Yesterday we had our annual New Year’s Day treat of bagels, smoked salmon and champagne. We were joined by dear friends, who generously contributed the excellent Scottish salmon and also brought a surprise caviar tasting! The food was all excellent, and we pulled a number of great champagnes to ring in the new year and give us a send off into Dry January. Only problem was that nothing, not ONE bottle, showed as we’d hoped.
Francis Boulard Les Murgiers - 2007 base, some of these have been a little tired lately, but this one was flat and uninteresting after the first few sips. Poured out.
2000 Diebolt-Vallois Fleur de Passion - I was sure it was corked, others disagreed, no one thought it was great. Did not finish.
2002 Diebolt Fleur de Passion - better, but I still wondered about cork and nothing about it was what it has been in the past. Barely finished later in the day.
1996 Deutz Cuvee William Deutz rose - the best bottle of the day and really good with the salmon, but somehow still lacking.
Having been disappointed now several times we pulled tried and trues to continue:
Egly-Ouriet rose - always good, but lacking depth on this day.
Egly-Ouriest VP - I’m used to this being a stunning bottle, broad and elegant at the same time. This was good, but nothing like what I’m used to.
So what was going on? And before someone asks - no, we don’t have COVID. And it wasn’t a pairing problem, since most of the bottles were tasted before or apart from the food. Four seasoned champagne lovers and we were all in agreement that nothing was really “on.” Oh wait - actually, the bottle of Domaine De Boingneres eau de vie de Folle Blanches we paired with the caviar was rock star.
Could it have been barometric pressure? The pressure was pretty average yesterday (I checked), but it was unseasonably warm, as it is today, predicted to drop a lot tomorrow. I’ve heard pressure can affect wine - how? High, low, changes?
Could it have been a root day, or whatever the biodynamic folks consider unpropitious for wine?
Something else?
Even more so, did anyone else have a bad wine day yesterday in particular?
I know that, over the years, I’ve had other days like this, when nothing seems to be working. Sometimes I can say it’s probably just my palate that day. Yesterday, though, we were all experiencing the same disappointments. None of us had been up late the night before, none of us were hungover or sick. If it wasn’t just me, I wonder what it was…