Just received a shipment from a well known producer. I ordered a decent amount of wine, trusting the producer. Opened a “mid 90’s points” 2020 Sonoma Pinot Noir.
I hope this is an off bottle. Started with nothing but wood and oak, and after a few hours, tastes like a pack of cigarettes. 80 points if I am generous. It’s not obvious cork taint or anything else I’ve tasted before. Just tastes like taking a pack of Marlboro Lights and chewing on it.
I’ll give it another shot tomorrow. Not promising.
I won’t say who until I figure out if it’s just a dud bottle. That would be unfair when talking about such a controversial topic.
I also don’t have any real confirmed experience with “smoke taint”, but this tastes just like what most comments online say smoke taint will taste like. I’ve had quite a few corked/ruined/destroyed bottles before, and this one is pretty unique.
Is this your first time tasting this wine or producer?
Do you have another bottle?
If it were me I’d want to sample a second bottle before putting something like this out there. Which sometimes is tough especially with Pinot producers where I’ll buy just 1 of each of their many Pinot bottlings so I can taste the entire lineup.
Agree. I didn’t intend my post to be critical of Mikko. He’s in a tough spot, where else would you talk about this than with a bunch of like-minded wine geeks? It’s easy for others to confirm whether Mikko’s tasting notes resemble or do not resemble smoke taint without discussing an actual winery. But I’m sure Mikko realizes that there’s almost no way to have anyone here corroborate his results without divulging the winery.
I have a feeling that this will be a repeating trend moving forward. Unfortunately, people are going to be looking for this with 2020s because of potential issues. I have no problem with him posting this and it should raise red flags out there.
As others have said, it might be worth reaching out to the winery for feedback from them. And it would be interesting to see what they say as well. Keep us posted . . .
An interesting thing happened the other night when I opened a 2020 Rivers Marie Bearwallow Pinot…I gave a small pour to my 21yr old daughter…she’s just starting to try alcohol here and there, but by no means any expertise…anyway, her first comment when she smelled the wine was “smells smoky”! My eyes widened, and I told her about whats been going on with that vintage and the fires. Now don’t worry…cuz I, being the expert taster, tasted zero smoke “taint” in the wine…there was some of the good nuanced like smoked cherry wood and sassafras spice…but not ash tray and such. It was a great wine imo, but I pounded out too quickly for a proper note to be written.
And therein lies the issue with 2020. Any note remotely referencing smoke or smokiness is going to have negative connotations whether deserved it not. I feel for those releasing 2020 Northern California wines.
I don’t disagree with you, but regardless of whether it’s caused by smoke taint or not, I think an experience akin to chewing a pack of Marlboro’s is very concerning and would likely be noticed regardless of the vintage.
So without reading through that other thread, if a wine is truly smoke tainted, is it something you should be able to smell or taste immediately, or is it something that you gradually realize? Is it noticeable immediately, or does the wine need time for the smoke taint to be noticeable?
