That’s PVs, not PBs – older muscles keep finding a new route to blocking the latter – but the PVs were good medicines!
1995 Dubreuil-Fontaine, Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Ile des Vergelesses
Good colour, not overtly aged. The nose begins in very attractive fashion, with a silky smooth width of spiced red fruit. Despite a good-looking and robust cork – only 60% saturated with wine – the the first flavours suggest an accent of oxidation, but subsequent glasses don’t show it at all – I assume that must have just been the wine in the neck(?) The wine is smooth and tasty with fine balance, though not particularly extra-special in any way. Just a pretty middle-age wine. One third is left over for day two and it’s just a little more balsamic in style – very drinkable – but not as good as day one.
Rebuy – Yes
2009 Chandon de Briailles, Pernand-Vergelesses 1er Ile des Vergelesses
A little deeper in colour. The nose, unsurprisingly has a younger fruit and is more primary – just a little tightness to start with. In the mouth this has more volume, a little less smoothness but definitely a more persistent and intense finishing flavour. Really another level of mid-palate and finishing flavour, yet less balanced and certainly less easy to drink than the 1995 – to start. One-third stays in the bottle for day 2 – and what a change! Balanced, younger impression, just delicious wine – here for the first time with a small accent of whole-clusters. Delicious and with real depth too – Right now I’d suggest decanting – the aeration really made a difference!
Rebuy – Yes
There are 2 responses to “2 x pv”
About the accent of oxidation of the first pour: I have had similar experiences with old (older than 1995) Baroli/Nebbioli. The first pour in the glass may show such signs and then tends to accentuate these very fast. So much that I often thought, the whole bottle might be gone, only to be surprised by later pours, which show a pristine wine.
I am not sure the explanation of the wine in the neck may be right, but in such matters you should have the experience and know the science better than anybody else…
Not much ‘science’ behind that thought Gilberto 🙂 and clearly a bottle laid and then upright is already mixed. But it is often the case with older wines (much older) that the cork and bottle-neck stink of oxidation – such that you almost reject the thought of tasting the wine – but more often than not, it is the oxidised wine from the cork that ‘clings’ in the neck of the bottle – which you can try to clean away with a damp cloth, or may e the first pour washes it away…
Well, science was perhaps a big word, but I couldn’t find an explanation for that phenomenon, and now you provided one. I’ll try the trick of cleaning the neck with a damp cloth. I usually do it only just to the border.