Nice Piece about Wine Myths from Matt Kramer

[Tom_Blach]

Notwithstanding the science, which I am in no position to challenge, in my considerable experience the corks of bottles stored in dry conditions do dry out. Sometimes in more humid conditions they do too but it is much rarer.
Structure and tannin are not synonymous but nor are they negligible facilitators of ageing. There is a disturbing lack of tannin in modern Burgundy.

[k_s_h_i_n]

@John Morris

I was responding to the “dry and crumbly” and focusing on the crumbly part.

John,
Have you had any “dry and crumbly” cork from the wines that you cellared from the release? I will give you three examples.
All of the 50s and the 60s wines from Bern’s have been never reocrked but the corks are moist and still elastic.
“Glamis Castle” 1870 Lafite en Magnum

“It was one of the most memorable wine experiences of my career to date (June 1971) . I thought it prudent to open a magnum - just in case the old Earl had been right and the wine was still undrinkable. So I organised a dinner at Christie’s to which about a dozen eminent client connoisseurs were invited. The level was perfect, the cork was sound, the colour of the wine impressively deep, its nose was sound - not a trace of oxidisation or acidity, and its balance and flavour perfection. We had just 41 magnums left for sale and this was purchased at the original sale. I have had the opportunity of tasting the Glamis 1870 on several occasions since. It is quite simply, one of the greatest-ever clarets. MB.”

I left a few bottles of the 01 Clarendon Hills Grenache Kangarilla Vineyard in the garage for a few years. The cork is completely dry and crumbling and impossible to pull out.

If anyone can tell me that it is the high temperature that dries out the cork, I need to look into that.

[R_Olson]

@K John Joseph

I don’t believe in travel shock, and one can’t argue that with anything but personal experience, so I suppose i’m inconsistent.

Just to this one point, I had never even heard of travel shock before and recently went on my honeymoon and as such brought about 6-bottles of the same vintage, producer, and varietal which were bought at the same store w us on the trip. It was a wine I have had many times and upon opening the first bottle the first night, it just tasted bad.

It was very muted and closed…it tasted like nothing almost…just bad juice. The next night, the same phenomena but to a lesser extent and so on and so on and so on until finally on the last night, the final bottle was excellent as had been my previous experience w the wine. Mind you, I had never even heard of travel shock before, so there was no possibility of bias.

I began to think, that much like bottle shock, the wine was so disrupted on the plane that it experienced a similar effect. Upon returning home I looked it up and there were many forums and threads discussing it (unbeknownst to myself, I was the perfect double blind experiment candidate); as a result, I firmly believe that it exists based on my experience.

[AndrewH]

@Neal.Mollen

Here too, he would have a point. Just because Maya and Screaming Eagle are many multiples more expensive than Monte Bello doesn’t make them better. But to say,as he does, that above $30 price is meaningless is just wrong.

Just to be clear, what he said was that above $30 there is no correlation between price and quality. That is, if the price is above $30, then a wine is no more likely to be good (or of a certain quality) if it costs $31 or $310. He seems to concede that when lower price levels are considered, there is a correlation.

Now, is that really true?

@K John Joseph

For much more extensive data sets to substantiate my argument, why don’t you simply review a few issues of the magazine that Kramer writes for. Doing so will quickly negate the validity of your point, as the vast majority of high-scoring wines, tasted blind by wine spectator, are considerably more expensive than their cheaper counterparts within the varietal and region. There are always outliers, sure. But generally speaking, price and score have a significant correlation.

Indeed, his claim is surprising given his own magazine’s apparent correlation. Perhaps they have data they do not share with us, but this is my sense of WS ratings (which, while they may be an imperfect measure, do measure something related to quality) as well, and there is a decent correlation between higher scores and higher prices, even within the group of wines priced >$30.

[Howard_Cooper]

One of the comments to the article:

"Harvey Steiman — San Francisco — December 4, 2012 1:22pm ET

High alcohol + low acidity = 1982 Bordeaux. Just sayin’. "
.

I think a lot of people would be surprised at how low the alcohol was in the 82 Bordeauxs. Bordeaux 1982 horizontal: blast from the past in Washington D.C. (tasted December 2005) – Connections to Wine

[Rick_Allen]

@Howard Cooper

One of the comments to the article:

"Harvey Steiman — San Francisco — December 4, 2012 1:22pm ET

High alcohol + low acidity = 1982 Bordeaux. Just sayin’. "
.

I think a lot of people would be surprised at how low the alcohol was in the 82 Bordeauxs. Bordeaux 1982 horizontal: blast from the past in Washington D.C. (tasted December 2005) – Connections to Wine

This is why Steiman isn’t qualified to taste/rate Oregon wines.

[andy_velebil]

And to toss a monkey wrench in things. From about the mid 1970’s to the early 1980’s the cork industry had major issues. In short there was a ton of really poor corks being produced. This cork issue was a small project for me since I open a lot of Ports from this time period and have experienced huge amounts of bottle variation and corked bottles. Over the years I’ve spoken to many producers in Portugal about this and all have basically said the same thing. During that time the cork industry had major problems that got so bad the producers put pressure on them and forced them to clean up their act. Keep in mind those cork companies are among the worlds largest cork producers shipping corks all over the world. So it may be difficult to gather solid and reliable data from this period.

