What is dumb wine?
The dumb phase of (generally red) wine, also referred to as the flat spot or the awkward, transformational, or adolescent phase refers to the period of transition from its youth to maturity. At bottling, a wine may be luscious, with rich, ripe aromas and flavours. After a certain period of time (typically a few months) the wine may begin closing down, in that the fruit begins to decrease before the complexities of maturity have fully developed. The combination of declining fruit and pre-emerging complexity cancel each other out, creating a wine that simply doesn’t taste very good. The cause of this phenomenon is uncertain, and it’s time frame is uncertain, sometimes lasting for several years.
