Ceramics … the style of the wines

As time moves on, I am tasting more and more wines made and elevated on ceramic vessels … i.e. with no contact to wooden barrels and with limited oxidation as the ceramic vessels allow only a limited oxidation.

In the first article “Ceramics … the naked truth” we took the general view on ceramic elevage … In this, I focus more on “Ceramics and the style of the wines”.

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Impressions of the Ceramic wines

The Ceramic wine does all else being equal, appears lighter than the normal oak-based wine. Not by a huge margin, but there is a difference, especially with the oomph and the expression of power when you lack the help from the oak. It’s the medium to low palate … if this makes sense (was a hifi geek before) … where the ceramic wine appears slightly lighter.

So to some degree the Ceramic wine can appear cooler …

If the wine is a bit more concentrated due to lower yields, then this can be balanced again, to some degree. Actually, a somewhat lower yield does seem to work well with the Ceramic wines.

Not either or … both!

Tasting an Aloxe 1er cru from Charles Lachaux with almost the same wine from Pierre-Olivier Garcia underlined the differences, as it also emphasised the common impressions.

I can easily embrace both … and find more difficulty with heavily toasted oak and perhaps also the more air-tight enclosures like Wineglobe.

A ceramic wine is made with no influence from oak, and with a more limited influence of oxidation… or should I say influence from the permeability of the vessel used for the making and elevage. Longer elevage will give more oxidation … it seems from the ceramic wines I have tasted.

The result is normally a brilliant and pure bouquet with no influence of oak and less oxidation via the vessel … but long elevage is a balance point … at some point!

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