Poll: Who knows wine?

[Member 5605]

Backstory:

When I was 15 I travelled to Spain. No parents.

I picked up a bottle while I was over there of what was supposed to be a good vintage etc. Having no clue I relied upon the wine expert in the store.

25/6 years this wine has been in the bottle and it's always been kept horizontal in its box on the shelf.

Muja Rioja 1989
From Spain etc

I've tried to do a search online about if it's a good wine or not. Just preparing myself for when I finally open it.

Note: I don't drink so my question is that when it's opened should I expect my taste in wine to be changed or upheld by it.

Photo attached for wine porn.

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[Joe13]

Don't know about that vintage but have a few points to ponder.

If you don't drink wine then you will not taste the little nuances that would make that bottle special.

Get some similar wines and build yourself a pallet - then you can enjoy the uniqueness of your bottle.

Or just enjoy it for what it is, a trip down memory lane.


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If you really want to get into drinking wine, then my advice would be to start pairing different wines with foods, that is really where wine shines!!!

 

[Member 5605]

Thanks @Joe13 valid point!

 

[solv3nt]

Most wines should be enjoyed when they hit the store, as not all of them are to be aged. When aging a wine, you will hit a peak age, then it will possibly start to decline to vinegar. If the cork remained wet, then the odds are good that air didn't get into the bottle to ruin it.

 

[Capn Jack]

Not an expert by any means. I would say go with Joe13. I've quite often found price is not always the key. I also feel that way about my firearms. Why have something you'll never shoot.

 

[Member 5605]

Wasn't an intentional "I'm going to age it..." I've never really had a reason to pop the cork.

Lol. Maybe it should be done sooner than later then.

 

[NoFlinch]

If the cork remained wet, then the odds are good that air didn't get into the bottle to ruin it.

I don't understand. What is this Cork thing?

All my wine comes with screw off tops

 

[solv3nt]

I don't understand. What is this Cork thing?

All my wine comes with screw off tops

LOL, if it has a screw top, you're screwed, as it won't age I always figured you for a box kind of a guy.

 

[Trailboss]

I don't drink and know little about wine, however as a Psychologist, I am intimately knowledgeable about whine. Let me know if I can assist with the later.

 

[Member 5605]

Should also have mentioned I bought this in 94'. Back when a teenager could bring a few bottles back in their luggage.

 

[spectra]

I had to vote no as I do not like wine

My parents love the stuff and have a special place for there stash even Good luck with it and hope it turns out ok for you.

And last what is a teenager buying that kind of whine for it should read boons ferry

 

[solv3nt]

Should also have mentioned I bought this in 94'. Back when a teenager could bring a few bottles back in their luggage.

Buy some Grade-A Porterhouses, and a nice Cab/Merlot/Pinot as backup, have a bbq, and enjoy the heck out of the wine. Then, if the wine isn't vinegar, you'll have a second to enjoy afterwards.

 

[Capn Jack]

LOL, if it has a screw top, you're screwed, as it won't age I always figured you for a box kind of a guy.

Ain't nuthin wrong with "Boxed Wine". Boxes don't "Clink" when customs steps on board.

 

[solv3nt]

Ain't nuthin wrong with "Boxed Wine". Boxes don't "Clink" when customs steps on board.

There ain't nuth'n wrong with it as long as you don't try to serve me any of it

 

[albin25]

This may help....

http://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=59847

 

[Siglvr]

Wait, I haven't been able to make it past your comment that you bought a SINGLE bottle of wine and DIDN'T drink it but just sat and watched it for 6 years like some egg in a nest?


**kidding**


Here's the deal, and I'm glad you asked now instead of waiting 6 more years. You need to drink it: STAT. I'll help if you need instructions on things like "How to open wine with a thumb when you have no corkscrew" or "How to chug wine". Seriously though, your bottle may not be good anymore depending on how you stored it or how warm it got, but if you drink it now, it will most likely be better than later. This is coming from a guy with more than a few bottles of French Bordeaux stored in a wine cooler. Here's a link concerning some thoughts on storage for you. http://www.winespectator.com/webfeature/show/id/45577

I envy you that trip to Spain at 15, bet you learned a heck of a lot about a heck of a lot of things. I didn't get down there till I was much older and out of the Army at @22 years old. Was still a fantastic trip, got to run with the bulls in Pamplona and see how good living is really done.

 

[Member 5605]

Thanks @billcoe

So it's always been stored horizontally.

With the cover slid into the top as well. So I had the dark and horizontal parts going for me. ......

And I know it's went outside the temp ranges of 45-65* on a couple occasions I think. Once when we left for Mexico in the winter and once the same when we left in the summer.

Damn. Now that I think of that it's probably crappy at this point and no sense of drinking it. Guess it will remain as a decoration.

Sad day. Kind of a craps shoot now. Damned if I do drink it if it's bad and damned if I don't because it could still be good.

 

[Capn Jack]

Horizontal isn't always the key...Had a bottle blow the cork out while we were on vacation. Sure screws up a laminate floor.

 

[CoastRange57]

Wait, I haven't been able to make it past your comment that you bought a SINGLE bottle of wine and DIDN'T drink it but just sat and watched it for 6 years like some egg in a nest?

Especially at 15 years old. Sometime after coming home with it it would have certainly been the featured attraction your first date with Mustang Sally, that bad boy would have been opened and drained post haste.

This farm boy downed a lot of logan berry farm wine on summer nights along creek banks, so that makes me a wine mastrio or what ever the hell you call them.

I do enjoy tasting different local wines, since I worked as an agronomist for a while working with grape plant nutrition on different soils in the Dundee and Tualatin Valley areas.

 

[pdrake]

Difficult to say with precision, but I would drink it now, or even yesterday. Going on 16 years, right? Stored horizontally is fine, but at what temperature (I saw the earlier post, so I am guessing in a too-warm room).

I, too, have waited too long on several cases of fine wines. Don't delay--it will not improve from here. (Probably stopped improving many, many years ago.) I would guess it will be very pale in color, almost waterish. If it is corked, then perhaps taste like vinegar. My best guess is that it will be just barely palatable. Please report later.