What was the flaw?

04 Chappellet Signature Cab Sav is a wine I have had twice before and likely in a 1/2 dozen or so other vintages. I have always liked Chappellet wines and will continue to in the future.

Tonight the wine had a fairly typical aroma upon opening, with maybe a nod towards too much purple sweetness, but the taste was frankly bad with very forward, expressive EtOH/heat. A while later our son Sol knocked over the bottle and maybe 100 cc spilled on the table and it smelled like faint vinegar.

Ideas? TIA.

VA - Volatile acidty.

I haven’t tried many Chappellets but the memory that stands out the most to me in one I have from recent vintages was a note of VA.

I’d sure go along with VA/EA. Unfortunately, I link that strongly with Chappellet.
Some people respond positively to the aromatics, including at least two well known critics.

P Hickner

VA, if it is above a certain threshold, will be noticed as a sharpness at the back of the mouth/start of the throat, from what I have noticed. If it is bad, it can really grab you there.

Some wines will have EA and aldehyde together. Could be that too.

the dreaded va monster.

Sol was probably just trying to help you identify the flaw. :slight_smile: