Im not sure about that. The village was fine when I tried it but either the charmes or 1er (can’t remember which) had something weird about it upon reflection. It had a savoriness (like yeast autolysis) that I didn’t expect. In retrospect I think it may have been GMT.
Looking over my notes, I’ve luckily never had a 2006 Volnay from anyone, so I can’t say definitely whether I’m sensitive or not. None of the 2006s I’ve had from any other commune (including 2006 Bertheaus) have seemed off to me…
I sure hope this is just in an awkward stage. I have quite a few 2006s and at least 2 cases of 'angerville Volnays.
Bump. Ok, maybe I’m a bit slow, but could someone explain it to me?
This prompted me to open another 06 Mugnier Chambolle. No problems and drinking really well! 
It is an insidious type of rot because you cannot detect it visually when harvesting or sorting It happens underneath the skins of the grapes. Kevin Harvey was the first person who I saw report on the problem for 2006s after visiting burgundy and tasting the vintage. It has a savory (as opposed to sweet) dishwater taste to me. Ive also noticed it tasting kind of like wet charcoal too. Kind of hard to explain actually. If my memory serves correctly I have only noticed it with wine flavors and not the aromatics. I’d like to hear what others have to say on that last part though,.
As Berry said, gout moisi terreux (literal translation: earthy musty flavor) refers to compounds in the wine resulting from a form of rot that occurs inside the grape, which makes it difficult to spot at the sorting table. To call the aroma “savory” seems overly kind to me, as I find it pretty nasty. Dirty dishwater, stagnant swamp water, piss on a campfire. With a nasty charred wood flavor and a harsh, bitter, astringent finish.
GMT is not unlike smoke taint, not the same IMO, but not completely different. And like smoke taint, there is a wide range of sensitivity from one person to the next. I think this is true of most compounds in wine, actually. Part of this range of sensitivity may be familiarity, or lack of it, but part is physiological, I believe. This makes it difficult to discuss GMT in particular wines because some don’t notice it at all, others find it a mild characteristic of no great importance, and others find the wine completely undrinkable.
Of course it is. Continuous assessment of wines in their undrinkable phase leads to all sorts of nonsense.
Sorry, Tom, but it is a crock of BS to say the GMT chatacter of these specific wines is nonsense that comes from tasting them at the wrong time. It is almost like saying a corked bottle would be fine if one had kept it longer. I don’t know for certain how the GMT character will behave over time (though I’m not optimistic), but I do know for certain it did not come from opening them in an “undrinkable phase.” You may speculate that the GMT character will diminish with time or evolve into something else, but it sure would help if you could cite other wines from other vintages that did that.
I agree with both of you depending on which posts one reads. Lew, there are a few posts in this thread which seem to say, “I just had a 2006 and something seemed weird about it so maybe it was GMT.” Almost all young Burgundies upon opening taste weird to me and that’s one of the things that makes them so fascinating to me. Metallic thin earthy junk blossoming into pure pleasure with two hours air, or several years aging.
Well this is opposite to my experience with “almost all young Burgundies”, so YMMV I guess…
There is a big big big difference between a burgundy going through a normal awkward stage and flavors of rot. The 2006s that have this problem are not simply not ready yet. They have compounds from a micro-organism colony that is not normally there in healthy grapes.
FWIW, Tom has reported seeing wines from years with lots of rot age away those flavors, so I think that is what he is referencing.
Exactly. How many notes on old wines do you see that reference rot? I can’t think of any.
Keith Levenberg posted favorably here or on another board about 1983 Clos des Lambrays – I can’t think of a 1983 that was worse affected by the 1983 rot than Lambrays.
Point of clarification for me, please. I’m confused as to whether GMT represents a specific type of rot that may or may not behave the same as other types of rot, or if rot is all the same, at least as it’s used in terms of red wine. Specifically, is what is being found in 2006’s the same as the rot found in the 1983’s, or is it an apples and oranges thing?
If we’re talking about basically the same thing, then maybe we can pick up a pile of clos des ducs for a song, and enjoy it sans rot character in 20-30 years (which is probably about when it should be enjoyed anyway).
Well, to be fair, here was my note on the 1983 Lambrays:
6/29/2011 rated 79 points: Clos des Lambrays Vertical (Momofuku Ma Peche): Continued the theme of the '76 and '79 with a light-bodied and fairly anonymous personality, mild and not unattractive but just eh. This one was more boring than the others, though. My notes on it read: " "
1983 suffered from grey rot which is visible from the outside of the grape:
The type of rot in 2006 was rather insideous because it happened inside the grapes which I would imagine made sorting out unhealthy bunches or berries nearly impossible.
I do not know what microrganism causes GMT but I suspect like gray rot it is a type of fungus. I’d love to hear more from someone who knows what specific disease it is. Maybe people don’t know? Maybe its a mold like powdery mildew.
I wasn’t specifically referencing rot, it’s rather that I have seen every single burgundy vintage that I have followed from its inception(except possibly 05) causing considerable worry at the age of 5-6-7-8 etc years old. It’s in the nature of the way Burgundy matures to cause such concern and it nearly always proves to be quite unnecessary. In the internet age ideas such as GMT can take deep hold without any particular reason except this mid-term nervousness and the inability of enthusiasts to quell the urge to attempt assessment.
Tom - no doubt about it, the worries about '05 will come around in about 3 years when all of the people who think 10 years from the vintage date constitutes “age” start opening them and asking, “Will the fruit ever outlive the structure?” Frankly I’m a little surprised it hasn’t started already given that so many '05s were purchased by people who think cellaring a wine for three years constitutes age.
Just like they did with '88s - I wish I’d bought more when merchants started dumping them after Parker noticed the wines shut down and contained tannins! and acidity! Horrors! But many of us were confident based on our tastings before the vintage shut down and have been proven correct as the CdB wines are already gorgeous and the better CdN bottles show great promise for the near future.
By the way, I’m not commenting on the GMT thing in '06s. I’ve had very few as I bought next to none, other than Truchot (Les Sorbes) and Pavelot PV Les Vergelesses, both of which are fine. In fact, checking my inventory, the only 06s I own other than a few bottles I’ve received as gifts are a couple fourrier gc, bertheau 1er cru, and a single bachelet cdnv.