Two weekends ago I had the good fortune to be part of an epic blind tasting of around 50 bottles of all kinds of great wines from around the world. The occasion? My friend Morgan over at Bedrock Wine Co. was doing some last minute cramming before the practical portion of his Masters of Wine exam. Many thanks again to both he and his pop Joel for their unmatched hospitality and generosity!
Among the sundry wines we tasted was a flight of Chards, three of which were White Burgundy. By far the most memorable was the 2004 Michel Niellon Chassagne-Montrachet “Les Champgains” 1er Cru. And by memorable, I mean palate scarring.
Soiled
To me this wine was downright soiled. I’m talking Jenna Jamison, rolled in fetid cabbage, lying naked in horse stall filthy. On a scale of one to Brett, I rated it a Brett.
Interestingly most folks don’t think of Brett when they think of white wine. Brett is much more common in reds because they are generally higher in pH (less acidic) and have more phenols, which makes the wine much more hospitable to the little beasties.
When people taste white Burgundys especially, most of the time off-odors are explained as elements of terroir. The Niellon itself was described as “hammy” or having a pork character by a couple tasters. In fact those of us tasting couldn’t agree on whether the Niellon had Brett or not, so I went and had it tested at ETS Labs in Napa.
The chemicals responsible for the barnyard and leather aromas found in Brett infected wines are 4-EP and 4-EG. Based on some research done at ETS, the ratio of 4EP to 4EG is important in the character and sensory qualities of the infected wine. Usually the ratio of 4EP to 4EG is around 8:1. According to the ETS FAQ on ethylphenols,
Three hundred red wines recently analyzed at ETS had 4-EP: 4-EG ratios between 3:1 to 22:1…
4-EG is present in much lower quantities in red wine than 4-EP, typically about 8 times less. However, it is a more volatile compound with a sensory threshold much lower than 4-EP. In a wine with Brettanomyces, both compounds may be well above sensory thresholds.
Perceived Brett character in red wine is influenced by the concentration of both compounds. Variation in the concentration of 4-EG helps to explain why the flavor and intensity of perceived Brett character can be very different with wines having similar 4-EP concentrations.
The Results
So what were the results for the Niellon? Well, it had Brett all right. (Click here to download the ETS lab report.) In fact, it has a 4-EP:4-EG ratio of 2:1 with a total concentration of almost 1000 ng/ml. Sensory threshold for 4-EG is around 50 ng/ml, depending on the person.
2:1! Talk about an outlier. Filthy, just filthy.
So, moral of the story: the next time you think you might be smelling Brett in a white wine, especially one from Burgundy, trust your palate. You may very well be right. And if you like how it tastes and smells, trust your palate on that as well. “It smells like what it is.” 
One final note. I had two other reds tested. One was an ‘04 Ch. Rayas and the other was an ‘05 Beaucastel.
Both are very well regarded producers from Châteauneuf du Pape, and ‘04 and ‘05 are considered excellent vintages for the region. Beaucastel has earned a reputation for loads of Brett character in its wines, but it came out clean in a Scorpion assay which detects the presence of Brett at very low levels. It seems they’ve done an incredible job cleaning things up.
Not so with ‘04 Rayas. It was infected.
Again though, trust your palate. Both reds, infected or not, were delicious.
After, briefly I add, finding out who Jenna was, I though Brett might be one of her friends. Probably is…Oooohhhh!
Cheers
Jenna Jamison and wine being talk about together! I’m gonna leave this one alone!
I will however comment on the brett. I think this happens more than folks want to admit. In the 20 plus years I have been drinking wine, I’ve had it happen at least 5 times that I believed I was tasting wine that had brett. Now you were able to do some testing, so it was clearly brett. I was talking with a winemaker the other day and a retailer had called him about his wine having this taste. I think he did the right thing, but he pulled all the bottles from her store, open a fresh case and tasted it with her. After having this conversation with a distributor, they seemed surprised that he pulled the wine. WOW! was I shocked.
What are your thoughts? If you found out about your own wine?
I just believe you build Customer one at a time! And when they have bad product, it needs to be replace.
I hope more consumers get a chance to read about brett and understand, they should bring this to someone’s attention when they thing something isn’t right.
Thanks for sharing the test results and the reminder, it happens in whites as well!
I drink largely domestic (so I’m in your camp!), but this seems like an broad statement: “…the next time you think you might be smelling Brett in a white wine, especially one from Burgundy…” I assume your sample size is larger than one?
Request for future blog entry: your thoughts on natural cork enclosures. Seems like they’d be responsible for more tainted bottles than brett would be.
–rama (ramarob on twitter)
Rama,
If you download the ETS report there is another white Burgundy on there that tested positive. So my sample size is two!
I should probably mention that these tests aren’t cheap, so not many people go around having them done every time they suspect Brett.
I guess what I’m getting at is that if you taste Brett in a white, don’t be afraid to mention it to your tasting group, friends or whomever. Brett is out there in whites, and in my experience it is much more prevalent in French wines. For the purposes of giving supporting evidence to this contention I supplied the results of the lab tests. Overall I think it’s a pretty reasonable and defensible position, but I’ll happily amend it when I come across an infected new world Chard.
Please note that I’m not bashing the French wines! The reds were amazing, and the other two white Burgs I had blind were excellent. Heck I’m not even arguing that Brett is bad for everyone. Some like it, some don’t. I just happen to be pretty sensitive to it, so I can only take it in small doses.
Thanks for the comment!
Shane,
Lol. Didn’t even make the Bret/Jenna connection until now. Nice.
David,
I don’t think it’s really accepted that you can return a wine with Brett. There are too many people out there who feel it is not a fault.
However, my policy will always be return or exchange with no questions asked, anytime after ordering. But that’s a customer service/business decision, not really a wine quality one.
Thanks for the comment and the kind words!
As for Brett, Josh you know where I stand regarding that little infectious organism.
Great post!!!
classic.
I quote thee:
“I’m talking Jenna Jamison, rolled in fetid cabbage, lying naked in horse stall filthy.”
I think I’ve seen that movie.
Jeff
Josh, I just posted a little challenge on my site for clever folks like yourself: Come up with a (presumably funny) joke about Brett. Can you do it? (:
what are the odds in 7 card poker…
glamour dock Auschwitz train.attenuate …
play free pocher game…
molest opacity baselines doubter metes?…