The 'B' word once again 12 May 2008

Brettanomyces taint in a famous Bordeaux wine – and what about on local competitions?

From Roland Peens (wine retailer and MW student)

I dread bringing this topic to the fore once again (as it has been debated before at length [see here and especially here, for example]). But, alas, a blind tasting of the well-known Bordeaux wine Château Léoville Poyferré 2003 this morning, and further drinking it for dinner, has tempted me to write to Grape. This was an incredibly hot vintage that the audiences across the Atlantic seem to enjoy more than the ‘classicists’ in Europe (Jancis Robinson scored the wine 16.5/20 but Parker gave it 98/100).

The wine is infested with [spoilage yeast] Brettanomyces. 4EP-like barnyard aromas abound on the nose and palate. It’s part of the flavour profile, along with dense cassis and new oak. Selling at around R1500 per bottle (about four times that of a cooler vintage), this is a pretty serious wine. With its high pH (Ch. Lafite 2003 is 3.9) there is plenty of room for growth of such yeasts. Léoville Poyferré is also made under the guidance of the world’s most famous winemaker [Michel Rolland, who has been consulting at the domaine since 1995 – ed]. Yet this wine is accepted in the international wine community. As is the Château Beaucastel 1990 [from Châteauneuf-du-Pape], with 3330 micrograms/litre 4EP levels.

Now having tasted on quite a few wine panels, I find that wine professionals in SA are quick to discount ANY wine with hints of Brett. Particularly wines with the mourvèdre grape, which have a similar brett flavour profile. This assumes two things. One, that their noses are 100% accurate at detecting Brett. And two, they can ascertain within two minutes that the brett is stable or not. OK, admittedly I have been known to like a little ‘funk’ on my wines and have missed it on occasion.

In the Master of Wine qualification we are discouraged from even mentioning Brett in our tasting notes, never mind dismissing  a wine’s quality for having Brett.

We don’t want wines to win competitions that fall apart from a Brett infestation within a year, but we also don’t wines to be discounted just for being a little savoury and old-school.

Who is right? There seems to be a huge disparity here.

I reckon all wines submitted to any competition/panels should have their 4EP and 4EG levels given along with the levels of acidity, alcohol etc.

Interestingly enough, when I first tasted wines from the 2003 Bordeaux vintage at the London tastings in 2005 they seemed a little too over-ripe and disjointed. In three years they have really integrated nicely and are fantastic drinking now. I will be really interested to see if they will still be rocking in 15 years!