I always find it interesting when I relearn something I had essentially forgotten. Last night brought two wine lessons.
#1. The frustration of the corked bottle. I have been extremely lucky on corked bottles over the last two years. I can only recall one or two since the misserble day of 7 in a row. Guess things do even out. I had been holding the 1999 Guigal Brune Et Blonde Cote Rotie for a while since and really looking forward to it since for some unexplained reason I have never tasted a Cote Rotie. Alas it was corked. So down to the cellar for a backup and lesson #2.
#2. The wonderful (and sometimes frustrating) variation from bottle to bottle. The replacement bottle was the 2001 Redoma from Niepoort. This is the first wine that I have bought multiple cases of since I left the Midwest in 1995. We have been drinking a lot of this and I know it well but last night was the first time that a bottle tasted so green. I would go so far as to call it pine and too me it was off putting. I don't think it was flawed. Other bottles have had herbal elements but nothing like this. While I really did not enjoy this specific bottle it was nice to be reminded of how much bottles of the same wine can vary. The fact that every experience is unique and can never be recreated from a different bottle on a different day is one of the wonders of wine that I often forget to appreciate.