WTN: Bored with a Beaune

Dinner tonight was a Fegato alla Veneziana with saffron risotto. I know that Chianti and liver is the proper pairing, but I felt like some Pinot instead, so I opened a recent(ish) arrival, Domaine Vincent Sauvestre Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru "Les Peuillets" 2006 (21,90€; 13% abv, label).

30% new wood and in this wine, it is too much for me. I know I shouldn't worry about it since it is a young wine and since the oak doesn't cover the Beaunyness of it. Ripe, strawberry fruit, a bit of undergrowth. It has moderate acidity which props up the fruit nicely. Refreshing finish with some attractive tannic astringency. Maybe I should try this again in a year or so because I think the oak should integrate and the rest of the wine seems perfectly nice.

But maybe I won't. I am just so bored by even the slightest oak aromas these days that I think from now on I won't bother to open wines that aren't aged in a neutral vessel. I don't know why I have suddenly become so averse to this aroma that even such wines as this one, which really shouldn't have bothered me at all, did. I guess even slight oak brings a uniformity to all wines and I've just finally had too many examples of such. So my anti-oak extremism, or Talibanism, has gone up a notch. The Allier and Limousin forests should look out - in my newfound extremism I might start flying paper airplanes into them.

Dinner tonight was a Fegato alla Veneziana with saffron risotto. I know that Chianti and liver is the proper pairing, but I felt like some Pinot instead, so I opened a recent(ish) arrival, Domaine Vincent Sauvestre Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru "Les Peuillets" 2006 (21,90€; 13% abv, label).

30% new wood and in this wine, it is too much for me. I know I shouldn't worry about it since it is a young wine and since the oak doesn't cover the Beaunyness of it. Ripe, strawberry fruit, a bit of undergrowth. It has moderate acidity which props up the fruit nicely. Refreshing finish with some attractive tannic astringency. Maybe I should try this again in a year or so because I think the oak should integrate and the rest of the wine seems perfectly nice.

But maybe I won't. I am just so bored by even the slightest oak aromas these days that I think from now on I won't bother to open wines that aren't aged in a neutral vessel. I don't know why I have suddenly become so averse to this aroma that even such wines as this one, which really shouldn't have bothered me at all, did. I guess even slight oak brings a uniformity to all wines and I've just finally had too many examples of such. So my anti-oak extremism, or Talibanism, has gone up a notch. The Allier and Limousin forests should look out - in my newfound extremism I might start flying paper airplanes into them.

Otto:

Try Amarone (instead of Chianti) with liver & fava beans!

I don't know this producer but at the risk of sounding like a cliche, have you thought about the shut-down aspect? I know that when Burgundies start retreating it can be very difficult to get a sense of how the components fit together.

Not that you should feel compelled to spend your own money on these folks to find out. I know I wouldn't!

In this age when something over 90% of wine is consumed within a week of purchase, we have to believe that the majority of consumers find comfort in the homogenising effect of new oak treatment. Buyers of Savigny-lès-Beaune may be slightly more inclined to age it but still, I guess, a large majority consume it in a condition like that of your 2006, particularly in France.

That leaves those of us who don't like overt oak in a quandary. If we have adequate storage facilities, we can take a gamble on age integrating the oak to an acceptable level (I think I am more tolerant about what is acceptable than you, Otto) or we refuse to buy any but the new oak free. The latter option means eschewing virtually all Bordeaux nowadays as well as a lot of Burgundy, Rhône, Barolo, etc.

Rahsaan, too expressive fruit to be shut down, I would imagine.

Tim, I agree that the majority must like new wood aromas since they are so prevalent. But I do hope more producers would use neutral vessels as obviously the wood doesn't need to be new for a wine to have potential ageability.

Otto, I don't think wood vessels are indispensable for ageability. Marlène Soria's Peyre-Rose wines were cement tanks matured in the mid and late 90s and have aged superbly even though some find them too massive; I believe that she is now experimenting with wood. Château Gillette in Sauternes, famous for its old vintages, also uses tanks only. Those are just two examples which spring to mind.

Used barrels do IMO impart a more silky feel to the wine than tanks but I have heard at least one (new wood using) vigneron claim that they lead to dry tannins. I'm sceptical about that. Undigested new wood tannins are decidedly disagreeable.

Dinner tonight was a Fegato alla Veneziana with saffron risotto. I know that Chianti and liver is the proper pairing, but I felt like some Pinot instead, so I opened a recent(ish) arrival, Domaine Vincent Sauvestre Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru "Les Peuillets" 2006 (21,90€; 13% abv, label).

30% new wood and in this wine, it is too much for me. I know I shouldn't worry about it since it is a young wine and since the oak doesn't cover the Beaunyness of it. Ripe, strawberry fruit, a bit of undergrowth. It has moderate acidity which props up the fruit nicely. Refreshing finish with some attractive tannic astringency. Maybe I should try this again in a year or so because I think the oak should integrate and the rest of the wine seems perfectly nice.

But maybe I won't. I am just so bored by even the slightest oak aromas these days that I think from now on I won't bother to open wines that aren't aged in a neutral vessel. I don't know why I have suddenly become so averse to this aroma that even such wines as this one, which really shouldn't have bothered me at all, did. I guess even slight oak brings a uniformity to all wines and I've just finally had too many examples of such. So my anti-oak extremism, or Talibanism, has gone up a notch. The Allier and Limousin forests should look out - in my newfound extremism I might start flying paper airplanes into them.

Otto,
I feel your pain. I am very adverse to oak. If it is on the nose it is too much. You have to have it in big reds but it should be in the background and only to add complexity. Hard to imagine an excellent Bordeaux without oak. It amazes me when people open $75+ wines, and the oak makes it undrinkable. I can only judge by my palate but maybe others don't find it so dominate. I am very insensitive to TCA so maybe it was replaced by a sensitivity to oak. I will say I have seen some reduction in the last few years in the use of oak but many point chasing wineries still overuse. I am a fan of old oak and big barrels.
Walt

I'm not a big fan of unintegrated wood, though more tolerant than some. But only drinking wines in 100% neutral (I'd say 2 year old, some would say 4 or more) would limit me in an unacceptable way. God, in Burgundy alone, it would cut out 80% of my favorite producers. I guess I could still drink Chandon de Briailles, but who else? I mean, the Rousseau Big 3 and most Dujac GCs (not that I afford either) are 100% new!

Of course, 30% is only part of equation. There's type, toast, time in barrel, size, etc. Plus it would make a difference to total perception what the other 70% was- one use, or ten?

Of course, best solution is to let you wines age a little!