You never know what waits beneath the cork of a bottle of wine. Could be a transcendental experience, could be vinegar.
Filet mignon and grilled veg on the Q tonight (tried grilling beets for the first time - not too bad. Would like to find some golden / chioggia beets next time around). A meal like that calls for something substantial. So I pulled out a Ravine Vineyard 2007 Meritage, with which I was impressed when I visited the winery last summer. Sadly, once poured, that mature structure and complex blend of flavours I remember seemed to have faded into blandness; Hubby wrote it off on account of the unbalanced, overpowering cab franc presence. Pity, really. That meal deserved more.
Makes me wonder how people can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars at auctions and on private purchases of cellar-dwellers that could be dust for all they know. How about the champagne found on a shipwreck recently that could fetch around $68,000 a bottle if it's in good shape? Do buyers get to open it first? Is there some sort of insurance or extended warranty for a bottle that old? Hardly.
Outside of the world of the super-rich, and with the exception of stuff bought at wineries, the majority of "spoiled" wines can be returned, no questions asked, to the LCBO. Given that 10 per cent of all wines fall victim to corkage, it would be uncouth of them not to graciously take back a stinker and replace it with a fresh bottle.
Anyhoo, I better get drinkin' before all my wine goes bad ...
(Speaking of which, we toasted the Smurf's six week birthday with my parents and a bottle of Poema Cava. Now THAT was an experience; just as good as when I first tasted it.)
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