I just opened a 2011 Ridge Mikulaco which was the last of 6 bottles purchased direct from the winery. My previous bottle was from last June - all notes show this wine had a good balance of acidity with fruit - a touch of oak.
This bottle is dark golden color, super oaky on the nose, and a very pronounced kind of aged taste. Hard to describe. I don’t know that I’ve ever had an oxidized white, so would appreciate any descriptors from the board. TIA.
Apple cider…
For me it has always been zero or near zero fruit, a harsh oaky, dry butterscotchy kinda taste.
That sounds like a partially oxidized bottle to me. I thankfully don’t have too much experience with premox’d wines, except for the occasional bottle of white burgundy, but dark coloring, flat/tired taste, and sherry + butterscotch aromas are the usual signs. Imagine a nice, well-aged white rioja without the freshness.
Sherry
This. Sherry is intentionally oxidized as part of the process of production. Buy a half bottle of Manzanilla or Fino sherry and drink an ounce a day. Aside from actually developing a taste for the stuff, you should thereafter recognize the scent and taste of oxidation wherever you encounter it.
I’ll jump on board with “sherried.” Some people like that “aged” taste, but I do not. I have had some very old white wines opened for me, German or French or California, but if it has gone this way, prematurely or not, I don’t like it.
I love this kind of thread and look forward to learning from the other replies!
I would add: “An unpleasant loss/lack of expected presence of fruit.”
Oxidized wine takes the focus off the fruit and structure and hits the back and sides of my palate with a general “off-ness.” I find it hard to articulate.
Also, I think there is a faint wet cardboard kind of thing, only sharper or more unpleasant than that.
There is a bite to raw shitakes that I notice at the end of tasting them that has an oxidized flavor profile, to me. So, raw shitake sensation without the good flavor.
Sometimes, maybe a crappy canned flavor.
For fun, open a wine and have some, then leave a glass’ worth out for a week and come back to it. That will explain oxidation quite well.
Obviously, some wine is manipulated in a fashion to have oxidized components, so a loss of balance in the presence of the above flavors, as well.
Spot on.
My experience as well, combined with an absence (or near absence) of the types of flavors one would expect. Of course, a matter of degree - I’ve had some burgundies with a hint of sherry that also retain some of the minerality and crispness one would hope for, although just not in the balance one expects.
Another vote with Michael M.
Spot on
Fino Sherry has some components of oxidation, but not all of them. I think it would be far more useful to taste a non-fortified white wine over several days and even weeks (just smelling at that point) as it actually oxidizes.
Yep, sherry would be a great desriptor - and ‘rotten apples’ is usually something you’ll get on the nose as well.
Sometimes it’s tougher to pick up in younger wines - and it does indeed occur in younger wines as well, for many reasons.
Cheers!
If “sherry” is all one needs to describe oxidized white wine, then if one likes to drink sherry, then will also enjoyed a premoxed white burg? Or is there more than just saying “sherry” regarding oxidized whites?
Aren’t most sherries a little sweet where an oxidized white is not likely (unless we’re talking sauternes, TBA, etc)?
Fino and Manzanillo are bone dry sherry
Sherry is obviously a good descriptor. And I also think of it like when you cut an apple then don’t finish all of it, and there’s a piece left on the kitchen counter the next day. Not really rotten, but just one that’s browned and turned kind of pungent from sitting out.
Oxidized whites have pretty strong flavors and aromas, overall. The overall impression should be of much bigger, stronger flavors than you would expect from a sound white wine. Not subtle at all.
And of course the color is usually a giveaway. I don’t think I’ve ever had an oxidized white that hadn’t turned noticeably gold/brown (though the converse is not always true - not every time a white is that color is it necessarily oxidized, particularly an older white).
Well, I guess at this point I probably need to mention I have never had Fino or Manzanillo. Not too sure I want to either! ![[wow.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/7/7d450e9830889c8943b674446a21b7254cad657e.gif "wow"){kind=small}
The dark color you described is also a good indicator of oxidation.
Sherry is the most obvious description because sherry is an oxidized wine. You’ll definitely get a first indication with an amber or brown color. Flavors and aromas associated with oxidized wines are nuts, toffee, and caramel. I often get apple cider in slightly oxidized whites.
And taste almost nothing like a premoxed wine. the best have a brilliant freshness and salinity whereas premoxed wines veer towards bad apple juice.