UPDATE: I took some your advice and bought a not-too-expensive bottle that had some age. Decided to go for red Burgundy, which can be rather delicate. I also thought a bottle with about 20 yrs of age would be a good one to try; felt like this was long enough for poor storage to be detrimental but not so old that bottles would otherwise be hit or miss. I chose a $65 1999 Maison Champy Beaune 1er Cru Grèves and I’m happy to report that the bottle was in pretty good shape! Here are my tasting notes:
"Bottle looks to be in great shape and the cork looks nearly brand new. Just the tiniest amount of bricking on the edge. There is a medium amount of sediment that is very well behaved and easy to decant off of.
In the glass, the wine is in good shape; still a decent amount of fruit aromas/flavors, some tasty secondaries, but with just a hint of the less desirable soy sauce notes lurking in the background. The fruits skew cool-climate and red—cranberry and tart raspberry that are fresh and very appealing. There is a refreshing amount of acidity, still moderate tannins, and a nice finish that emphasizes the emerging earth and woody flavors of vanilla. I wonder what this wine was like young; I would guess that it may have started out over-oaked, but it’s balanced out over the years.
Amazingly, this wine was better on day 2. I put half the bottle in a 375mL and stored it overnight in the fridge. The next day, the wine was actually fresher and the soy sauce notes were almost completely gone! Very surprising for a 20+ yr old Burgundy. Well done! "
I’m definitely going to continue the experiment and try something a little older or a little more expensive and see how it turns out.
