Tasted these two wines blind last night:
A. Sky Zin MtVeeder NapaVlly LateHrvst (16.0%; RS: 2.4%; SaH: 31 Brix; EB) 1990: Dark color w/ some bricking and rather murky/clouding (sloppy decanting??); very strong raisened/LHrvsty/very pruney/licorice strong boysenberry/very ripe Zin/Smucker's blackberry jam rather alcoholic slight wet dog fur/funky/mousey nose; soft overripe/pruney/raisened/LHrvsty rather wet dog fur/mousey/hantavirus/mouse crap/funky slight oxidized fairly sweet some alcoholic/fumey strong boysenberry/jammy/overripe Zin flavor w/ light smooth tannins; very long similar finish w/ bit of oxidation in the backtaste; definitely an off-dry old LH Zin but w/ a distinct funkiness to it. $20.00
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B. Sky Zin MtVeeder NapaVlly LateHrvst (16.0%; RS: 2.4%; SaH: 31 Brix; EB) 1990: Bit lighter in color but quite clear (better decanting?); much less raisened/pruney/LHrvsty some pencilly/toasty/oak less intense blackberry/boysenberry/ripe Zin slight earthy some complex rather attractive/interesting old LH Zin nose; soft less alcoholic/fumey light pencilly/toasty/oak/old Zin much less raisened/pruney somewhat very ripe/blackberry/boysenberry/spicy/Zin bit complex finish w/ light/smooth tannins; much similar in the finish w/ light/gentle tannins; lacks the funky/wet dog fur/mousey character of #A; actually a pleasant/fully mature LHrvst Zin; not thrilling but pleasant drinking and no signs of oxidation. $20.00
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A not-so-wee BloodyPulpit:
1. The contrast between these two wines was quite noticible, though they were clearly (at one time) the same wine. #A had a distinct funkiness to it that rendered the wine rather unpleasant...not undrinkable..but just not the pleasure that #B offered up. Neither one was what I would call badly oxidized or maderized. I had had two other btls of this same wine over the last 3 months. One was quite good and much like #B. The other was a murky brown and very clearly oxidized.
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2. So.....we are told by the "experts" that oxygen is the enemy of old wine. People go ballistic if they're served a wine that is ullaged 1.5" below the cork...gawd forbid if it's ullaged down to the bottom of the neck...or even onto the shoulder.
I've had plenty of wines that have been this ullaged and tasted perfectly fine. I've had wines that have had half the wine ullaged away and they're not much compromised.
So...as I've worked thru my orphan stash, this one a box of Zins, I came upon these two Sky LH Zins side-by-side, standing upright for almost 20 yrs. One had a slight ullage, just down to the bottom of the neck but not onto the shoulder. The other btl...had ullaged away well over 1/3'rd the btl. Bingo...here's my opportunity to do some real science (or as we call it in LosAlamos...big SCIENCE) and show that the "experts" are wrong...once again.
Underneath the capsules, there was a lot of "gunk"...of dried-out/ullaged wine. Not that uncommon for a LH Zin. Using the Ah-So, the unullaged btl saw the cork plunk down into the wine. The ullaged btl had the cork solidly in the neck, probably because of the dried "gunk", and came out w/ some difficulty w/ the Ah-So.
I decanted them both, labeled the bottom of the decanters "unullaged" and "badly ullaged", and them shuffled them around w/ my eyes closed until I lost track of which was which. So I was able to taste them blind. Served them at a cool temperature so as to mitigate the high alcohol levels.
Sample A and Sample B were distinctly different...as described above. I associate that wet dog fur/funky/mousey character w/ a wine that has been slightly oxidized. So my guuess was that #A was the badly ullaged btl. Turning the decanters upside-down to read the blind labels (and therefore dumping the remaining contents all over my pants, the white tablecloth, and the floor); the labels indicate that #A="Badly ullaged" and #b="Unullaged".
So...looks like the "experts" are right and oxygen is the enemy of old wine. Of course, these are the very same "experts" that tell us you must store your wines on their side to keep the corks moist and that you must store your wines at 55F for proper aging and that you must decant young Barolos 24 hrs ahead of time to "soften" the tannins and that you must....Yada/Yada/Yada.
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3. Both of these btls had a lot of dried "gunk" underneath the capsules. If these wines were stored nearly 20 yrs standing upright, one wonders what sort of transport mechanism allowed the wine to migrate from the wine surface, around the leaky cork, and onto the outside of the btl. Was it the wine headspace vapors that migrated around the cork & recondensed?
Did the first few yrs of storage under ideal/pristine storage conditions,w/ the cork immersed on its side, allow the leakage (this I rather doubt)?? Just sorta curious.
Anyway...a fun science experiment that I may write up for my next 6'th grade ScienceFair project.
Tom