SECOND TIME AROUND

Ever had a wine that you thought was great and second time around it tasted poor? Or maybe vice versa, you bought two bottles of the same wine and on the first tasting it was rather ordinary and then months later the second bottle seemed great? This week I have had two examples of the latter.


The first was a 2008 Argentinian Shiraz from Waitrose that I bought 3 bottles of when it was on special offer back in October. It seemed quite interesting on the label as this Finca Flichman Gestos Shiraz was made 50% of shiraz from 1,100 metres altitude and 50% shiraz from 700 metres. However, the first tasting in late October was a great disappointment – maybe the label had made my expectations too high even for a £7 Mendoza shiraz! So the other night when Jane made an excellent balti chicken curry and I added a balti vegetable curry as the side dish, I thought we wouldn’t be wasting a good bottle of wine on the curry by opening the Gestos. What a surprise, this time the Argentinian Shiraz was excellent in every way – both tasted before the curry and with the curry. A definite 15 or 16 point out of 20 wine. So one, that at last, I can recommend and a wine that stands up to a curry really well – the curry possibly even enhanced it. Perhaps, I’ll try the third bottle out on the Tongham Tasters.

The second example was a 2006 Bellmunt Priorat from Marks and Spencers. Last December I had not long been back from a business trip to the states and on that trip had been delayed in Philadelphia Airport and resorted to the excellent Vino Volo wine bar and tried one of their tasting flights including an excellent example of a Spanish Priorat red. Well when shopping in Guildford last Christmas I had been in M&S and seen that they sold a reasonably priced Priorat – and once again bought a few bottles on impulse. Back home that weekend Jane again cooked a nice dinner so I thought the Priorat would be a good accompaniment – my expectations were high after the Vino Volo example. Unfortunately, I was disappointed and didn’t think the M&S Bellmunt Priorat was good at all. So this weekend when we were having some rather unpromising turkey and stuffing leftovers, cooked with fondant potatoes by yours truly and served with a cranberry and red wine jus, I decided to try the Bellmunt again. Well yet again with low expectations, the wine proved to be a real surprise and quite excited me. I am now really looking forward to the Priorat we have chosen for the next Tongham Village Hall wine tasting dinner.

So what is going on here! As I said in one of my recent posts, wine tasting is an adventure and you never know what is going to come out of the bottle. Wine changes over time, tasting depends on the room temperature and humidity, what you have tasted before, what you are tasting it with and even on your mood. Sometimes wines like people need a second chance!