.

From your comments I’m thinking the most likely cause is reduction…i.e. it’s either too young (needs more time in the cellar for air to slowly get into the wine) or more air prior to/during drinking.

I have found several VT to be quite reductive in youth. For me it is usually more sulfur on the nose vs cheesy in the mid palate, but everyone perceives things differently.

+1

Great point. Also, I think the ripeness of the 15 likely shifted the reductive character some towards the cheesy/tertiary side (the tertiary rather than freshness that Hank mentioned likely being a reductive issue). Otoh, Hank said it hadn’t dissipated since opening…usually reduction recedes with air, so maybe this is Brett…always in option with CdP, cheesy isn’t a typical CdP brett character either tho.