A week-and-a-half ago, I got four cases of wine shipped to me from my off-site facility in CA. Among the contents were various Saxum and Rhys bottlings, and I have never tried anything from either winery before. Recognizing the concern about bottle shock, I tried very hard to ignore these new family members. I broke down yesterday and pulled a 2007 Copain Baker Ranch Syrah when I got home from work – I love me some Copain!
Anyway, the first glass was a touch hard and monolithic. I sensed the potential, but the fruit was muted. What came through was a very intriguing chalk and white pepper personality with a hint of stems. I put the bottle away until today, and everything has come into balance. I still get the chalk and white pepper, but now I also get blue-black fruit, a medium to long finish, and nice floral aromatics. This relatively inexpensive Copain is going to be really good about a year from now. I attribute its slow start out of the gate more to youth than shock.
I am still going to wait a few months on those Rhys and Saxum until I am sure bottle shock won’t be a factor.
My classic example of bottle shock is Pride cab. Until this year, thet shipped almost immediately after bottling.
The difference between opening one immediately after receiving them, and 6 months later was amazing.
Just to be pedantic I think we are talking about travel shock versus bottle shock. Wells’ recent Pinots are built for aging versus immediate gratification. Many of the Rhys bottles are the same. Your Saxums should be good to go with a decant, especially the 06’s. Leaving the 05’s to sleep personally.
If bottle shock means releasing too early from winery…yes. I like to have at least a year in bottle before I try.
Prides were released too soon after bottling.
Good idea Brad. Depends on how you like them of course but Wells is really dialing in nicely balanced wines from Anderson Valley with good concentrated fruit and nice acidity. Even some terrific minerality in some of his bottles. And I’m not necessarily a fan of that AVA for Pinot to date but I think Guthrie has found some nice spots and is doing really well with the fruit.
There is a difference between bottle shock and drinking an early release wine to soon. Bottle shock is the change in the structure of the wine that happens upon bottling. You have wines that have been sleeping peacefully in their barrels and then are rudely pumped out and into bottle. For many wines this creates a temporary change in the flavors and tastes of the wines. The wines can get really funky in this state. Remember in the movie how the CM chard turned brown. This change, called bottle shock, can last from a couple of weeks to several (6) months or so. Most producers, not all, try not to ship while the wine is in this state.
As a separate issue, somewines are shipped before they reach a proper drinking state. They may require another 6 months to a year to fully develop the flavors required to be in a drinkable state. This has nothing to do with long term aging. These are early release wines. The winemaker sends them to you and says “cellar these things for six months to a year before opening”. They’re not ready yet. These wines may be past bottleshock, but are still not really developed. Years ago, cabs, for example, where held,in bottle, at the winery for at least a year after bottling to give them time to set up their flavors before release. Today, many wineries don’t have the cash flow to do that and they release early, then tell the buyer to hold!
Some people do, some have no patience and drink.
I put up a thread on early release vs. Futures. The two are tied together.
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