WTN: Penfolds Grange 1986

Pop and pour. There was a difference of opinion on this wine between myself and JC. He thought it was corked. It was certainly musty but that blew off after some vigorous swirls of the glass. I find most corked wines rather flat, but this was pretty expressive. But then JC has a PhD in oenology. I would like to think I have enough experience to to figure out if a wine is corked or not; although I do admit my sensitivity is lower than others, and it was my bottle, so biases might have come into play.

In any case, here's my take. Bricking at the edge, but still a deep and opaque core. Mint was the first thing when the cork was popped, and then came the mustiness. That blew off after a couple of swirls. Dark roast coffee and vanilla oak on the nose. Quite surprised by that. I was expecting the wood to be fully integrated by now. Rich, full, and dense mouthfeel. Nice that, at least on the palate, the oak is fully integrated. Roast meat, more coffee. Cocoa powder. Initially quite sweet black berry fruit that gives way to much drier flavours. Still pretty tannic. Cleansing acidity at the back end. Very fine sediment. Tremendous length - the sweet blackcurrant coming back again at the very end. No hurry to drink up. Still a lot of life in this.

Pop and pour. There was a difference of opinion on this wine between myself and JC. He thought it was corked. It was certainly musty but that blew off after some vigorous swirls of the glass. I find most corked wines rather flat, but this was pretty expressive. But then JC has a PhD in oenology. I would like to think I have enough experience to to figure out if a wine is corked or not; although I do admit my sensitivity is lower than others, and it was my bottle, so biases might have come into play..

So does that mean that your friend JC stopped drinking the wine because he deemed it corked, but you continued? Were there some other options for him?!

The ability to smell and taste TCA varies from person to person. Some people (I would call them the lucky few) can't smell/taste it at all. I once had a winery employee pour me a sample at a public tasting that positively reeked of TCA, but that person said the wine was OK and refused to believe it was corked. I had him bring over someone else from the winery, who poured a sample from that bottle, took one whiff, grunted in disgust, and poured me a sample from another bottle. That one was OK.

So perhaps your friend JC is more sensitive to TCA than you are?

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

I'm sensitive to TCA, and so are many other experienced tasters I know with whom the occasional shared bottle results in divided opinions. Always interesting when that happens.

Pop and pour. There was a difference of opinion on this wine between myself and JC. He thought it was corked. It was certainly musty but that blew off after some vigorous swirls of the glass. I find most corked wines rather flat, but this was pretty expressive. But then JC has a PhD in oenology. I would like to think I have enough experience to to figure out if a wine is corked or not; although I do admit my sensitivity is lower than others, and it was my bottle, so biases might have come into play..

So does that mean that your friend JC stopped drinking the wine because he deemed it corked, but you continued? Were there some other options for him?!

JC is the owner of the restaurant where we consumed the bottle. He stopped after a sip and said "Don't be sad!", and sent over a bottle of some vibrant Garnacha from Extremadura. Nice of him to do that! I continued to dink the Grange and about half of the Garnacha.

The ability to smell and taste TCA varies from person to person. Some people (I would call them the lucky few) can't smell/taste it at all..

Are they lucky? Is the idea that if you cannot smell/taste the TCA, you're getting the 'full' experience of the wine? Given the presence of TCA, presumably the 'full' wine aromas/flavors are no longer available, even if you can't actually smell/taste the taint?