You wouldn’t think it, but your senses of smell and taste are best first thing in the morning. That’s because when you wake up, your body is slightly dehydrated from the night’s sleep. Hence your smell and taste are sensitive early in the day. It’s a good thing if you’re teaching a wine class and have an early start time. Especially the part about opening and checking dozens of bottles. I had to do that recently in Denver for an MS Intro Course.
On the first day of class I drew the assignment of checking all the bottles needed for the day’s tasting. On day one, there are three tastings, each with five wines. With 45 students attending the class, we’d need to open four bottles of each wine, or 60 bottles/five cases total.
Good friends and fellow MS’s Sean Razee and David Reuss were working with me. Once the PPT and laptop were set up, it was time to move all the red wines from the restaurant’s cellar to the small bar next to the private dining room where the class was being held. Next, the white wines already in coolers at the bar needed to be sorted and put into the mix. Then all the bottles had to be opened. The three of us did that, using garden variety pull tap corkscrews—still the best option for opening wine. Using a pull tap, it takes around 20 seconds to cut off the top of the capsule, open the bottle, and remove the cork from the augur of the corkscrew.
Once opened, it was my job to check all the bottles for TCA, or corkiness. TCA is a compound that results from chlorine and mold getting together. It smells like old books and magazines, wet concrete, and practically every bag of so-called baby carrots. TCA is also the most common wine fault. In fact, along with certain sulfur compounds, TCA is universally considered a flaw. On the other hand, compounds like Brettanomyces and VA (volatile acidity) are acceptable in small amounts and can actually add complexity to a wine.
TCA is fairly easy to spot. It smells musty. On the palate, similar but also with a lack of fruit and a short finish. By comparison, a wine without TCA is brighter, fresher, and has more fruit with a longer finish. One thing to note about TCA is there’s a range of how much of it you can find in a bottle; from trace amounts that make the wine dull to full-on garden hose/well water corked.
I have a routine for checking a glass of wine for TCA and VA. As I tilt the glass towards me and begin to smell the wine, I first check/smell above the level of the wine for VA. After all, it’s volatile acidity that dissipates quickly, hence it’s above the wine inside the glass. For TCA, I direct my smell to the surface of the wine closest to me. Not sure if that makes sense, but one can smell a wine in different parts of the glass, especially if it’s a larger red wine glass. Otherwise, here’s a run down on the day’s 15 wines and the results after checking them.
Flight I
2023 La Chablisiene AOP “Lel Finage,” Burgundy: textbook Chablis with green apple, lemon, citrus blossom, and pronounced chalky mineral that always reminds me of saline. All the bottles were spot on with no variation.
2022 Louis Jadot Pommard, Burgundy: Jadot has always been a reliable negociant with quality wines. The Pommard had tart red fruit, rose-floral, tea, mushroom-earth, and slight spice. Some stem tannin on the palate. The wine was finished with natural cork and two of the bottles showed more fruit than the others.
2023 Albert Bichot Morgon “Les Charmes,” Beaujolais: little, if any, of the fruity carbonic maceration notes you’d find in a typical Beaujolais-Villages. The wine was also richer than most Morgon’s and earthier. All the bottles were consistent and showed well.
2023 Château Carbonnieux Graves Blanc, Pessac Leognan: a personal favorite for White Bordeaux. Tart green apple, citrus, and white floral with pronounced pyrazenic/green notes. Also, Mercaptan notes as well as mineral and oak spice. The corks were DIAM, made from agglomeratedcork or cork particles, and the bottles were consistent.
2022 Les Cadrans de Lasseqeque, Saint-Émilion: More bottle variation here than any other wine in the flight—or the day for that matter. Brettanomyces, or Brett, was the issue. Brett at lower levels adds leather and earthy complexities to a red wine. At higher levels, Brett can dominate a wine, making for what I call a “rodents covered in Band-Aids” experience. Two of the bottles had far more Brett than the others. Otherwise, the wine was rich with dark fruits, herbs, turned soil, and new oak.
