Here's to Stelvin and Co.

Opened a 1995 Pontet-Canet tonight. Corked. Nearly 10 years of loving care in my cellar, utterly wasted.

Leaves a bad taste in my mouth, in more ways than one.

-Paul W.

Opened a 1995 Pontet-Canet tonight. Corked. Nearly 10 years of loving care in my cellar, utterly wasted.

Didn't you enjoy the romance and tradition of pulling the cork and then the first whiff of cardboard?

Didn't you enjoy the romance and tradition of pulling the cork and then the first whiff of cardboard?

Bwah ha ha! Good one.

Cardboard??? I only wish. Worse than that.

It did help clear a clog in my sink when I poured the rest of the bottle down the drain.

-Paul W.

Paul - I share your frustration and sadness. I have read that any cellar of more than a dozen bottles or so likely have a corked bottle or one simply past its prime. I don't know how true that is but I fear with hundreds of bottles my chances are good that I am taking great care to nurture already dead bottles. My only hope is that I don't make a grand show at a special dinner and then have to excuse myself and run downstairs to find something else while the food gets cold.

[David M. Bueker]

Recently had a couple of rotten results with corked bottles. One was the 1996 Chevillon Nuits St. Georges Roncieres, and the other was the 1998 Weinbach Gewurztraminer Cuvee Laurence. Coincidentally both were served at dinners with Thor. Perhaps he causes TCA.

I've said it a million times & I'll say it a million more - I would rather drink a great wine under screwcap before its prime than have to pour a great, corked wine down the drain during its prime.

Didn't you enjoy the romance and tradition of pulling the cork and then the first whiff of cardboard?

Bwah ha ha! Good one.

Cardboard??? I only wish. Worse than that.

It did help clear a clog in my sink when I poured the rest of the bottle down the drain.

-Paul W.

Which leads me to wonder: do you no longer live near the retailer that sold the wine to you?

What do others do with older TCA tainted bottles?

[David M. Bueker]

If it's a reasonable time frame & I am friendly with the retailer I take them back. Both the '96 Chevillon and '98 Weinbach were bought far from home, so that was not an option.

Which leads me to wonder: do you no longer live near the retailer that sold the wine to you?

What do others do with older TCA tainted bottles?

Like David, if a local retailer and a wine I've bought in last couple years, I'll try and take back. But I don't try and take back if retailer is unlikely to have recourse to recompense from distributor.

Which leads me to wonder: do you no longer live near the retailer that sold the wine to you?

What do others do with older TCA tainted bottles?

Like David, if a local retailer and a wine I've bought in last couple years, I'll try and take back. But I don't try and take back if retailer is unlikely to have recourse to recompense from distributor.

Dale, don't fall for that one! I was in retail; there is always a way for recourse, provided the distributor remains in business.

So you think that a retailer should take back my corked '83 Leoville Poyferre or '89 Certan de May (to name a couple recent ones)?
I don't return corked bottles that I cellared for several years or more. I don't return bottles that I understand are acquired from a private cellar. I don't return bottles from outside the metro area. I factor those things in when deciding what and where to buy.

[David M. Bueker]

I am also rather choosy when buying bottles from outside my local area, but even with locals I sometimes bite the bullet (though I do tell them about it), as my relationships with certain shops have saved me much more money that a few corked bottles have ever cost me.

Which leads me to wonder: do you no longer live near the retailer that sold the wine to you?

What do others do with older TCA tainted bottles?

He's gone out of business.

-Paul W.

So you think that a retailer should take back my corked '83 Leoville Poyferre or '89 Certan de May (to name a couple recent ones)?
I don't return corked bottles that I cellared for several years or more. I don't return bottles that I understand are acquired from a private cellar. I don't return bottles from outside the metro area. I factor those things in when deciding what and where to buy.

Either you have extra powers to infer or I have extra powers to imply, but I didn't refer to any of the above, did I?

My impression was that I responded to: I don't try and take back if retailer is unlikely to have recourse to recompense from distributor.

I was just providing my definition of when a retailer was unlikely to have recourse to recompense from distributor.

I was just providing my definition of when a retailer was unlikely to have recourse to recompense from distributor.

Oh, now I get it. But I maintain that a retailer still can get relief from a distributor with whom the relationship is solid. Of course, I am guilty of usually not taking bottles back to the retailer, and the last one was a white Burgundy that had set me back some bucks.

With Australian wines it's easy. Back to the winery it goes. (Well, following a phone call. Some of them don't want the bottle back, some do) Send replacement please. Mostly it's the current vintage equivalent wine. Just once the winery - Wendouree - stepped up and replaced the very same 8 year-old wine from museum stock. Top effort.

With foreign wines it's not so easy. I try to cellar most wines for a while before I drink them. I don't keep dockets. Also I buy from auctions. I've had relatively little cork-trouble with foreign wines (need to widen my drinking!), but I will try and take it back to the retailer to exchange/replace. Haven't had a corked, foreign, long-held wine yet - doubtless there are a few still in my cellar.
cheers,
Graeme

Sorry to hear that, Paul.

Oh well...it's as someone told me...someone on this board:

"It's just part of the price we pay for truly fine wine."

It was bullshit then; it's bullshit now.

Sorry to hear that, Paul.

Oh well...it's as someone told me...someone on this board:

"It's just part of the price we pay for truly fine wine."

It was bullshit then; it's bullshit now.

That was precisely my point. TCA happens. Even to the best producers. But only if they use corks. I know that Stelvin & co. are not free of their own occasional failures. But I can't believe it is worse than the present situation with cork closures.

And I don't buy the "romance and atmosphere of uncorking a bottle" rubric. There's nothing at all romantic about that first sniff and taste--only to find that the bottle's tainted with TCA. And any atmosphere involved is particularly foul.

IMO, the demise of the cork closure can't come fast enough.

-Paul W.

Recently had a couple of rotten results with corked bottles. One was the 1996 Chevillon Nuits St. Georges Roncieres, and the other was the 1998 Weinbach Gewurztraminer Cuvee Laurence. Coincidentally both were served at dinners with Thor. Perhaps he causes TCA.

Geez, the 1996 Chevillon NSG Roncieres is one helluva good wine. My deepest sympathies.

Yeah--it's gotta be Thor's malign influence. These thunder gods, you know.

-Paul W.

Paul, I am totally with you.

An older experience of mine:

http://dat.erobertparker.com/bboard/showthread.php?t=36910

I don't buy the "romance and atmosphere of uncorking a bottle" rubric either - when the bottle's corked it's like kissing a girl who dosen't kiss back.

[David M. Bueker]

I don't buy the "romance and atmosphere of uncorking a bottle" rubric either - when the bottle's corked it's like kissing a girl who dosen't kiss back.

More like kissing a girl who just finished off a pack of cigarettes.

I don't buy the "romance and atmosphere of uncorking a bottle" rubric either - when the bottle's corked it's like kissing a girl who dosen't kiss back.

More like kissing a girl who just finished off a pack of cigarettes.

Or who's gone 2 weeks without brushing her teeth, or both

Mark Lipton