Burgundy Reports stay with subscribers for two years before opening for all - here’s one that in previous threads I promised to link when it became ‘free’
I also updated some infos…
Thanks for posting Bill, great article and very informative. For me this is yet another nail in the coffin for the conventional cork, but I am a Kiwi so that is pretty much the view you would expect…
Here is NZ screw cap is close to ubiquitous and most people don’t see any issues with the ageing of the wines.
Brodie
Why are they only using Diamanté’s 10’s on Grand Cru bottles? That seems a bit lack-luster to me.
I have more of an issue with certain producers using Diam 5s on red 1ers.
Don’t like the aesthetics of Diams - but for white Burgs yet to have a disappointment.
And have seen them since the 2009 vintage.
FWIW, a US producer used DIAM 5 on some red wines from 2008. I opened a bottle a couple of months ago, and the results were excellent. Right on the expected course of evolution. It was a Syrah from a producer with a history of wines that age very well (ESJ).
Thanks Bill. I recently bought some Jadot whites for the first time in forever and the only reason I decided to try them again is DIAM.
When did Bouchard start using DIAM - at the same time as Fevre or later. I have some Bouchard Meursault Perrieres from 2007 that have tasted very fresh, but maturing. I cannot remember ever looking at whether the wines were finished with DIAM.
Hi Howard,
Yes, Jadot, shot up my white rankings when they completed the change - too late for my Beaune Greves Clos Blanc 2010 that started dying when less than 3 years old - and they were such brilliant babies too…
Jadot were already using diam for their 2010 Bourgogne and special orders from merchants who requested the seal for their 2010s, but too late for my bottles.
Actually I don’t know for sure when, and in what order, Bouchard changed their whites, but I know that they were moving in that direction with their 2007s: the Meursault and the Beaune 1ers were bottled with DIAM, half-bottles of Chevalier and Corton-Charlemagne also – there were no halves of Montrachet! I remember they started changing some of the reds over too, in 12 vintage, but not the GCs or Enfant Jesus that year.
Honestly, I can live with reds cork-sealed. But no-longer whites unless I’m drinking them before they are 3 years old.
I had a 2008 Eyrie with a DIAM last year and it was also in pristine shape.
I’m not cellaring any white Burgundy unless it’s under DIAM or screwcap. I wish more retailers would note the closure in their sales emails.
Thanks Bill. I was going to post this week to see if we had a comprehensive list going on WB as to which white burgs are under DIAM. I didn’t see one in my search Does anyone know if we have a list going?
I THINK this thread contains at least a partial list.
Also this thread for chablis:
It will be interesting to see if the DIAM closures allow the sulfur to be reduced a bit. Just had a 2018 H. Boillot Bourgogne Blanc and the sulfur levels are to the point where the wine is essentially undrinkable now. I suppose this will age well enough (even beyond 3 years) with this much sulfur, but it sure knocks out the early drinking. I did not see the DIAM markings on their closure…
I spoke to one winemaker in Burgundy last year who claims that he can pick up a “minty” quality in whites sealed under Diam. Does not sound too terrible a contaminant, but I wondered if any other producers claim that they can taste a flavor that is imparted by this technology. If no one can discern a flavor change, it seems like a complete no brainer to switch over to Diam. I do not have enough experience in drinking a lot of Diam sealed wines but so far I cannot recall seeing a single note about one that had a premox condition associated with this closure. Might go a long way to de-mystify the premox issue if very few of the whites have a problem with this closure.
Great article. Thank you.
Steve and I each opened a bottle of '07 ESJ Porphyry Gamay Noir a few days ago. Also, bottled with DIAM 5. The wine was fine, even on day 2.
I really am curious whether wineries or winemakers have done any trials with the various DIAM closures - i.e. 5 year, 10 year etc. Theoretically, they should lead to ‘different’ wines because of density of the material and therefore less oxidation, but does that really happen? I wonder . . .
Also, anyone know if there is a cost different between the DIAM5 and the DIAM20 or DIAM30?
Cheers
I opened a 2008 Ch. Lanessan (Haut Medoc) this week that was under a Diam and it was very fresh – just what I’d expect from an '08 Cru Bourgeois with a high proportion of cabernet. There was no penetration of wine up the closure. There’s a “D 17” marking on the closure. Not sure if that’s the Diam type or not.
And there are producers who claim that cork imparts positive flavor elements.
Thanks for posting this Bill. Read it via your twitter link earlier this am.
Agree with Brad that a list of Diam using white burg producers would be helpful.
This de-mystifies it some extent, but has been known or suspected for some time (threads going back at least two years now).
Premox due to ingress of oxygen
Oxygen leads to oxidation of wine, which itself depends on amount of reductant added (sulfur) and other natural reductive constituents (as in red wine), compounded potentially by various wine making practices.
If you block or limit oxygen, then the other factors make less difference (maybe no difference in the shorter term), longer term we still don’t have the data. DIAM oxygen permeability is lower and more consistent (engineered versus natural material), so this is why it works.
If you don’t have DIAM and rely on natural cork with its various defects and heterogeneous (unpredictable) structure, than it gets more complicated, with many wines (e.g., Fevre before 2007) showing nearly 100% oxidation, other winemakers using different practices apparently seeing less. So the fact that DIAM “works” doesn’t completely remove all of the mysteries…
I mean, if DIAM makes wine taste like something then so does regular cork, since the majority of DIAM is…cork.