And then there’s the Un-cola:
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I’m sure it appears plenty elsewhere, but if I taste blind and get cola, I’m for sure guessing RRV.
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Point-chasing is a major precipitant, in chemistry terminology.
I’ve noticed it in some young Burgs from hotter years such as 2009 and 2015 at a couple dinners I’ve hosted. I havent really tasted it after a a more than a decade in bottle.
I get asked this more than I would have ever thought in the tasing room. Some looking for it, some exclusively not wanting it. When I follow up with “Like what brands do you get that from in PN?” The reply often leads to producers are making wines on the riper side, with cold soaks, no whole cluster inclusion, lower fermentation temperatures, that use heavy toast oak and/or toasted heads. Warmer vintages and/or heat waves may attribute to this as well, I sure got a lot of cola on a lot of RRV PN’s from 2004.
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That’s a really interesting observation. I do occasionally get cinnamon redhots from some Baroli and I think the space between cinnamon redhot and cola is probably not that far for some palates, especially if the background fruit is sweeter and darker.
Quoting Blake Brown, who was roughly quoting the late Burt Williams: “Cola comes from the richness of the fruit; many producers made Pinots that had this character, RRV in Sonoma County included; it has to do with picking optimally and has more to do with the clones than the vineyard itself.”
I associate this heavily with Santa Maria pinots, even more than RRV. I drank a lot of these in the 90’s–Foxen, Melville, Talley, others. I enjoyed them, but it was almost a tell. I associated it with the terroir or maybe the youthful vines, but the suggestions above obviously may be spot on.
This makes surface sense, but it’s just striking that you basically NEVER get this aroma / taste from Burgundy. Lots and lots of Burgundies combine new oak and acid, it seems like at least a few must have very ripe fruit. If it is as simple as oak+acid+very ripe fruit, why is this cola note so unique to California/new world pinots?
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Agree. It’s major marker for New World pinot when tasting blind. I’ve never had it in Burgundy.
Also, I really dislike that cola element, to me it’s fine for half a glass but quickly becomes tiresome and then actively negative. Of all the reasons I (like basically the entire wine market) am willing to pay twice as much for good Burgundy as good California, that cola element is pretty high on the list.
Cola:
Among the numerous odorants identified, eugenol (spicy, clove like, sweet) and coumarin (sweet, herbaceous) were predominant in all colas. Other predominant odorants in at least one brand included guaiacol (smoky) and linalool (floral, sweet), while 1,8-cineole (minty, eucalyptus-like) was a moderately potent odorant in all colas.
Pinot Noir:
Analysis of wine samples from the same vintage indicated that grape maturity could affect aroma compounds in different ways, based on their biochemical formation in the wines. For most short-chain fatty acid esters, there were no obvious trends with grape maturity, however, the concentrations of ethyl 2-methylpropanoate and ethyl 3-methylbutanoate consistently decreased with grape maturity. The decreasing trend was also observed for other esters including ethyl cinnamate, ethyl dihydroxycinnamate, and ethyl anthranilate, with the exception of ethyl vanillate, while C13 norisoprenoids, monoterpenes, and guaiacols had increasing trends with grape maturation.
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Joe,
I would think that would lead to a more ‘smoky’ quality, and not a ‘cola’ one, but heck, what do I know?
Cheers
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I noticed this aroma on an Ojai Kessler-Haak Pinot 2017, yesterday. That wine was picked at 22,5 brix, had 11% new oak, and was 50% stems. So hard to figure it is either oak or ripeness as the cause. Unless certain coopers have that aroma, either new or used.
I think that like “mocha” in Cabs and Merlots, it is the combination of ripe fruit and oak. As someone said above, a leaner Pinot given the same barrel treatment would just come across as toasty.
Russian River PNs have the cola so often I avoid them, but I’ve noticed cola even in Willamette Valley wines in riper years.
It’s not as simple as I outlined. Joe Davis gives a more detailed answer below that I didn’t want to give as I thought it might confuse more people than understood it.
All the compounds (and many not listed) are found in kola soft drinks and many cross over to Pinot Noir made with very ripe fruit and heavy oak treatment. If you don’t taste it in Burgundy so be it. Show me Mourvèdre from France that tastes like D&R, there isn’t any. Like avoiding heavily oaked Napa Cab, I would avoid very ripe-over ripe Pinot with heavy oak treatment. They are most likely (yes, there will be exceptions) to have a kola or cherry kola aroma and flavor.
Tom
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Larry, yes a bit of smoky note but much more spicy clove and creamy vanilla note which is prevalent in Kola.
Tom
That is one thing I remember from reading about cola recipes is that citrus was always an important piece. This makes me wonder if that in addition to the other common features of ripe fruit and maybe barrels is the tartaric acid additions. It can often lend a citric tartness that you usually don’t get from wines that have more natural acidity.
In the review of ASEV research I came across this comparative. Noting that only one compound found in both entities. Surprising given that cherry cola and cola are often used as descriptors in Pinot Noir and I suspected other compounds would crossover.
Given it’s Super Bowl week…you ever pick up hints of Crystal Pepsi in your Pinot Noir?