I have been finding more and more wines that contain offensive levels of off flavors produced by the wine spoilage yeast brettanomyces. I recently tried to start a discussion over at Vinography on the subject. Alder had written about a bottle of Chateau Beaucastel that he recently drank and I knew that the southern Rhone wines, Beaucastel in particular, can be some of the biggest offenders in the brett sweepstakes, often trying to claim it is terroir. To use my favorite Blogger word...bullshit.
I found the following article at Wineanorak very interesting. It is well written in that it addresses the science (which appeals to my engineering brain) while being readable for those not so scientifically inclined.
In some ways it supports my feelings about brett but in other ways supports the assertion that some brett (or rather the right molecule) is an advantage. In truth, I think it will always be subjective but there is no doubt that picking riper grapes opens up the door to residual sugar which can allow brett to flourish. It also seems to indicate that heat would exacerbate brett, even using Beaucastel in the article.
http://www.wineanorak.com/brettanomyces.htm
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2 comments:
Brett is a big problem everywhere.
There have been estimations that it can affect up to 2/3 of all red wines!
I liken it to discovering rust on your brand new car. A little bit might not seem like a problem - but it will only get worse. It is a time bomb.
There have been some Australian wineries - most notably Mt Langi Ghiran who have had the courage to stop the release of a whole vintage of their premium shiraz (2002) because of brett taint problems.
Thanks Edward. I love Syrah and Grenache but I am considering abandoning the south for France for sources of such because the French seem unable or unwilling to deal with this problem. I liken it to the C'est ca, that's the way it is, that seems to prevade many French. It is the same reason why hotels in France often fail to see improvements and smell like sewers with retrofitted plumbing.
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