I am sure I am one of many people with 2003s from Bdx, Burg or Rhone with concerns about the wines future. Putting away wine this AM, I decided to open a 2003 Angerville Taillepieds to see if the wine is cooked and if not to see the effect of a slow oxygenation. I think magic happens with many burgs at age 25, but many of my burgs are 10 yrs or less. Will slowO give me that magic sooner? It works great on cabs and rhones, so Im giving this burg 8-10 hrs at 60F with cork removed.
A small taste just after opening…great color, garnet with a bit of amethyst…nose a bit alcoholic, but nice raspberry and strawberry tones, not cooked by any means…sour cherry taste, fresh tasting, not stewed fruit. So far so good. Get back later.
If you are worried whether 2003 red Burgs will “last”, I think they will…alcohol is a great preservative. However, I think they will always have a “hot” character in most cases…ie, alcohol dominating the finishes, due to the very low natural acidities. And, for me, that is a characteristic I avoid in any wine. (So, I almost totally avoided the vintgage after tasting it in the region in 2004 and later.) But…I wonder if that’s your specific concern?
FWIW, I don’t think pulling a cork/“slow ox” for youngish (or mostly any) wines does anything beyond a “pop and pour”. I think most red Burgundies will show well on a pop and pour…albeit for a brief time…and then run a serious risk of shutting down. So, I either pop and pour…or aerate for a good length of time…I don’t think pulling the cork has any negative effect though. Usually…that “brief period” of showing well lasts up to an hour or hour and half for me. Figuring out how to time such things is very tricky. Last night…I didn’t figure it out. I opened a 1993 Corton-Marechaudes…and let it sit in decanter for two hours…because it was a little “tight”…it stayed that way. It was really nice this morning…though I had no interest in drinking it then…just tasting it. I probably should have popped and poured it…(or just pulled the cork), since I didn’t have time for a longer aeration.
Anyway…I’m very curious what people think of the 2003s as they approach “maturity”. I think, though, reactions will be more of a function of how one views/likes wines that don’t have enough acidity to seal fruit on the finishes. Some people are ok with that …like with zinfandels…so , they will like them better than I do.
Taillepieds, is, to me, d’Angerville’s (and de Montille’s) best wine…but…most people like the Clos des Ducs better, of course.
Stuart, interesting notes. You really are a Beaunehead. I guess my concern is will they ever turn into magic, that special burgundy flavor profile. Your saying there is very low acidity in 2003 due to the riper fruit? Alcohol dominates because of the lack of acidity, not that there is more alcohol?
Pulling the cork, and waiting 1/2 a day, on other varietals IMHO can have a profoundly positive effect. Don’t have much experience with pulling burg corks early, you sound like you have a lot. For this specific wine I will get back later.
The main event was short ribs over rice. The wine has now had a slowO for 11 hrs. Initially the nose was less alcoholic, restrained sweet raspberry Now the alcohol component was more obvious in the taste. Over the course of an hour the alcohol increased in the nose, but decreased on the buds, The wine had very ripe fruit, no longer sour, but under the warm weather pinot is some cool weather burgundy. Time should allow the fruit to mellow and burgundy nuances to appear. As to the tempering of the alcohol only time will tell.
Still have 1/2 a bottle in a air proof container. will see how this developes tomorrow
Don’t think it will ever turn into magic; rather, into a more exaggerated form of what it is…that’s my view, as fruit dries out. The excessive heat shut down the ripening process, as I remember, including the development of balancing acidity. Not a matter of overripeness, per se. Some tried to acidify…though that is nearly impossible to do really well.
Pulling cork may have good effect on ancient wines. I don’t know. Audouze says so. But on younger wines…of any kind…I think it is the same as pop and pour. And, I think pop and pour wines will show nicely for a brief period in most cases. That’s why such wines show well at wineries, etc. But…they then shut down. Then they get meaningful oxygen…and shut down…until they re-awaken. Pulling a cork doesn’t give them aeration in that period…IMO. For the same reason, it never hurts, though.
Second half of bottle, stored overnight in Grolsch style 375ml, with very high fill. Slight etoh on the nose, nothing on the taste. Nose rather muted, but lovely raspberry juice with a bit of sour. Vastly improved over day one. There is much greater hope for the future.
Never stopped to think about acids and what makes wines good or bad. Good to have this discussion. Thanks.
I quote this paragraph…Tartaric acid is, from a winemaking perspective, the most important in wine due to the prominent role it plays in maintaining the chemical stability of the wine and its color and finally in influencing the taste of the finished wine. In most plants, this organic acid is rare, but it is found in significant concentrations in grape vines. Along with malic acid, and to a lesser extent citric acid, tartaric is one of the fixed acids found in wine grapes. The concentration varies depending on grape variety and the soil content of the vineyard. Some varieties, such as Palomino, are naturally disposed to having high levels of tartaric acids, while Malbec and Pinot noir generally have lower levels. During flowering, high levels of tartaric acid are concentrated in the grape flowers and then young berries. As the vine progresses through ripening, tartaric does not get metabolized through respiration like malic acid, so the levels of tartaric acid in the grape vines remain relatively consistent throughout the ripening process.[3]
So I guess the hot years lead to less tartaric acid. Another quote…Acidity is highest in wine grapes just before the start of veraison, which ushers in the ripening period of the annual cycle of grape vines. As the grapes ripen, their sugar levels increase and their acidity levels decrease. Through the process of respiration, malic acid is metabolized by the grape vine. Grapes from cooler climate wine regions generally have higher levels of acidity due to the slower ripening process. The level of acidity still present in the grape is an important consideration for winemakers in deciding when to begin harvest. For wines such as Champagne and other sparkling wines, having high levels of acidity is even more vital to the winemaking process, so grapes are often picked under-ripe and at higher acid levels.[2] From what I am reading the acids are converted into sugars when ripening occurs. The more ripe the less acid in the grape. The more ripe the more sugar which is alter converted to alcohol by yeast in the wine making process.
Less than half of the tartaric acid found in grapes is free standing, with the majority of the concentration present as potassium acid salt. During fermentation, these tartrates bind with the lees, pulp debris and precipitated tannins and pigments. While some variance among grape varieties and wine regions exists, generally about half of the deposits are soluble in the alcoholic mixture of wine. The crystallization of these tartrates can happen at unpredictable times, and in a wine bottle may appear like broken glass, though they are in fact harmless. Winemakers will often put the wine through cold stabilization, where it is exposed temperatures below freezing to encourage the tartrates to crystallize and precipitate out of the wine.[3]
Pulling the cork and waiting 12hrs on this wine had very little effect. Funneling the second half into a storage bottle, effectively agitation, and then leaving it sit for 24 hrs without further air exposure was much more effective.