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Bottles from the crypt, part 5.
This was actually last week's wine that took a while to fully appreciate.
It was a 1981 V. Sattui Cabernet Sauvignon from their Preston Vineyard in the Napa valley.
The exposed top of the cork was nasty with mold and perhaps other stuff. It came out in pieces and the smell of vinegar and worse filled the kitchen.
This was the dreaded volatile acidity (acetic acid) one fears with old wines.
And it tasted bad, too.
I opened an alternate recent purchase and left the old bottle on the sink with the cork out, expecting to pour it out in the morning.
When it came time for its demise, I poured a little for a final sniff and found the fault to have disappeared!
It was too early in the day to sip it, but by dinner time it still smelled good and tasted soft and mellow, if not award winning.
In my experience and reading, this is not supposed to happen, but it remained drinkable for a day or two.
So I learned a few things that didn't even come close to killing me.
# 6 tomorrow.
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