I have more experience with the whites than the reds TBH - The reds I have had have been relatively clean, if not a bit austere. Excited to see how the ones in my cellar develop.
The whites, on the other hand, when they are on, I have found have a fantastic, clean Burgundian PYCM style reduction. The issue being that I have opened many that are not “on” and have faced every other flaw known to man, from refermentation, mouse, Huge amounts of VA, et cetera. I haven’t quite figured this out, but I am still chasing that ideal bottling I had. Maybe its not worth all the fuss but the two great ones I’ve had have me chasing more. i think it was an 18 La perle but not sure.
It reminds me a bit of the older bottlings of Werlitsch ex vero III from 2009-10 I have one left of each of those, which were magical a few years back, but I think sadly are past their prime - (they have lost a lot of fruit and depth and were rather flat the last time I tasted). Different Grapes obviously, but both profound bottles for me to a similar effect.
As usual with wines I guess our opinions are clouded by personal experiences. While I don’t have the extensive experience that probably you and Otto have, I’ve had 5 Baudrys out of which 4 were noticeably bretty (some non-wine nerds noted that they smelled of horse manure). Same source as my LPSJ so don’t think it is a transport or storage issue, and not reduction either because the aromas were of the barnyard nature instead of rotten eggs and sulphur.
Part and parcel of tasting wines I suppose, everyone has different experiences based on the individual bottles.
Not sure how to explain it. If it was truly Brett, I don’t know of any chemical mechanism that would cause it to dissipate over time. Which wines?
Again I haven’t noticed a systemic issue, only an occasionally one. For example, I’ve probably had 2010 Croix Boissee five times over the last 5-6 years, and one bottle showed a bit of Brett (and therefore was not quite as good) while the others did not.
I know that I don’t have nearly enough Baudry that Jayson have had, but with my fair share of samples from vintages in the last 4 decades, it also never occurred to me to peg their wines as a poster child for brett.
Perhaps just the luck of the draw with Melvin and the 5 bottles he’s had? However, I might not easily discount the location, which Melvin mentioned as a non-factor. With my current extended stay here in Manila, I’ve drank locally-sourced 2012, 2017, 2018 Baudry and brett was very evident in all 3.
Heat activated then? Higher temps definitely can have an effect on the yeast’s efficiency in converting remaining sugar to compounds that we associate with Brett.
@Jayson_Cohen Might be the point that Otto mentioned where the fruit becomes more expressive and the brett appears to dissipate.
@Ramon_C Doesn’t explain why LPSJ here haven’t really showed brett compared to the European bottles though!
Probably everyone’s opinions are informed by their personal experiences with the producers so I probably have had good luck with LPSJ but bad luck with Baudry