Sunday 18 September 2016

The myriad changes with extended breathing for the Coulee the Serrant


When we tried this wine at the PWC Loire tasting, I decided to open this wine the night before, so that it had a chance to breathe. Of course, I took a small bit to nose and taste, so that I would be able to see if this extended breathing helped bring out the best in this famed wine. At that point, the wine was a golden colour with a honeyed pruney acid nose and a sweet acid fruity palate supported by an acid backbone.

When we tasted the wine on the night(around 22 hours later), the colour had darkened to light tea, with more sherry like notes on the nose. In fact it smelt more like a Tokay with a bit less of the dried apricot acidity that the sweet Hungarian wine. The palate had become drier yet richer than the night before.

When the wine was revisited 3 weeks later,the tea colour seemed to have taken on a hint of pink. The dried apricot Tokay like nose had become richer and perhaps more honeyed (maybe even with a hint of sweetness, just like when it was first opened). The palate had now become very much like a Tokay, but without the sweetness (perhaps like the szamorodni). The acidic backbone was unchanged, giving sterling support for the wine. Interesting evolution over an extended period!

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