Looking for a certain wine...

[stevebody]

Cat,

This won't be what you want to hear (read, whatever) but this is what I tell my customers who maintain one of those quests for a semi-mythic wine they remember almost nothing about: Move On. There is a literal OCEAN of great wine out there; certainly more and BETTER wine than was being made in the late 70s/early 80s. For your friends own good and happiness, tell him/her to start an active habit of attending wine tastings, buying inexpensive bottles to try, make friends with a nice person in a wine shop who can provide suggestions, and knock it off already about that bottle, about which your friend has WAAAAAY too little information to expect anybody to identify it. From the description, my best guess is that ti was an old bottle with a lot of sediment in it and, while it may have been good, I GUARANTEE there is a far better bottle sitting on a wine shop shelf, right this moment, with your pal's name on it. Tough love, my friend. We all had that perfect guy or gal we fixated on in grade school but, eventually, you have to get on with life or resign ourselves to being miserable and loveless forever. Tell them to try more wine and fall in love all over again.