That Smell....

WINE TALK
1

No, this is not a thread about Lynyrd Skynyrd. My question concerns an absolutely fabulously nuanced and floral smell that I sometimes detect from 1/2 inch remainders of young California wines in glasses on the counter the next morning. I like the bold, young Cabs, and don’t feel that I am missing so much in consuming them so young, but perhaps I am wrong? Is that smell what the wine would smell like with more bottle age at some point, or is it a unique moment, from being open for 12+ hours? Or do I just need to decant these wines for 12 hours to really enjoy them more in their youth? Does anybody know what the heck I am talking about? Do I? :slight_smile:

2

Vinegar ?

3

Jeff, I know what you speak of. Most times I find it in my recently emptied glass. Many times I can’t stop smelling what appears to others as…an empty glass. Love it.
Somehow I think you knew I would chime in…
Decanting? Why fix what’s not broken?

4

I am not surprised, Mike, that you know of what I speak. So, you are not tempted to try a 12 hour decant and see if that young wine smells…like that?

5

Jeff, my thinking on this is two-fold: I place tons of belief in the 80/20 smell thing. We have always been told that tasting wine is done more with the nose than the tongue. Some say 70% some say 80. I think there is no way to replicate what you are finding with a decant. It’s a product of fruit triggering smell receptors. Keep in mind my theory is purely my own and no small animals were harmed in forming it. :slight_smile:
Secondly, I have had wines that have been decanted upwards of 50 hours. One comes to mind, a 2006 Schrader brought to CLONYC by Thomas and the last glass-worth brought home by myself. When I finally got to it, it had about a 50 hour decant. What I found was greatness but not so much other than ‘different’ than what I tasted 2 days early (in a much different environment with many others mind you). I am a firm believer of the ‘if it ain’t broke’ theory, and am also open to all future experimentation, and plan on doing so until the big dirt nap. Bottom line, I like young wines that show balance, fruit and structure. That 2009 Maybach Materium I had a few weeks back had it all. What it becomes in 4/5 years is another story.

Cheers!

6

VA/ethyl acetate in small amounts can elevate the perception of fruit aromas.

7

I’ll try to re-phrase my question. Is the smell of a young wine after a long decant a unique experience or should one expect the wine to have that same smell after some additional time to age in the bottle?

8

I like your first question better! Yes I know what you are talking about, and many a morning I can be found tying up those dishes from the previous night and sniffing those almost empty wine glasses. The smell is not the same if an inch is left in the glass - this is a unique fragrance that comes from probably a tablespoon or less of wine. And it often favors the floral side rather than the spicy side of the olfactory experience. Why? I don’t know. I think it has to do with evaporation/concentration, perhaps.

9

I like that answer, Merrill. Evaporation.
Seems nothing like age/decant.

10

Yeah, and that was a heck of a lot easier to deal with this morning than your style poll.
I have to think about that and actually try to figure out what you are saying. Not to mention trying to explain to my kid (when she finally gets up this morning)that her mother is a crossover, or something like that [wow.gif] .

11

Merrill,that is a very interesting answer to the question. Thanks. So, if I decanted a bottle into a few dozen glasses…

12

That would be my guess.

It may be a flaw technically but it’s very flattering in small amounts.

13

I don’t think it’s related to any flaw. I had a Cabaud 2009 last night and this morning, the remainders in a glass were an absolute bouquet of flowers. The wine is young and is black-fruited and tight. There was no hint of such an olfactory experience in the wine when we had it (though it was very good). It may be worth an experiment with several glasses with varying amounts in them left overnight for comparison.

14

Jeff, that would be a good experiment to conduct, just don’t do it on the night you and 15 other wineberserkers are doing a ‘sleep-over’. These guys have a habit of licking the glassware clean. I’d hide the rubbing alcohot too.

:slight_smile:

15

Jeff, I don’t have a simple answer, but I do think part of what you are getting, you might also get with more air before drinking the wine. My group consistently finds the best young wines are ones that have been decanted for 12-24 hours when tasted blind.

But here are some other factors to consider:

  1. You are different in the morning. You’ve been away from the wine and food all night. Your sense of smell may be more acute than it was the night before . . . esp. near the end of the evening. [wink.gif]

  2. Saliva. Those glasses were drunk by someone. Their saliva and some food is in the glass all night. Now, I’ll let the winemaking/chemistry experts like Linda and Merrill explain the chemistry of spit, but I bet it’s a factor.

16

[wow.gif]

Actually, protein can bind to the tannins remaining on your tongue and remove them. Occasionally rare beef will be served at wine judging competitions to cleanse the palate. We also used a plain gelatin solution when I worked on the sensory panel at school. [basic-smile.gif]
My comment on VA was not meant to imply a flaw, per se. All wines have VA in varying levels. I was just saying that more of that will occur if wine (especially in a small quantity, as in a few ounces in a glass) is left out for 12 hours. And that WILL lift fruit aromas.

17

Last night, 2007 Myriad Dr Crane. A big dark bruising wine on a pop and pour. Magically, at 7 am, a bouquet of flowers…

18

Oxidized wine has a red red cherry fruity aroma to it. I compare it to the candy coating on a candy apple or those big red lollipops you had at christmas as a kid. I think that some people do interpret that oxidation as a pleasant smell (I do not).

19

I would have preferred that the topic had something to do with Lynyrd Skynyrd. “Ooooohoooooh, that smell”.
But back to the topic at hand-I believe with nothing but empirical evidence that it has something to do with the cabernet grape.
Countless times, I have noticed etherial smells from the dregs of otherwise empty Bordeaux and Cab bottles. I have never gotten the same sensation from empty Burg, pinot, zin, Barolo, etc. etc. Sure, some other empty bottles have smelled good, but not the way empty Bordeaux and cab bottles smell.

20

On the other hand, I’ve often noticed a kind of opposite effect, when there are just a few drops of a wine that I like left in the glass. They’ve been in the glass for a few minutes (typically less than 30) and I want a last taste. I drink the bit of wine, but find that all the life is gone. Usually it’s a bit acid, or at any rate has lost all of the good things about its flavor.