Burgundies shutting down -- a reassessment!

originally posted by Rahsaan:
originally posted by Keith Levenberg:
Shutting down probably isn't quite the right term. I think most ageable Burgundies are unenjoyable for a long period in their adolescence but I wouldn't always call it shut down. Shut-down to me refers to a very specific thing, also known as a "dumb" period, when the wine smells like a glass of water and doesn't taste like much of anything besides tannin and acid. Many Burgundies that are in that difficult adolescent zone are no fun to drink but don't fit that description; they have flavor and aroma but they are unpleasant, listless, or bitter. I think that phase should be distinguished from shutting down because it's still possible to glean certain things about the wine that are totally withheld from us in the truly dumb/shut down phase, which is rarer than people assume.
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These distinctions are all fine and good, but why can't they be part of the broad concept known as 'shut down', which is not exactly a limited technical term.
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yeah, that's what I said.
 
As noted above, there's no reason to believe that the various chemical reactions that occur as wine ages all occur at precisely the same rate - and it follows that in many cases, a bottle may go through periods where, as those reactions progress, the wine falls out of balance.

I guess in a perfect world, a genius winemaker could craft a wine that was delicious at every stage of its life, but I think it's more likely that folks shoot to make a wine that tastes good when first bottled and then again when mature, accepting that in between there might be a rough patch.
 
originally posted by D. Zylberberg: a bottle may go through periods where, as those reactions progress, the wine falls out of balance.
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David, It may follow then that it can perhaps be said that that bottle is going through a "shutting down" stage.

However, other bottles from the same production may have totally different time frames for a similar out of balance stage (due to the other bottles having different provenance, environments, temperatures, etc., etc.).

Thus, drawing a conclusion for a whole production "shutting down" may be off base as different bottles will vary.

. . . . . Pete
 
originally posted by Peter Creasey:
Thus, drawing a conclusion for a whole production "shutting down" may be off base as different bottles will vary.

. . . . . Pete
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Yes, although variation across bottles is not entirely random and often fairly predictable (i.e. adjust the more general production-wide shut down expectations for exposure to heat in the specific bottle).
 
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