What Causes The "Cola" Aroma in Some Pinot Noirs?

[larry_schaffer]

Curious if anyone has gotten it on '18 red Burg…just food for thought.

I guess the question is have you?

Cheers

[CoreyScott]

Hey Brandon! I’ve noticed it in spades on a ‘19 Pommard, “modern” style producer.

[Steve_Costigan]

I know only one wine geek besides me who often gets something reminiscent of rhubarb character in CA PN. I’m wondering if that is the same thing as what others are calling cola.

[John_Morris]

Cola and rhubarb seem like utterly different to me.

[Terry_H_a_r_r_i_s]

@Steve_Costigan

I know only one wine geek besides me who often gets something reminiscent of rhubarb character in CA PN. I’m wondering if that is the same thing as what others are calling cola.

I’ve not yet been reminded of rhubarb with any of the California or Oregon Pinot Noir wines I’ve tried, but I have encountered nice watermelon notes on the nose of a couple of Oregon PNs I’ve enjoyed.

[David_Bu3ker]

I don’t get rhubarb (and I would notice it given how much of the stuff I got fed as a child/teen), but I get a lot of cranberry, especially from Anderson Valley Pinots, which is why I generally do not like them.

[Cris_Whetstone]

I get rhubarb in various red wines. Probably in Pinot too as I don’t associate it with any specific source off the top of my head.

What it would have in common cola I have no clue.

[Steve_Costigan]

I brought it up because I was asked once when I used the rhubarb descriptor to explain that in more detail, which is hard to do without using “well, like rhubarb”, my interlocutor thought my description sounded like his cola impression, not a connection that I would have made on my own.

[John_Morris]

@Steve_Costigan

I brought it up because I was asked once when I used the rhubarb descriptor to explain that in more detail, which is hard to do without using “well, like rhubarb”, my interlocutor thought my description sounded like his cola impression

I’m not sure what that means – that he describes rhubarb as smelling like cola, and you describe cola smelling like cola? It’s like saying, “What I call red, you call blue.”

[Steve_Costigan]

He thought my description of what rhubarb smells like to me was similar to how he would describe cola. One man’s sous bois is another’s man’s outhouse after all.

[John_Morris]

At this point, I do feel obliged to cross-reference my 2017 experiment, complete with photos, to test the smell of rhubarb.

Graphite and salinity: Experimental results added

In response to “rhubarb” descriptors, another WBer (who prefers to remain anonymous – I can’t imagine why) and I have run some tests. Raw uncut rhubarb has no aroma that either of us could detect. When we sliced a stalk, all we got was a faint smell like you get from cutting any thick stalk. But after a minute or two – perhaps after some juices emerged – there was a very, very familiar rhubarb smell. Then I chopped up the rhubarb and cooked it in pure NYC water – no sugar, no salt, no other fr…

[Mikael_OB]

@Terry_H_a_r_r_i_s

@Steve_Costigan

I know only one wine geek besides me who often gets something reminiscent of rhubarb character in CA PN. I’m wondering if that is the same thing as what others are calling cola.

I’ve not yet been reminded of rhubarb with any of the California or Oregon Pinot Noir wines I’ve tried, but I have encountered nice watermelon notes on the nose of a couple of Oregon PNs I’ve enjoyed.

Rhubarb notes are quite common in German PN.

[N.Lehto]

Agreed, I often find rhubarb in Pinot Noir from colder regions - I think for me it’s one of the more unripe aromas.

[Wes_Barton]

@John_Morris

Cola and rhubarb seem like utterly different to me.

Agree. I encountered rhubarb in CA PNs quite often in the '90s, but rarely now. Not a good characteristic, for the most part. Definitey an underripe green aspect to it.

On the other hand, some benchmark (to me) RRV PNs had very pretty aromatics, which I’m pretty sure transform into cola when late-picked.

Of course all sorts of details impact these things. Rhubarb could easily be from overcropped vines or too full of a canopy (speculating).