2005 Lejeune, Bourgogne
It’s at least a couple of years ago but the last bottle of this was super – a rare 500ml bottling of which, way back when, I availed myself of a whole case. On this particular occasion (bottle), it was obvious that I was faced with a very spongy cork who would most-likely have some ‘dimensional integrity‘ issues – and so it was. A few minutes later, I managed to get all the pieces out of the neck without losing any. How did the cork smell? Well, no TCA – good! – but within the sweetness of fruit the aromas of brett mingled too. I tried to drink a glass – the rest of the wine putting up a good show – but the performance was overly dominated by the brett. I’m far from the most sensitive to this issue – but this was comfortably beyond my personal limits – the wine went down the sink. Over a certain age, it is often said that there are no good wines, just good bottles – well, this was neither of those.
Rebuy – No – hopefully some of the remaining bottles fair better…
rubbish corks…
24.9.2023
There is one response to “rubbish corks…”
Also being a member of the brett hating society it does pay to be aware of some of its foibles. It can bloom in bottle and expand in the glass, once poured. Being a highly volatile compound, brettanomyces can volatalise to a greater or lesser degree out of wine with aeration and make that wine acceptable depending upon the detection/acceptance threshold of a drinker.
Whatever you do, I believe that it’s best to not immediately dump the bottle contents but use it as an experiment to learn from by leaving open/decanting/re-cork and store in the fridge and see what happens, if anything. May become a battle between brett dissipation and growth in VA.
Just when it seemed that Burgundy had mastered the brett problems of yore, I have read of its re-emergence in these recent times of global warming induced hot/solar vintages. Scrupulous cellar hygiene being the enemy of brett https://www.awri.com.au/industry_support/winemaking_resources/frequently_asked_questions/brettanomyces-faq/#title13.
Put me in the camp that finds brett at higher levels only ever getting worse, rather than better. Counter-intuitive, I know, given its supposed volatility…