I see notes here and there mentioning wines that have too much volatile acidity. I’m sure I’ve had wines with elevated VA, but I can’t say that I definitively know what VA “tastes” like. In a tasting, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be the guy saying, “Ah-ha! Too much VA here.” I’ve had overly bretty wines, corked wines, and cooked wines and was able to identify them as such pretty quickly. So I know what to look for going forward, I’d like to try a wine where the consensus is that it’s full of volatile acidity.
Can anyone recommend a current release, relatively easily found wine that shows lots of obvious VA?
VA is the all encompassing term, but also sometimes used for specifically acetic acid, though often there’s more than one culprit at work. Since acetic acid is vinegar, you can do Anton’s trick, but I’d suggest white wine vinegar to avoid adding other elements. The other major player is ethyl acetate (EA). IMO, if that’s what you detect, call it EA. The signature smell is nail polish remover (for which it’s usually the key ingredient). At a high level, it’s very obvious what it is. At a lower level, to me, in some wines it comes across as Elmer’s glue. Blech!
People’s sensitivities to these vary. So do preferences. Being volatile, they can lift a wine’s aromatics, so at a low level can be a positive. I have friends who are very sensitive to VA and hate it at any level, while I often like a little. With EA, I can’t stand any amount, while many others don’t mind quite a lot in the least.
The usual culprits are high alcohol, low acid red wines, more often from places in Spain, Italy, Greece, etc. where not every winery is up to modern clean standards.
Those same conditions favor brett, so the two are often found together. Most likely place to find it in an otherwise clean wine is in New World higher proof red wines, especially low to mid priced wines rated higher than you would expect by WA and WS. After learning my lesson, I try to avoid these types of wines, so I can’t recommend a specific new release.
Try any Behrens and Hitchcock wine from 99-04. Parker loved them, and they were mostly overripe 16+% alcohol, VA laden science experiments. They also used a plastic cork to add an extra dimension to the VA.
Just get a 15% Aussie Shiraz from the late 90’s early 2000’s. Many I’ve opened with some age smell like a nail salon. Highest rate of VA wines ever. Have to love VA to collect these. Probably my biggest wine regret was following the Parker Pied Piper chasing after these. Have almost cleared my cellar, still a few left…