Spanked

We laid out a step-by-step protocol for this experiment.

Open Bottle #1 early in the day.
Open Bottle #2 right before tasting.
Taste Bottle #1 against Bottle #2, blind.
Decant half of Bottle #2 into a standard decanter.
Pour other half into a Waring Blender and froth for 1 minute.
Taste decanted and "vigorously decanted" wines against Bottle #1, blind.

We used one of our favorite gateway ungrafteds for the test. The Root:1 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon. The Root:1 series includes several wines, red and white. I've found them all to be terrific values. And while they are not "great" wines, they are certainly approachable, affordable examples of the positive attributes of wine produced from own-rooted vines.

I won't bore you with an account of every note for each individual taste because there wasn't much differentiation. There were subtle differences, but nothing experimentally exciting.

But there were two important take-aways:

1. Blending your wine isn't good for bouquet, but did surprisingly little damage otherwise (there's a 10 second time-lapse between each photo, just fyi).

2. Decanting for aeration produces about the same result as just opening the bottle and exposing the shoulder.

It's also worth noting than an hour after the experiment, I couldn't tell the difference between any of the wines.

Vigorous Decanting

Now that we've resolved our balance sheet issues and gotten the government monkey off our back, we can settle back into some good, old-fashioned wine science. But before we do, I'd like to make an important announcement.

When I got back from Washington, we convened a meeting of the Lab's Oversight Board. It was there decided that to avoid even the appearance of impropriety I would return 100% of my bonus for 2008. I have done so reluctantly, but with the full understanding it will be returned to me as part of my 2009 bonus when all the fuss has died down. It was also decided that we would not invite Lloyd Blankfein to any future meetings of the Oversight Board. Just to be safe. Appearance is everything.

Now, on with the oenology.

Today's experiment focuses on decanting. Our interest in this subject actually began with our first public experiment. Famed Rudy Steiner devotee, Nicolas Joly, recommends "vigorous decanting." But just what does that mean? I personally find decanting, vigorous or otherwise, generally unnecessary. Unless, as is often the case, I've stuffed up the cork removal and had to push it down into the bottle (but then I'm not really decanting the wine so much as I'm straining it).

Nevertheless, we wanted to see what would happen with some REALLY vigorous decanting. So we're putting a bottle of Root:1, Cabernet Sauvignon, 2007 into a blender.

Stay tuned.

Wither Thou Pumpest?

No doubt you've been sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for the results on this one. The excitement at the Lab has been palpable. Folks around here haven't been this geared up since we got the Lab rats drunk on Eiswein at last year's Christmas party.

We pulled the two bottles of 2007 Root: 1, Sauvignon Blanc from the fridge where they'd been stored. We let them sit for a full 96 hours before re-tasting. You may remember (or you can read the set-up HERE) we pumped one with a Vacu Vin pump to the full vacuum capacity of the device. The second bottle we pumped only half that much.

The results were... hardly conclusive. The truth is the two wines were nearly indistinguishable one from the other. However, both were remarkable given they'd been open for 4 days. The fruit on the nose was bigger, but had perhaps lost a little complexity over the period. The palate was bright with citric acid, gala apple and a concentrated, mineral core that stretched out like Mr Fantastic on the lingering finish. A recognizable grapefruit flavor had emerged in both.

If I were really pressed I might argue that the acid/mineral mix of the fully-pumped bottle -- let's call it the grapefruit -- had turned a little bitter. But it was a marginal difference, far from conclusive.

I hate it when science is ambiguous.

Pump It Up

In past experiments, we've tried to reach some functional conclusions regarding wine preservation. After extensive, though hardly exhaustive, trials, we remain convinced that not preserving the wine (i.e. finishing the bottle) is the strategy par excellence.

That said, we remain curious about something we learned along the way. Namely, that pumping short of the full vacuum (or at least less than the manufacturers suggested level) will provide improved preservation results with next-day wine.

So we opened two bottles of 2007 Root: 1, Sauvignon Blanc, tasted both, and then poured off 250 ml of each bottle. The first we pumped with a Vacu Vin wine preserver until it "clicked" (10 pumps). The second we pumped half as many times (5). Then we returned both bottles to the fridge for storage.

Given we found the wine on sale for $7 (it usually sells for $11), it was remarkable on a quality/price ratio. A nose of passion fruit, lime zest and wet grass. The palate was zippy citric acid and gala apple. The wine had a long lingering mineral finish. If tasted blind, I think I would have picked this as a mid-range to high-end Sancerre.

In fact, Root: 1 is a joint-venture from Chilean producer Viña Ventisquero and Seattle-based importer/genius marketing company Click Wine Group.

Root: 1 is sub-titled [The Original Ungrafted]. Not sure what they mean by "original" but it is notable that in South American appelations it's possible to produce a blend of multiple vineyard blends from all ungrafted vines. This is terrific table wine.

We'll pull the samples from the fridge in a couple days. Don't go away.