As I have come to so thoroughly enjoy @David_Bu3ker ’s eulogies of bottles that once were and no longer should be in his “tales from the crypt” , I thought it beneficial to begin a thread where we honor the dead with frivolous prose - to those bottles neglected and decayed, whose opportunities were oxidized by that cruel mistress called time.
Tonight, we lay to rest the 1970 La Rioja Alta Vina Ardanza, a bottle once full of promise, oak, and maybe a little Franco-era drama.
The cork was as crumbly as grandma’s shortbread. Then came the color, not so much ruby as rusty regret. The nose? Oh, the nose was a haunted attic filled with old letters, mothballs, and possibly a disappointed abuela.
On the palate? Whispers. A ghost of sour cherry floated by like a forgotten tango dancer. A puff of cedar, a memory of tobacco, and then poof! Nothing but the dusty echo of what might’ve once been a legend.
This wine didn’t just die, it evaporated with a shrug.
We tried CPR. We swirled. We begged. But alas, she was gone, not like fine wine, but like a fruitcake left on a radiator since Nixon was in office.
So raise a glass, my friend, to what twas, to what could’ve been, and to the only pairing this bottle deserved: a moment of silence and a bottle of 2011 Prado Enea on deck.
Sad to hear about that 1970 LRA Ardanza. I’ve had it twice; eight years ago with a couple of fellow berserkers, and that time the wine was in an absolutely exceptional shape, coming across as almost youthful - for its age at least. Another time a few years ago; that bottle was much more evolved, on its plateau of maturity and just on the cusp of starting to go downhill - but still in a wonderful, thoroughly terrific condition.
But at ~50 years of age, there are no great wines, only great bottles. I’m happy I’ve had the chance to experience two of those with this label!
I was just thinking about that show the other day. I still don’t understand. And then she just disappeared…
And wouldn’t Tigh, let alone the other officers have needed some type of background check to get into the military. Only to discover he had no family or background because they were Cylons.
That was kind of a sub-theme of my tasting last fall ‘The Good Old Stuff’. Bring out those that might be comatose if not dead rather than let them spend a few more decades in decay. It worked out pretty well, only a few fully dead and some that started comatose woke up, although none of the oldsters was slam-dancing, not even me.
They are intentionally skewed to the earliest possible window.
If it’s too young they get a pass.
If it’s too old, their credibility is shot.
So they say that wines that will peak at 20 - 50 years should be drunk at 8 - 10.
I’ve learned to ignore critic’s drinking windows.
Robert Parker gave the 2000 Lanessan a rating of 88 points in 2010, and said it should be drunk by 2020. I deeply regret having wasted a bottle five years ago, as it was painfully primary. It should hit its stride about 2050, when I do not expect to be 104 years old.
