Ordered a bottle of 1994 Colin Deleger Puligny “La Truffleliere” from HDH. Low fill bottle, but dirt cheap.
It shows up, and there’s obvious seepage under the capsule, so I decide to pop it alone tonight for a glass at midnight, since it’s probably fried and going down the drain anyways. The cork is covered with a black mold, and as soon as I even look at it with the ah-so in my hand, drops into the bottle with a quiet “plop”. The wine is a deep golden color.
I pour a glass. It is fresh, complex, exuberant. Just the faintest hint of fresh nuts, no diacetyl. Pear and quince, touch of oak spice. Long and chalky. Glorious, perfectly mature white burg.
Of course this is the first non-oxed bottle of older white burg I’ve had in years. Because the wine god is a mirthful god.
…this is the first non-oxed bottle of older white burg I’ve had in years. <<
And I had only a tiny quantity of premoxed bottles of White Burg - certainly less than 5% … and I´m drinking rarely anything younger than 7-8 years, usually 10+ …
I feel a bit like Gerhard… although I drink much less white Burgs than he does. A few bad experiences but not many at all (some Darviot Perrin Charmes 2004 recently).
Presume that’s because he’s drinking much better, or older, stuff. Because at the lower levels, stuff from the mid 90s is very advanced. Query whether it’s premox or just ox.
No, I´m not sure that I´m drinking “better stuff” regularily … everything from Macon blanc and Rully, Savigny and St.Aubin blanc to Meursault, Ouligny and Chassagne, C.Charlemagne and other GCs now and then.
I´m also sure that I can perfectly distinguish between PRE-m-ox and the usual oxidation of (minor) white Burgs with time …
Moreover: even minor white wines - when kept perfectly and in fine condition - are usually not overly oxidized after 2-3 decades when the cork is tight.
E.g. I had a simple Chablis (negociant) 1986 recently that was absolutely ok, if only a simply but nicely drinkable wine.
No, I have absolutely no idea why - maybe I´m simply lucky …
(knock on wood …)
That probably indicates an old, damp cellar where the capsules weren’t applied until the wine was labeled and bottled. Probably correlates somewhat with the most traditional folks, I’d guess.
Interestingly, the mold was so aggressive on this bottle that the capsule was protruding - not because the cork was protruding but because a thick, almost mushroom-like wedge of black crud had grown under and pushed the capsule up. And of course, the cork had no seal whatsoever. So there was plenty of food for whatever the Thing was.