As for standing up/laying down issue. I’ve mentioned this before but I’ve been in a very old Port producer’s cellar where everything is standing up, and has been since the early 1800’s. Best the current owner (family member) knows, the last time those bottles could have been recorked was the early 1900’s. He opened a 1812 Port and the cork was in amazing shape. Still elastic, holding its shape, and no signs of shrinking. It’s a cellar with no active temp or humidity control that is on the outskirts of Oporto. So there is some annual variations in temp and humidity.

[Bob_Wood]

@Rick Allen

@Howard Cooper

One of the comments to the article:

"Harvey Steiman — San Francisco — December 4, 2012 1:22pm ET

High alcohol + low acidity = 1982 Bordeaux. Just sayin’. "
.

I think a lot of people would be surprised at how low the alcohol was in the 82 Bordeauxs. Bordeaux 1982 horizontal: blast from the past in Washington D.C. (tasted December 2005) – Connections to Wine

This is why Steiman isn’t qualified to taste/rate Oregon wines.

[K_John_Joseph]

@Bob Wood

@Rick Allen

@Howard Cooper

One of the comments to the article:

"Harvey Steiman — San Francisco — December 4, 2012 1:22pm ET

High alcohol + low acidity = 1982 Bordeaux. Just sayin’. "
.

I think a lot of people would be surprised at how low the alcohol was in the 82 Bordeauxs. Bordeaux 1982 horizontal: blast from the past in Washington D.C. (tasted December 2005) – Connections to Wine

This is why Steiman isn’t qualified to taste/rate Oregon wines.

Yeah, +1 here to that. I really struggle with Steiman. Just sayin’

[P_Intag]

Regarding his structure argument, I find his comment quite curious:

Freely translated: A wine is charpenté or well-built when it is well-balanced, richly fruity and tannic, the opposite of a wine that is thin-bodied and diluted. Such a well-constructed wine generally has a good potential for long aging in the bottle."

Note the emphasis on tannins.

Now, whether you or I would agree with such a definition is beside the point. I cite it only to suggest that this notion of “structure” prominently emphasizes tannins, without any explicit mention of acidity, length, proportion, scent or finish.

Excuse me but where, in the quoted reference, is the word “tannins” emphasized? It’s emphasized no more than “well-balanced” (implies acidity level) and “richly fruity” (refers to depth of fruit). Why Mr. Kramer completely ignores these descriptors and focuses solely on the mention of tannins is inexplicable except that he is trying, unsuccessfully, to support his point.

[Paul_Savage]

Hmmm… I once bought a couple of (inexpensive) bottles that had been standing up in a retailer’s showroom. The corks were dry and hard as rocks. And how about this - if a cork is “impermeable”, how is it that corks can be dry or moist? I mean, how does a dry cork get moist, and how does a moist cork get dry, if water cannot get into out of, or through the cork (if left on a countertop, for instance)? I do think the process is normally quite slow, given average humidity conditions, and an intact capsule (but I recall that some older capsules had small holes in the top too, maybe so they would slide on the bottle neck more easily when being attached?).

Price reflects quality too, at least in many cases. Have you tasted DRC, Leroy, Rousseau, Vogue, etc.? Quality creates demand unfortunately, and we all know what is on the other side of the equation!

Can’t tell how a wine will age? Really? Let ME taste it!

But in general, there are some nuances to his views, and I always enjoying reading what he writes!

[C_h_r_i_s_B_e_r_n_s_e_n]

this is Matt Kramer at his worst. i really like him as a columnist, but a few points he makes are absolutely absurd. There is NO correlation between price and quality above $30 a bottle? this is absurd. He would have it that there is no correlation in price, none mind you, between DRC and village Burg; or the elite of Brunello Riserva and Annata or decent Chianti; or fill in the blank. tjis is absurd. There might very well be a law of diminishing returns in operation, but his abstract law is crap. Also, structure has zero to do with ageworthiness? Pullease. his point on corks might be true, but this article is an example of a good wine thinker lost in abstraction. Burke?

[Paul_Savage]

Just to add a bit … I think it IS clear that a $500 wine is not 10 times better than a $50 wine. And let’s see, how about a $5000 wine…?

[Nick_Ryan]

@C h r i s B e r n s e n

this is Matt Kramer at his worst. i really like him as a columnist, but a few points he makes are absolutely absurd. There is NO correlation between price and quality above $30 a bottle?

Yeah, a bizarre statement, since, as has already been pointed out, his OWN publication has decades of scoring data that directly contradicts this. It’s as if Scientific American magazine published an editorial from a staff writer claiming the Earth is only 4000 years old, without a trace of irony.

[k_s_h_i_n]

I opened the 64 Yon-Figeac. There was a significant mold build up. The cork was perfectly moist and elastic which is not unlike a ten year old cork. I don’t think I have ever encountered a cork that is dry/brittle when there is mold, ie from an ideal humidity cellar.