Under the table
Wednesday, May 21, 2003
Gracious! Is it really this long since I had a bottle of wine? I don't think so...
The department of not-so-frequently asked questions:
What happens when you return a bottle of corked wine? Fortunately I haven't had to do this too often. I suppose that cuts both ways. If you believe the statistics I must be drinking a fair amount of spoiled wine - or below best at the least. Part of the problem with single bottles is that 'off' notes are put down to poor wine-making and the label isn't revisited. Adnams credited me the money, no questions asked when one of a pair of bottles (of a French country white) was clearly corked. Somerfield refused to do anything without the wine being returned when their vintage cava proved undrinkable (again one of two). With sparkling wines of course one often pours the whole bottle - what are you expected to do, dribble some back in from the glass? And there's the social circumstance to consider here as well - it's not the best way of starting your celebration dinner party.
Most recently I had cause to take a Chilean Cabernet Franc back to Majestic. It was supposed to be stunning and the first of the pair was, well, lacklustre. The second, tasted a month or two later, was corked and got worse in the glass. Again I had to return some liquid to get my money back, they claimed they needed the bottle to get their money back from the supplier but I wasn't convinced. And when I mentioned the other bottle they weren't interested... In the kitchen there's a bottle of Tesco wine (it's wrapped in a bag - which is another problem, how do you about carting half-filled bottles around with surety?). They haven't sold this for some time and it's going to be interesting when I confront them with it...
What happens when you leave a bottle of wine open, but recorked, for three week? Yes, not best I know and I won't go into the details of its happening but it did. The surprising this was a that it was well, OK. Certainly not ruined. It was a Pirraminna Reserve Shiraz and not the best I've had from this otherwise dependable label, but it didn't seem to have suffered unduly. Perhaps a touch more acid (there was about half-half wine and air in the bottle), sharp fruit to the fore. A bit like the wine originally - I've still a bottle left, I might drink it soon and reflect back.
What happens if you keep a supermarket wine for best part of a decade? The bottle in question was the last of at least a case of Gran Calesa 1990, Closters del Segre - this is in fact Raimat by any other name. This was highly recommended in the Guardian many years ago but I don't think the author (Malcolm Gluck of Superplonk.com had it in mind that it should be kept so long. It has developed through out the time, eventually coming around to a fine summer-pudding fruit filled glass. In fact, this last bottle had a touch more body and tannin - though clearly aged - than the previous two. I have a slightly self-defeating sentimentality about these occasions; keeping 'special' bottles a little too long, for this example however, no damage was done and the wine was enjoyed by all.
