2004 Patrick Jasmin Cte Rtie

O

Oswaldo Costa

Oswaldo Costa
2004 Patrick Jasmin Cte Rtie 12.5%
Starts with nostrinal imbalance, a blast of vanillin overwhelming the blackberries and tar, but segues into a lovely harmony of flavors, fine acid/sweet balance, gentle tannins and no sign of excess wood. And, for a syrah from the roast coast, 12.5% alcohol is surely the mark of a true gentleman. Drinking too well, it vanished from our presence with alarming celerity; I only wish my nose did not have to traverse so much vanilla, standing like an extraneous sentinel, on its way to the lovely liquid.

I wonder if theres a Faustian pact of sorts going on here: higher % of new wood allows greater natural micro-ox, softer tannins and easier/earlier approachability, but the cost is the flavor of wood. Ugh. Perhaps all that is needed here is more time for the vanillin to integrate (read: disappear), but some winemakers claim that only certain varieties have enough structure to benefit from the natural micro-ox of new wood without acquiring its flavor (Luis Pato, for example, thinks that Baga can pull it off, but not Touriga). Just ruminating (and hoping Eric will jump in).
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
2004 Patrick Jasmin Cte Rtie2004 Patrick Jasmin Cte Rtie 12.5%
Starts with nostrinal imbalance, a blast of vanillin overwhelming the blackberries and tar, but segues into a lovely harmony of flavors, fine acid/sweet balance, gentle tannins and no sign of excess wood. And, for a syrah from the roast coast, 12.5% alcohol is surely the mark of a true gentleman. Drinking too well, it vanished from our presence with alarming celerity; I only wish my nose did not have to traverse so much vanilla, standing like an extraneous sentinel, on its way to the lovely liquid.

I wonder if theres a Faustian pact of sorts going on here: higher % of new wood allows greater natural micro-ox, softer tannins and easier/earlier approachability, but the cost is the flavor of wood. Ugh. Perhaps all that is needed here is more time for the vanillin to integrate (read: disappear), but some winemakers claim that only certain varieties have enough structure to benefit from the natural micro-ox of new wood without acquiring its flavor (Luis Pato, for example, thinks that Baga can pull it off, but not Touriga). Just ruminating (and hoping Eric will jump in).
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Jasmin and new oak... Especially in 2004!
Hlas, my skills about new oak are very limited.
Usually high acid low pH red wines do well with new oak. Efficient micro ox with kind of low flavors. So 2004 cote rotie should be doing well.

Don't feel too mad at me Oswaldo! My '05 nose would have been totally muted probably!
 
originally posted by Oswaldo Costa:
2004 Patrick Jasmin Cte Rtie2004 Patrick Jasmin Cte Rtie 12.5%
Starts with nostrinal imbalance, a blast of vanillin overwhelming the blackberries and tar, but segues into a lovely harmony of flavors, fine acid/sweet balance, gentle tannins and no sign of excess wood. And, for a syrah from the roast coast, 12.5% alcohol is surely the mark of a true gentleman. Drinking too well, it vanished from our presence with alarming celerity; I only wish my nose did not have to traverse so much vanilla, standing like an extraneous sentinel, on its way to the lovely liquid.
Click to expand...

Lucky you, Oswaldo! Has there been some of this dumped on the NYC market or someting? Salil was asking me about this same wine a week or two ago.

I wonder if theres a Faustian pact of sorts going on here: higher % of new wood allows greater natural micro-ox, softer tannins and easier/earlier approachability, but the cost is the flavor of wood. Ugh. Perhaps all that is needed here is more time for the vanillin to integrate (read: disappear), but some winemakers claim that only certain varieties have enough structure to benefit from the natural micro-ox of new wood without acquiring its flavor (Luis Pato, for example, thinks that Baga can pull it off, but not Touriga). Just ruminating (and hoping Eric will jump in).
Click to expand...

Why should new oak oxygenate the wine any better than neutral oak? I don't believe that the age of the wood changes its permeability toward oxygen at all, so why not just use the old stuff?

Mark Lipton
 
He uses demi-muids, 25% of which are new. This tests the limits of what I think is tolerable for new wood, but most of the time I think he comes down on the right side. But a vintage such as 2004 may have required a stepping back in the use of new wood.
 
originally posted by MLipton:

Why should new oak oxygenate the wine any better than neutral oak? I don't believe that the age of the wood changes its permeability toward oxygen at all, so why not just use the old stuff?
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Apparently the pores get crudded up.
 
Eric, despite the vanillin complaint, we really loved the wine, so thanks for the encouragement (and your observations about wood).

Mark, yes, Cabrini's was selling them at a very good price during my last trip to NY. As Joe implied, the pores are completely open at the time of first use, then less so with second, as they begin to get clogged, and so forth. My understanding is that by the fourth use, not only is practically no flavor is added, but little oxigenation takes place too (though shaving the insides of barrels can squeeze extra mileage for thiose who want that). So if you want lots of natural micro-ox to polymerize harsh tannins faster, you need lots of new wood, but the price of that is vanillin.

Claude, thanks for the info, perhaps 25% was indeed a bit too much in 04. I'm nevertheless quite happy to have a couple more bottles of this, and will check to see if the vanilla subsides in the next year or two.
 
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