Is brett, by definition, a defect?

I was a judge at the Challenge International du Vin yesterday http://www.challengeduvin.com/.

My jury included 2 enologists, and we tasted a slew of 2010 St. Emilion grands crus.

One of the wines was earthy, funky, and one other jury member and I liked it. However, one of the enologists said 'C’est phénolé" and eliminated it out of hand. This was a clear defect to her. On hearing this, the other enologist agreed, dumped the wine in the bucket, and also refused to give it a score.

We worked out that her word “phéonolé” meant “brett”. I said that this is just the part of make up of some wines (Burgundy, Chinon, Châteauneuf-du-Pape) and that, if it wasn’t overdone, it can be admissible in my eyes.

What do you think?

Best regards,
Alex R.

The presence of any brett in any wine is not a defect IMHO.

Other presence of it in some wines is, as is an excess in some wines.

Call the ‘Brett Police’!

It’s a defect and has no place in wine IMO.

Well, oenologists are to wine-makers what are music critics to composers neener

Many really exciting wines - among the greates wines produced with a very distinctive personality - are “defective” for oenologists.
If they would make these wines, they would be “correct” but boring … there would be no 1979 Lafleur, no 1978 La Mission, no 1983 Rayas, no 1991 Jamet …

Sure - it depends on the dosis … the right amount of salt and pepper is a benefit for every steak, but too much would ruin it …
A wine full of extreme brett that smells like the pissing case of a home cat is inexceptable and certainly no pleasure, but wines with typical decent hints of barnyard, horse stable and wet moose are among the most interesting available …

One problem certainly might be that real brett can get stronger with bad storage and war shipping … I do think that happens too often during shipping to the States (I cannot judge about this) … but here in Europe it is rarely a problem …

I agree with Russell. While beer and wine can be completely different animals, consider that it cannot occur in beer without intervention. I have had beers that it adds a wonderful complexity/flavor profile to, beers where it’s so overdone it becomes undrinkable and beers where if any brett were present it would ruin the style. Same with wine IMO, YMMV.

Not by my definition.

This really is a challenging concept. By definition, Brett IS a spoilage yeast - and that would be a ‘fault’ by all accounts. That said, it has been so widely ‘accepted’ for so long that to many, it is not viewed as a fault.

Let’s compare it to VA (volatile acidity). Too high a level of this, by definition, would be considered a ‘fault’, but there are many that are either immune to its presence or actually like ‘higher than normal’ levels of it and therefore do not find it a ‘fault’.

To me, the challenge with most bottles that contain brett is its variability. Most producers who have issues with brett bottle their wines unfiltered, and as such, stand the chance of further brett blooms later on in the life of those bottles, depending upon shipping and storage conditions. We have all (I think) experienced the wide variability of some bottlings, where one bottle direct from Chateaux or perhaps always kept very cold will not have any noticable brett but another, exposed to elevated temps somewhere along the line, smells like horse crap.

Just my $.02 . . .

Yes, as even though some find the traits interesting I’m not sure there is a way to control this spoilage organism and that what it is. If I were judging it would hit the bucket as well.

^this^ [thumbs-up.gif]

I would say yes a fault Alex - despite some wines ‘improving’ where there are small amounts.

Why ‘yes’? As Larry notes above, there is no one presentation of brett, all depends on how each individual bottle has been stored - effectively meaning there is no-longer ‘one wine’ just 100s of different presentations - some you may love, some you certainly won’t. So a fault…

There is no excuse for unclean winemaking. The younger vintages of Burgundy I drink don’t really display any Brett at all, I don’t know why people claim it’s a Burgundy signature.

Perhaps that’s because a significant proportion of 30 year-olds do show it Nick. I’m not perturbed by a little, but beef broth and elastoplast are something I don’t like in a grand cru…

Well like virtually every wine region of importance, winemaking standards and know-how have improved exponentially over three decades. So hopefully this newfound cleanliness is here to stay. (South African wineries have yet to figure this out, however.)

It is a fault, while in small amounts may not make the wine undrinkable, does not make the wine better in my opinion. I have never had a meal that I thought would benefit from a wine showing barnyard, horses table or wet moose. Complexity for complexities sake doesn’t make sense especially when the flavored are offensive

I have never had a meal that I thought would benefit from a wine showing barnyard, horses table or wet moose.

Gotta agree.

If it’s already in the wine, and it’s not overwhelming, I can deal with it. But I’d rather not have it. If I were a winemaker, I’d do all I could to ensure that it didn’t appear in my wines. Just like I’d rather not have random bottles with TCA infected corks. Its effects are too random to set it loose in your wine.

For me it depends on the strain of brettanomyces in the wine and how much if affects or effects what’s in my glass. I don’t like smelling band-aid in my wines, so I would call that a fault, but a bit of smokey campfire or barnyard in a Bordeaux or Rhone certainly could fit in amongst the rest of the aromas and flavors.

That said, for the small amount of wine I make, I sure as hell don’t want any brett in there.

I agree with Bob (although I’m not at all confident in my ability to pick out the difference in aroma between a wet moose from a dry one). I can tolerate a small amount of brett in an otherwise good wine, but I can’t imagine a good wine is ever actually improved by brett – the whole notion seems preposterous to me.

Does anyone who likes Brett think that it reflects terroir, that it highlights up the differences of site? To me, a brett-y Bordeaux smells like a brett-y Rioja which smells like a brett-y Chianti… it doesn’t take much sweaty horse aroma, of fecal smell in the worst cases, to mask all other aromas.

Richard Jennings is arranging a lineup of moose with different amounts of moisture next month, you should join him.

[snort.gif]

Salt is not a defect in food but excessive salty food is faulty.

What a strange analogy. Very strange. Comparing a condiment to an infection.