I have to note how contextual Brett is. For some, it’s a no-fly zone with zero tolerance. But for most, Brett in small quantities isn’t a problem. The 2022 Les Cadrans de Lasseqeque was right on the edge of having too much. To that point, we kept all four bottles in the tasting and made sure to talk about Brett and context with the students when we tasted the wine.
Flight II
2024 Delaporte Sancerre, Loire: It’s harder than ever to find Sancerre that’s typical. Climate change, use of different yeast strains, and who knows what else means the wines are riper with more fruit and less pyrazenic herbal character. However, the Delaporte steers towards the classic mold with tart apple/citrus fruit, green notes, and chalky mineral. The bottles were consistent with no problems.
2024 Sauvion Vouvray, Loire: A wine simply labeled Vouvray can be an unknown quantity when it comes to residual sugar. Your only clues are the quality of the vintage and what the producer tends to do. Case in point, the 2024 Sauvion was almost medium sweet. The wine was also just a few months in the bottle, so fresh, vibrant, and again surprisingly sweet. Thankfully, it also had high acidity which balanced the residual sugar. Lots of mineral too. Otherwise, the bottles were done in screwcap and consistent.
2018 Trimbach Pinot Gris, Alsace: slight brassy color with ripe apple-pear fruit, sweet citrus, floral, ginger spice, and earth. With age, the fruit in the wine was just this side of preserved and the earth pronounced. The palate was ripe but with enough acidity to balance and more than a touch of phenolics. As for checking the bottles, I have to note a first. Trimbach used DIAM/agglomerated cork for the wine. However, one of the bottles was corked, and the TCA was on the cork. Who knew? This is exactly why we check all the bottles, regardless of the kind of closure.
2023 St. Cosme Crozes-Hermitage, Rhône: ripe and tart fruit with savory/gamy notes and earth. Some Brett as well, but nothing like the Les Cadrans de Lasseqeque. But there was also some variation with two of the bottles showing more fruit and freshness. No TCA, however.
2022 Beaurenaurd Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Rhône: I call “CdP” rusted strawberry jam. Here, ripe/dried red fruit with pepper, gamy/sanguine notes, Provencal herbs, and earth. The palate was full-bodied with pepper, savory elements, and earth. Large barrels on the finish with more tannin than expected. No bottle variation to speak of. Good wine.
Flight III
2024 Livio Felluga Pinot Grigio, Friuli-Venezia Giulia: Slight brassy color. Green pear and citrus with lees, slight floral, and mineral. Low phenolics on the finish. The wine was fresh and the bottles were consistent.
2022 Isole et Olena Chianti Classico, Tuscany: tart cherry and cherry pit with tomato/tomato leaf, anise, rose, sandalwood, chalk dust, and oak spice. The wine had a low level of volatile acidity (think balsamic vinegar), with two of the bottles showing more than the others. The palate was tart, sappy, and long. One final note. The corks were surprisingly short for such a good wine from a well-known producer. As we say in New Mexico, qué? What?
2020 Schloss Vollrads Winkeler Riesling Medium Dry, Rheingau: Estate wines from top German producers are some of the country’s best values. That was definitely true here given the entire property of Schloss Vollrads is considered Grosse Lage. The wine showed white peach, Fuji apple, lime, pineapple, citrus blossom, and TDN/mineral. It was off-dry on the palate with pronounced mineral and high acidity. In a word, delicious. The four bottles were consistent.
2024 Martin Codax Albariño, Rias Biaxas: Textbook Albariño with floral, peach/orange, and lime. Also, lees/pilsner, mineral, high acidity, and slight phenolics. The wine was finished using screwcap and all four bottles showed a touch of SO2 on the nose.
2020 Beronia Rioja Reserva: traditional Rioja aged in American oak. Ripe, dried, and tart red fruit with darker fruit as well. Dried floral, dried herb, dusty earth, and pronounced vanilla, dill, and oak spice. Tarter on the palate. Finished using natural cork, with one of the bottles showing more oxidation and less fruit than the others.
After 20 minutes, the job was done. I set up the first five wines to be poured and organized the others for later in the day. Then, following the unwritten rule of stimulants after depressants, I celebrated by having a double macchiato. The coffee was superb—and well-earned.
Cheers.
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