Due to this recent thread, where @MChang and @Robert.A.Jr had a virtual tasting followed by mine two days later, I experienced something that Robert told me well after he posted yet another glowing Bordeaux thread — lest he disappoint his massive fan base — that his bottle, tasted the following day, was slightly corked. Clearly one cannot post that on WB when one has an unimpeachable reputation for Bordeaux expertise and reliably florid prose to maintain. Both are genuinely true, by the way — he is an expert and he does write fantastic notes — so a decision had to be made. I respect that. I’ve also bought a lot of wine on his say-so, so I need him functional.
To be fair, I’m guilty of the same misleading-by-omission — I didn’t update my own note when I sensed TCA roughly two hours after posting it. Glass houses. (plus I wasn’t busy packing for a week in Provence like he was)
My note from opening night showed I wasn’t exactly blown away. Even with a couple hours of air, the wine wasn’t giving me much. Then, perhaps by the power of suggestion, toward the end of my final glass (of roughly half the bottle), I too sensed slight TCA. Great. The remaining half went into a 375ml with a blast of inert gas and into the refrigerator for another occasion.
That occasion came last evening — six days later. My entirely rational expectation: if there are TCA compounds in this wine, six days of exposure (however brief), even with inert gas, should have amplified them. Quite the opposite happened. The wine finally started singing — still dominated by dark fruits, mint, and florals — but zero sign of TCA or cork taint whatsoever. In fact, the licorice quality you often see referenced in notes on this wine and vintage had become notably elevated…and there are some interesting similarities between licorice and TCA in the aromatic profile. Worth noting.
I’m unfortunately quite sensitive to TCA, which made this even more puzzling. Robert’s experience tracked similarly — someone who drinks far more Bordeaux (and wine generally) than I do — but in reverse. His TCA apparently came on late enough that he had already posted his notes, and between that and the hustle of getting out of town, a follow-up never materialized. Completely understandable. He’s a pop-and-pour-and-post guy — I’m fairly confident in that characterization — so it’s entirely plausible it was a ~2-hour phenomenon on his end as well. For the record, I filled this post with affirmations of the man. Mine had zero hint of TCA six days out. So what was it?
The question I’m genuinely curious about: what compounds or aromatic elements in a wine could convincingly mimic TCA, only to disappear entirely once the wine opens up properly? Magdelaine is notably earthy — this isn’t a fruit-forward Bordeaux, it’s a classic, richly structured Claret. Could one of those earthy or mineral components produce something that reads as TCA in the early going, then transforms or integrates as the wine breathes and blooms into what it actually is?
If so — what is that compound?
