Welcome to an experiment of time. Not a long time, but time just the same. We opened a bottle twenty hours prior, poured most of its contents into a cleaned 20 ounce Kikkoman Soy Sauce bottle. The sauce bottle was filled to the tippy-top, so twenty hours later it would act like our freshly opened bottle. Still hanging out in the bottle labeled ’09 Evening Land Cote D’Or Pinot Noir (Appellation Bourgogne Rouge Controlee), was about a quarter of the original 25.4 ounces.

How would the two versions of the same wine show? Three “wine-knows” gathered to see the effects of time and oxygen on this wine. Beverly McKenzie, Wine Event Club Coordinator at the Ashland Food Co-op and guest blogger on ConsciousWine; Chanda Miller, winemaker and wine consultant (you can find her at www.chandamiller.com); yours truly (Jeff Weissler, The ConsciousWine Guy).

Wine geek alert: If you read on, you will encounter a fairly high degree of wine geekiness. We actually do taste some of these things, and some of this is our imagination ignited with a fire starter and then vocalized. Technical accuracy based on science randomly occurs, more often among the gals than the guy. Ready for a ride on the waves of three geeky wine aficionados in this experiment of taste and time?

Notes on the freshly opened bottle:

Jeff: More fruit than I expected  from the land of Bourgogne Rouge, but ’09s are fairly fruity overall, with great balancing acidity. Strawberry notes. The texture surprised me. Super primary (fruit driven), until wild acidity took over, accented with cranberry tones while it zings along.

Beverly: Love the layered (like the English dessert trifle) aromas of mocha, dusty leather, fennel, combo of huckleberry and blackberry, sweetened cranberry juice, miso bouillon. On the palate: fresh cranberry juice flavors, with orange peel and citrus on the finish.

Chanda: Ruby colored, clear, clean, bright strawberry, cherry, cranberry, violet, sweet perfume, medium+ tannin, medium++ finish, tart cherry, medium plus acid, great structure, needs to age longer.

Notes from the bottle opened 20 hours before:

Jeff: Cranberry, earthy nose. Something seduces me, holds me tight and perks my curiosity. A little cherry shining through… earthy, mushroom. Yummy palate. Make that super yummy. Wow! That changed in a day. The experience is like it’s … alive! As a taster, people spit to keep their “senses” clean, but I didn’t spit this one. Did I say yum! Heavy in flavor but deliciously light on its feet.

Beverly: The layers are more subtle. Raspberry, fiddlehead, fresh ferns and crushed mint leaves. On the palate: lithe raspberry… a silky, sexy experience.

Chanda: Ruby, clear, clean, cherry, cranberry, raspberry, slight spice box, earthy, savory, slight dust and dried flowers. Not nearly as bright and aromatic as the freshly opened bottle. On palate: raspberry, citrus pith, dried cranberry, medium tannin, medium⁺ acid, medium⁺⁺ finish, great structure but needs to age longer.

Bottom line:

Jeff: Wow did that change in just twenty hours. The fresh bottle was interesting, but my overall experience came and went. Within a minute or so after tasting I was ready for the next thing. The bottle opened for 20 hours was completely compelling and lingered on and on. I put down the glass long ago, but the flavor just won’t let go.

Beverly: The radiance of the freshly opened bottle… I ended up basking in the glow of the freshly opened wine. This bottle was like a great first date, the twenty hour opened wine was more like going steady where your partner really rocks your world, and you love just holding their hand… in public.

Chanda: I did not want to put down the freshly opened bottle. I was enchanted by the aroma/perfume. That’s indicative of the terroir of Burgundy.  I loved the structure of the twenty hour opened bottle, aromatics were a little lighter and terroir showed through more. Still wanted to go back to the sweet perfume of the freshly opened bottle.

PS:

By the end of writing this, the freshly opened bottle had been opened a little over a half hour and its flavor and structure were off to the races. That’s the joy of a living wine unfolding.

Bottom Bottom Line:

Let it Breathe!

In Basic Wine Enjoyment, Demystifying Natural Wine, Jeff's Blog, Tasting Wine | Tagged with Beverly McKenzie, tasting notes