Bottle Shock
Bottle Shock
When a wine is bottled or subjected to other forms of handling and transport it goes through a temporary phase called bottle shock, also known as wine sickness.
The aromatics may be muted; the flavor components disjointed and the alcohol and tannins can taste sharper and overwhelming. This is thought to be due to the agitation of the wine and or it's exposure to excess levels of oxygen during the bottling process. If a the wine is filtered, it needs even more time to come back together.
Typically it will take a wine a few weeks to recover from bottle shock, but on some occasions it could take up to several months to recover from bottle shock.