Why do people always think aged chenin is corked?

M

maureen

maureen nelson
A friend was at a wine dinner last week and one of the attendees brought a perfectly stored bottle of 1994 Huet Le Mont DS that someone announced was corked. My friend (who does have experience with aged Huet) said, no, it’s not but no one would listen to him and dumped their glasses. He didn’t and later, of course, the wine was delicious. He asked me the question above and I said I would post it here as this crowd can answer it better than I.

Well?
 
Because bottle stink on Chenin can smell a little like corkiness, and some wine drinkers are longer on opinions than they are on experience drinking aged Chenin (or even older wine in general).
 
Yeah, I have pondered the corked/not corked question a couple of times when opening aged Chenin. Usually, the question resolves itself quickly. It sounds like your group rushed to judgement .

Mark Lipton
 
originally posted by MLipton:
Yeah, I have pondered the corked/not corked question a couple of times when opening aged Chenin. Usually, the question resolves itself quickly. It sounds like your group rushed to judgement .

Mark Lipton
Click to expand...

Can and has taken at least a couple of hours ime, as well as ( depending on when you open the wine and at what time you pass out ) until the next day. The most mind-bending examples I recall are 1996 Le Mont Moelleux purchased in Beaune and poured there at La Paulee in 2005 (that several famous winemakers declared corked and then all had to retract), and a bottle of 1989 Constance at one of Don Rice's famous themed gatherings that we did well not to pour out in disgust and despair, as it was declared clean two days later when we submitted a sample to Dr chenincheninchenin while she was on bar duty. And then of course you feel like a total idiot when, given such experiences, you torture an actually corked bottle of Huet for hours.
 
Ok, there is apparently something in the natural aromas of aged chenin - or at least aged Huet - that can appear to be TCA, right?
 
originally posted by maureen:
Ok, there is apparently something in the natural aromas of aged chenin - or at least aged Huet - that can appear to be TCA, right?
Click to expand...
Yes, though possibly we are discussing chenin on limestone. I don't have experience with older bottles of chenin on schist (Loire) or chenin on whatever (S. Africa, California, Mexico).
 
originally posted by maureen:
Ok, there is apparently something in the natural aromas of aged chenin - or at least aged Huet - that can appear to be TCA, right?
Click to expand...

Need to yield the floor to Prof Lipton here, but I'll throw in a cue: it might be more complicated, as is the case with premox. When multiple conditions are met, then chenin (or chenin on limestone, or Huet in particular, or...) is more susceptible to faux corkiness.
 
originally posted by Pavel Tchichikov:
originally posted by maureen:
Ok, there is apparently something in the natural aromas of aged chenin - or at least aged Huet - that can appear to be TCA, right?
Click to expand...

Need to yield the floor to Prof Lipton here, but I'll throw in a cue: it might be more complicated, as is the case with premox. When multiple conditions are met, then chenin (or chenin on limestone, or Huet in particular, or...) is more susceptible to faux corkiness.
Click to expand...

I'm afraid that's way beyond my pay grade, Tovarisch. We'd need a much more comprehensive sampling of aged Chenin than I have at my own disposal. Perhaps Don could weigh in with his experiences? Or do we need to start a companion site to the Premox wiki? (AgedCheninOrTCA.blogspot.com is available for purchase, I see). As our erstwhile friend SFJoe would note, changes in soil beget changes in mycorrhizal ecosystems, and then all bets are off.

Cornfuzzedly yours,
Mark Lipton
 
originally posted by Jim Hanlon:
Because bottle stink on Chenin can smell a little like corkiness, and some wine drinkers are longer on opinions than they are on experience drinking aged Chenin (or even older wine in general).
Click to expand...

Agree (the first part). Find this also to be true often of older bottles of muscadet. You have to wait a bit to see.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top