Premox white Burgundy

[JonathanP]

I have been having awful trouble wi prematurely oxidised burgundies, from GC down to village, from the 90s. Two today:
1999 Dauvissat Chablis Forest- oxidised, but not massively so. Saved to be used in a suave.
1997 Amit Guy et Fils Demoiselles Puligny Montrachet - completely gone.
Gave up on whites and had a bottle of 1998 Lignier Morey St Denis Villages. Saved lunch. Simple, slightly stemmy, but fruity and otherwise well balanced.

[RPCV]

Joining your frustration with a six pack of pre-moxed 2008 Huet Le Mont Demi-sec. We tried one after another last weekend and all were gone. Sad that such an esteemed estate has fallen prey to this malady. When are they going to figure this stuff out? I won't even buy expensive white Burgundy for the cellar any more.....

[jal]

Well obviously Huet is Loire not burgundy though there have been plenty of premoxed Loire whites.
I am surprised though that the whole case was affected. Maybe it's a storage or provenance issue before purchase.

[Claret]

I am long done buying WB. Oregon Chard scratches my itch now.

[DavidG]

Haven't bought white burgs for many years.
Been burned by Beaucastel VV.
Just bought some 2008 Huet Moelleux, hope it holds up.

John Bonné suggests in this article that letting the juice oxidize prior to fermentation may be an answer. However, Kongsgaard has been doing this for 20 years yet "some people are saying" that his Chards still suffer premox.

[Chateau Vin]

One more BWEr joining the unfortunate premox weekend. This time, DDC white bordeaux, circa 2009. A split bottle, but terrible on the palate. Pretty disappointed... Will open another split soon to check again...

[AKR]

Joining your frustration with a six pack of pre-moxed 2008 Huet Le Mont Demi-sec. We tried one after another last weekend and all were gone. Sad that such an esteemed estate has fallen prey to this malady. When are they going to figure this stuff out? I won't even buy expensive white Burgundy for the cellar any more.....

Maybe a year ago we had a bottle of older Huet that was oxidised too.

[sdr]

From 2 days ago:

2002 Verget Corton Charlemagne - advanced but still drinkable
2000 Lafon Perrières - pristine and gorgeous

I'm having good luck with Lafon lately after many disasters.

Aged white Burg has no peers if sound but the risk is high. I dumped most of mine years ago and bought champagne instead. I'm still waiting for my first oxidized champagne.

Stuart

[Blanquito]

I've had a high success rate with white Bordeaux through the years, with only a half case of the 2005 Carbonnieux premoxing. But DaleW reports he has had as many poxed white Bordeaux as white burgundy. I'm with Stu on champagne, it seems pretty bulletproof.

BWE's current go-to whites might be a good topic for a separate thread, but I'd throw out Sancerre-- never had one premox on me (though I've not aged them for more than 5 years), it's usually quite good value, and extremely food friendly.

[JCNorthway]

But what if you want to drink Burgundies rather than Sancerres?

[DavidG]

Well, Jon, then you have to pay 1.5-2+ times the price to account for the ones that are wasted. Unless you like drinking them young, which defeats the whole purpose of white Burgs, at least for my palate.

[Antoine]

Champagne: can CO2 content be the reason why no premox?... Although some producers make oxidised style champagne.

[jal]

Unless you like drinking them young, which defeats the whole purpose of white Burgs, at least for my palate.

David, you have one of the best palates I know but here I disagree with you. I think the only white wine better than young white burgundy is old white burgundy. I'll take second best white wine over champagne, white Bordeaux, Sancerre, Riesling, California or Oregon Chardonnay anytime.

[DavidG]

I should clarify. I do love white burg at any age, but 1) to me, the young ones are not miles ahead of the competition and 2) it's just too jarring to drink it young knowing what it could/should be with age. I've never been able to get over that second point, though avoiding the category entirely may well be cutting off my nose to spite my face.

[stefan]

I have not found a reasonable substitute for white Burgundy. Lucie and I have in recent years been drinking village and 1er Cru white Burgundies young. I buy very, very few Corton Charlemagne and Batard Montrachet these days because they require quite a few years to justify their Grand Cru status and I am unwilling to sacrifice 1/3 of them to the premox devil.

[JonathanP]

With Burgundies, I have noticed some makers are better than others. E.g. Whole cases of Roulot and Blain Gagnard have been poured down the sink, but Leflaive and Lafon not so bad. I do not know why it seems to have affected some makers worse than others.

[jal]

Here's a wiki. oxidised-burgs.wikispaces.com