WTN: 04 Morot Beaune Les Bressandes 1er Cru

2004 Albert Morot Beaune Les Bressandes 1er Cru
In the last six months we opened two half bottles of this and loved it, so I picked up a few full bottles and opened the first of them two nights ago. It was nice enough, with cherry and sous bois aromas/flavors and good acid/sweet balance, but nowhere near as good as the half bottles, with no trace of the lovely caramel/butterscotch that made them memorable.

Unable to accept this variation, tonight I opened a third half bottle to compare with what was left of the full bottle (it hardly changed after 48 hours in the fridge). My expectation was that it would taste like the first two so that I would be sitting down to post a cantankerous rant about how irresponsible it was for a winemaker to use such a different batch for the half bottles, since 2004 is too recent a vintage, I would have thought, for the difference to be attributable to different bottle sizes and aging speeds.

Alas, today's half bottle, though marginally tastier than the full bottle, was very close to it. Perhaps the caramel/butterscotch was baby fat that has been shed in the last few months. Bummer! Once again, the unpredictability of wine, especially burgundy, confounds my aspirations for repeatable (good) experiences.

Caramel and butterscotch are interesting flavors for red Burgundy. I would probably use those descriptors for white wine. But, I guess you probably are talking about the babyfat and these things are always a moving target.

Caramel and butterscotch are interesting flavors for red Burgundy. I would probably use those descriptors for white wine. But, I guess you probably are talking about the babyfat and these things are always a moving target.

I've been wondering about this... I presume that caramel/butterscotch flavors are related to the toasting of the inside of barrels and how this affects the oak vanillin. I have never heard that barrels intended for white are toasted any different from barrels intended for red. If they are, indeed, toasted the same (perhaps they're not), then I wonder why these descriptors are so much more associated with whites. Maybe tannins attenuate them in reds.

In any case, I now see that part of what charmed me about finding caramel in this red was a subliminar connection with pleasantly oaked white burgundy...

I've been wondering about this... I presume that caramel/butterscotch flavors are related to the toasting of the inside of barrels and how this affects the oak vanillin...In any case, I now see that part of what charmed me about finding caramel in this red was a subliminar connection with pleasantly oaked white burgundy...

Interesting!

I can see the oak toast connection.