Anyone else experience this?
Opened our last bottle some months ago, overwhelming metallic taste on the finish (very flinty, as one anticipates on these) - both of us noticed it, and it’s rather unbearable, frankly. Ridge was kind enough to take it back and send me a new one…opened that tonight, same thing. Not as extreme as the last one but clearly metallic in the finish.
Are you becoming more sensitive to oak? I always find too much oak on Ridge Chardonnays. Not sure that could explain the metallic taste though.
A couple of potential causes:
Brettanomyces can certainly lead to that; not as common with whites as it is with reds but it’s possible
High levels of metals in the wine including copper. If they copper fined the wine to remove reductive qualities it could cause this (again not common to add that much where it would impart this taste)
Or . . . It could just be you and/or Jen and your tastebuds. Have you seen any further notice of this on CT or elsewhere? And what did Ridge say when you returned the first bottle? Any possible explanations on their website end?
Cheers
Didn’t notice anything like that on release. Unsure if I’ve had it since.
What temperature did you serve at? Could it be reductive? Do you have any old copper pennies (pre-1982 I believe) to put in a glass and see if it transforms?
Cheers
It’s for sure reductive, it’s obviously flinty - serving it ‘fridge’ temperature. Doubt it’s oak, truly, and it is very coppery, as Larry pointed out
Will see if some time in fridge after being opened helps. This one wasn’t as bad as the last but it’s still there.
what’s this test about/do?
If the wine is really reductive, copper will remove those aromas and possible flavors. If you’ve ever been in a winery and you see somebody walking around with a bright blue liquid - that is copper sulfate, used to do this.
Cheers
I have a penny tied to a piece of fishing line (for easy retrieval) that I take to all tastings. Very useful for wines that that seem to be flawed by some reductive characters, and you don’t have two hours to wait and see if they’ll blow off.
BTW–it doesn’t have to be an old penny. New pennies have a sheen of copper on the surface, and that’s all you need.
It sounds like something I’ve encountered many times and I’ve always believed is an aspect of Brett, though I’ve seen that most people don’t perceive the strong metallic finish as I do. As you said, it can be almost unbearable for me. When I’ve experienced it, most other people were able to drink a wine that I would pour out, though many times they picked it out as Brett-influenced.
I don’t recall getting it from a white wine. Many of my cases have been with Chateauneuf du Pape.
I wonder if this is a version of the “medicinal” and bitter tastes I get with Chard 90% of the time? I even started a thread about it a few years ago. It’s not oak and I don’t think it’s reduction in my case. The conclusion I’m leaning towards is that it’s shading of the clusters. If they get sun on them, they harden the skins and get a weird tannic taste that comes across as bitter. In Chardonnay’s that don’t thin the leaves, seems like I don’t get it and they’re much “greener”.
Sometimes certain medicines can make things taste weird to me. Is that a possibility in this situation?
My wife and I aren’t taking any of the same medicines
on the medicine tip — Zinc can cause wines to present like this. You taking any zinc, or anything with high amounts of zinc in it?
There’s definitely a sunburn taste from sunburned grapes. At the more moderate level, tanned white grapes can have a sort of golden fruit taste. Some winemakers like that, some don’t. With some it might depend on how they want the variety to show. I can see someone unusually sensitive perceiving what most people get as golden fruit as something acrid. (You can take probably any flavor compound and increase its concentration to the point it’s unrecognizable and horrible.)
Nope, neither of us, and doesn’t happen with any other wines - this is literally the only wine (this specific wine, and vintage) where I experienced it, same with my wife
I have experienced a metallic taste in wines when I pair them with certain type of charcuterie. Cured ham, salami etc. I can never really enjoy a rioja with jamón ibérico.
Maybe some kind of detergent residual on your glass?