TN: 2 Year Storage Experiment (Graves, Bojo, Rhone)

Four friends joined me last night for the Two Year Somewhat Poor Storage test. We had 4 pairs of wines (plus several others that weren't part of experiment I'll put in a separate post). Three of the pairs were my test subjects. To recap, 2 years ago several of us on WLDG (including Mark Lipton) decided to do a test. The idea was to compare bottles we cellared with bottles that faced the equivalent of sitting in an average retail store. While some top shops keep store cool all of the time, your average neighborhood store probably doesn't keep store cooler than 70 or so in summer, and probably doesn't run the AC at night , etc.

For the tasting, I furnished pairs of glasses to everyone. We had different styles, but everyone had matched pairs to eliminate that variation (in conversation I had Al sniff my Chardonnays- he agreed the difference between my Burg glass and his Bordeaux stem was bigger than difference between the differently stored bottles)

Before we got to my bottles, we tried 2 Chardonnays that Ned had brought, he had independently been running a similar experiment for one of his classes. For the last 9 months one bottle had been in a 58 degree home cave, the other had been in a garage. He figured low was about 50 (unheated, but hot water pipes run through) and high about

90.

2007 Chalone Chardonnay (Monterey) #1 I thought I got a little VA from this at first, but whatever it was blew off. Pears and tropical fruit, lots of oak, not particularly buttery. A little disjointed. B-

2007 Chalone Chardonnay (Monterey) #2 Slightly leaner, similar overall though I though more pear and less tropical, and a little butter. B-

A couple of people thought #2 was much better, and voted for #1 as bad storage bottle. I voted no preference, but also #1 as bad storage. Ned checked for his mark- #2 was the garage bottle! Ned then started wondering if he mismarked (and convinced himself), but I'll assume his pre-tasting marking was better than our tasting abilities and prejudices!

OK, on to my reds. 3 pairs. I had wrapped as identically as possible, asked Ron as first arrival to randomly rotate, asked next arrival to number pairs randomly.

Cellared bottles: I have a passive cellar. These were stored at floor level on sides. My cellar at eye level (where I have thermometer) ranges from about 49-50 degrees F in early Feb to about 66-68 in late August/early Sept. All changes are very slow and gradual.

Kitchen bottles : Last 2 years they have been upright. In winter we keep our house quite cool- 58 at night, 65 during day. Kitchen might be warmer with a lot of cooking. We have a small frame house, fairly shaded. We don't have central AC, but do put a window unit in adjacent living room in summer. It's a large unit and cools entire first floor (only about 550 sq ft). I'd say kitchen temps range from 70-80 F in summer. I did remove bottles a couple of times when I thought temps would be above 85- when cleaning oven in summer, and when away for a week with no AC going in July.

Earlier in week I removed kitchen bottles to cellar to ensure all pairs were served in identical conditions. All bottles had good fills and no visible defects, except one kitchen bottle (the Brun) had a dry/ brittle feeling label coming loose in one corner. All bottles opened about half hour before guests arrived, no visible issues.

First Round-

2006 La Vieille Ferme (Cotes du Ventoux) screwcap

2006 La Vieille Ferme #1 On first tasting I was sure this was the kitchen bottle, there was a slight roasted/stewed note to the fruit. But that seemed to dissipate with time. Round, ripe. But pretty dead and lifeless on finish. C+/C

2006 La Vieille Ferme #2 Fresher fruit, balanced, not very exciting but a pretty competent CdR lookalike. B-

4-1 that #1 was kitchen bottle, but one person thought they still preferred it though they agreed it was the poor storage. And the kitchen bottles was....#1

Second Round- 2006 Terres Dorees (JP Brun) "L'Ancien" Beaujolais VV

2006 Terres Dorees "L'Ancien" #1 A little bretty note, not bad, good acids, red fruits. Not bad. B-

2006 Terres Dorees "L'Ancien" #2 Good, still some tannins, good acidity, good cranberry and dark berry fruit. B/B+

I think one person thought #2 was kitchen bottle. The kitchen bottle was #1

Third Round - 2004 Picque Caillou (Pessac-Leognan) real cork

2004 Picque Caillou #1 Open, aromatic, red plums, good acidity, a bit clipped. B-

2004 Picque Caillou #2 Nice, structured, classic Graves with some time ahead. Darker fruits, a little cedar and tobacco. B+/B

OK, one person said he just hated both. 2 people agreed #1 was poorer storage, but liked it as fruitier. 2 people preferred #2. Once again, kitchen bottle was #1

OK, so just some data points. The nine month bottles were to me the most identical (even if temp extremes were a bit greater). I think the reds showed more advancement from warm storage, but we had some disagreement if that was better or worse. Ned for one thought the warmer storage bottles showed as more lush, and tended to prefer. Fun night, and I'll post on other wines of evening a bit later.

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.

Reply to
DaleW
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I've snipped the details, but a terrific post, Dale, and very informative. You did a kind of tasting I've wanted to do for years but ever did.

Reply to
Ken Blake

I read this with great anticipation and as usual...it was terrific! Thanks for sharing your findings and I must say I'm a bit surprised.

Reply to
Bi!!

Ugh! Typo. And not the first time I've typed "ever" when I meant "never." I'm a terrible typist.

Reply to
Ken Blake

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