WTN: Grange Hermitage 1982 (real time)

10:05pm: Debbie is getting the steaks ready so I figured I would open and decant the wine.
Used my usual "winged" corkscrew and, wouldn't you know it, the top of the cork pulled away. Now I will have to dig out my Ah So.

10:13pm: Well that sure was messy and not very pretty, but the cork is out of the bottle...sort of. The cork was so soft and mushy that even using the Ah So just pushed it further into the bottle. At one point the cork was so far down the neck that when I tried to decant anyway, no wine came out. Let's just say that the air in the kitchen wasn't filled with red balloons, sunshine and fuzzy little kittens. &^%*#@

The good news is that the wine is now in the decanter.

10:23pm: Wow. Don't have a great deal of experience with drinking mature wine but, wow.

Surprisngly dark red in the glass, showing some bricking or browning at the edge.

A lovely nose: sweet fruit, smoky, freshly sharpened pencil, tar, chocolate.

Medium weight in the mouth, good acidity, coffee, ginger, incredibly complex and multi-dimensional.

A very long finish, showing coffee and lightly roasted notes.

10:41pm: Just about to sit down to dinner.

Wine is now showing some cherry and raspberry fruit and has taken on a bit of an edge and sort of stewed fruit notes.

The finish is one of the longest I have ever experienced. Quite impressive.

11:10pm: Nose has changed and now is dominated by roasted coffee.

Intense cherry fruit, spicies, roasted coffee, quite tangy now, red licorice, with a bitter/harsh streak toward the end.

Still yummy.

Thanks for this detailed tracking of the wine's progress. Was there further change after this last entry, or did this bring you to the end of the bottle?

I love the way old wines can give such a procession of different flavours, unfolding one after the other. Old shiraz often gives you a burst of red rose quite late in the sequence. Did you get any red roses from your Grange?

Best wishes for the new year
Matilda

Thanks for this detailed tracking of the wine's progress. Was there further change after this last entry, or did this bring you to the end of the bottle?

I love the way old wines can give such a procession of different flavours, unfolding one after the other. Old shiraz often gives you a burst of red rose quite late in the sequence. Did you get any red roses from your Grange?

Best wishes for the new year
Matilda

That was pretty much the end Matilda. I didn't notice any red roses, but, as noted, there certainly were a wide range of other flavours. Fascinating and delicious.