Another "Is my wine cooked" question.

1991 Cafaro Cab. Wine well below the typical fill line. Cork soaked through and crumbly. Very rich and raisiny nose. On the palette, less evident-savory flavor. Still, definitely some raisins according to another taster.

I'm afraid it's cooked!???

Yes, I'd say so. The wine probably boiled over and gushed all around the cork (leaving it in the soaked/crumbly condition in the process), and leaving the low fill behind. The receiving party probably said, "oh s**t!", pushed the corks backed in, and cleaned off the bottle and labels, then sold it on as if nothing had gone wrong.

-Paul W.

Where did you buy it? Ebay?

The wine was actually "given" to me by a wine shop owner who wanted to use me as a tasting guinea pig. He asked me to tell him what it was worth.

The odd thing is-the wine didn't TASTE cooked. There was not a lot of fruit left-mostly secondary earth and leather and savory notes. Lots of nice savory notes, with a long finish. Just a bit cooked on the nose-which blew off after a while. The wine didn't last very long-after a few hours, it had died.

Still, I enjoyed the wine overall, and I would probably pay $20for it ifn I knew I would be drinking it soon.

While certainly leaving open the possibility it was cooked, this is certainly a 15+ year old Cal-Cabernet afterall , so inclined to think it is just a bottle that is past its prime drinking window. Your descriptors of secondary flavors and "YUM" would seldom be associated with a cooked wine this old IMO. My thankfully limited with cooked wines is that they will remain intact for a few weeks/months after being damaged, but after that they are completely shot with the fruit becoming thin/insipid/pruned and the structure completely AWOL.
Bill

Cooked wine reminds me of caramel, but it can also have a raisin quality too. Caramel and raisins are each the result of heat exposure.

While certainly leaving open the possibility it was cooked, this is certainly a 15+ year old Cal-Cabernet afterall , so inclined to think it is just a bottle that is past its prime drinking window. Your descriptors of secondary flavors and "YUM" would seldom be associated with a cooked wine this old IMO. My thankfully limited with cooked wines is that they will remain intact for a few weeks/months after being damaged, but after that they are completely shot with the fruit becoming thin/insipid/pruned and the structure completely AWOL.
Bill

I'm with you, 'Winger. And the low fill and cork condition could both result from simple cork failure, no temperature increase involved. Most of the cooked wines I've had have been almost painful to drink.

Mark Lipton

I'm with you, 'Winger.

That's usually a very dangerous place to be...
BP