Under perform and not

Florida Jim

Florida Jim

Florida Jim
2004 Dom. Leroy, Bourgogne:
A strange showing almost orange at the rim, stemmy, although not overwhelmingly so, and brittle in the mouth not at all what I expected based on past bottles. Not enjoyable.

2007 Edmunds St. John, Heart of Gold:
One of the nice things about screw-caps is that you can have a glass and put the bottle in the fridge knowing that you have more time to get back to it. This was three days out and I think it was the better for it; more fullness, slightly softer (although this has plenty of cut), smoother texture and (tell me how this happens?) better length. Refreshing, of course, but after a few days, more delicious then when popped and poured. Stellar with tomato and mozzarella salad.

2004 Harlan Estate, Cabernet Sauvignon:
While I always appreciate the generosity of those who open such bottles for public consumption, I cant wrap my head around why one would pay such exorbitant purchase prices in the first place. This was a horror show of candied fruit, VA, huge quantities of wood and a monolithic flavor profile that left me flat. The balance is off, the wine is overdone, the alcohol is high and the finish is grapey without appearing to be vinous. I realize my palate is narrower than many folks so I will leave this for others to drink.
(Aside: The 1992 Harlan was a delight when I had it about eight years ago from magnum; fresh, expressive, satin textured and long it even had some complexity. No other vintage has impressed me and some (eg. 1997) have been some of the least enjoyable cabernets I have tasted from CA. Perhaps, I am blessed; one less expensive label to consider.)

2002 Franois Cazin, Cour-Cheverny Cuve Renaissance:
Almost dry; reticent nose with some fruit and mineral tones; medium bodied, somewhat non-descript flavors in the white fruit and mineral range, good acidity and a medium length finish. Better the warmer it got but not as impressive at this stage as it was closer to release. Nothing to write home about with arugula, figs and manchego salad.

2001 Sella, Lessona:
Like reacquainting with an old friend; nebbiolo smells and tastes without any attempt to mimic Barolo, et al; feminine delivery, nice complexity, lovely balance and good sustain. And whod have thought; charming accompaniment to Phad Thai with peanut sauce.

Best, Jim
 
My one bottle of the 04 Leroy Bourgogne was astounding on the nose, and horribly green and stemmy on the palate.

Much variation has been noted, I believe. What were your other bottles like?
 
Previous bottles have varied as to stemminess but have been uniformly satin textured and pretty fruit driven in the mouth. Not as hard or as stark.
Best, Jim
 
originally posted by Florida Jim:
Under perform and not

2007 Edmunds St. John, Heart of Gold:
One of the nice things about screw-caps is that you can have a glass and put the bottle in the fridge knowing that you have more time to get back to it.

Is that a fact?
why?
Click to expand...
 
I admit I was surprised to read that. I suppose there might be a small advantage in that a tightly-rescrewed cap will reseal in a way that a cork pushed a few cm back into a bottle won't, but I can't imagine the total oxtrans difference is all that significant in comparison to the bottle's already having been opened, poured, shaken, and so forth. I could easily be wrong, though. Anyone know? (Jamie?)

For me, the reclosing advantage of the cap is the security/stability of the seal. Corks are sometimes impossible to re-insert, they come out, they leak, and so forth. On, say, a picnic while driving through some remote area, after which the supplies will be stuffed back in the trunk and tossed around, screwcaps are much to be preferred.

This is aside from the debate about their efficacy as a closure pre-opening, of course.
 
originally posted by Florida Jim:
2007 Edmunds St. John, Heart of Gold:
One of the nice things about screw-caps is that you can have a glass and put the bottle in the fridge knowing that you have more time to get back to it.
Click to expand...

Not to pick nits or anything. I mean not like anyone on Wine Disorder would ever do THAT.But how does a wine being put under screw cap initially have any bearing on how it ages after you open it? I mean unless Steve Edmunds is buying those Magical Screwcaps from those wacky upper-school Weasley boys before they were kicked out at at Hogwarts or something?
 
I am going with Thor on this one; integrity is guaranteed.
Curiously, several wines I have recorked and put back in the fridge have not lasted as long as a screwcap version. So maybe there's something to it.
Caveat: small sample.
Best, Jim
 
It makes sense to me that resealing with screwcap gives a tighter seal than recorking does, at least the way that I do it. I rarely put a cork more than 1-2 cm into the neck, which is enough to prevent leaking but nothing like a tight seal.

Mark Lipton
 
Screwcaps definitely keep opened bottles fresher than re-corked bottles. I found with glass-pours, time and time again, that screwcaps are the way to go for both convenience and longevity. In fact, I avoid artificial corks because they tend to go the opposite way.
 
Interesting about the screwcaps possibly keeping open bottles fresher.

If that were true, wouldn't that vacu-vin thing work at least as well as screwcap? I tried that many years ago on several different wines and never could detect a difference between that and just sticking a cork in the bottle. I guess I have assumed based on the initial oxygen exposure that comes from opening and pouring was enough to max out the oxidation of wine. And I haven't noticed a difference with screwcap wines, but I haven't had that many.
 
The Vacu-vin just sucks out a little bit of what's floating around in the bottle...oxygen, yes, but also volatilized aromatics and such, which is why I don't like what it does. If you're talking about the VV seals (the little rubber things), I think it's already been proven that the amount of vacuum thus created is not sufficient to "seal" those closures, and thus they leak.

If there's an advantage to the screwcap over the cork in resealing, it's in doing a better job of keeping oxygen from sneaking back in; a mostly- or entirely-restored seal vs. a few centimeters, usually, of a cork that may or may not have provided an oxygen barrier to begin with.

That said, in my initial message I agreed with your central point here: I suspect the amount of oxygenation in opening/pouring the bottle the first time surpasses anything that's going to happen, whichever seal is employed, in the fridge overnight. Which is why I think the advantage is in the physical integrity of the seal (keeping the bottle from leaking in non-vertical positions, not crumbling little bits of cork into the wine during the resealing, etc.) rather than anti-oxygenation.
 
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