Brett Happens

Yesterday was a long day. Yes, it was 24 hours, but just the waking hours felt longer. But, it was a good day -- productive and probably good for business. But, both of us being tired and neither having the wherewithal to cook, it was a carry-out night for dinner.

So, the debate happened. The dinner decision was easy -- really good burgers from a local neighborhood gem, one with a healthy vegetable to accompany and the other with a far less healthy vegetable, both to be shared.

So, the debate happened, but I alreadysaid that. No wine, cheap wine, good wine, great wine. The first and last choices were immediately ruled out. Hemming and hawing, back and forth, and then we elected to go for a good bottle of wine. 

We had our reasons. Among them was that the cheap wine was going to have been kept somewhere at room temperature and we really didn't have time to cool it while the good wine had been resting comfortably at 56F/13C. Good wine it was.

Always anticipatory while pulling the cork, I looked forward to this one. And, the cork came out looking beautiful. But, the smell. Ooh that smell, can't you smell that smell, ooh that smell, the smell of brett surrounds you.

Yes, there was brett, the shortened term for brettanomyces. Brett is a yeast. It occurs naturally. Almost all wines have some level of brett. Some have too much. This was one of them.

How do you know? A wine with too much brett smells like a wer dog. Not ideal.

So, there was another decision to make, one that I would not ordinarily make (usually, I would just kiss that bottle goodbye). But, I decided to taste it. And, once I got past the smell, the wine actually tasted very good. 

And, so it was. 

We drank the bottle with too much brett. And, despite the disappointment of wet dog, the wine did taste good. And, the good taste made the burgers taste even better and so did the burgers make the wine better. 

But, even in good bottles of wine, stored properly and with perfect corks, brett happens.