Two Surprise Wines

[winecellarboy]

Here's a followup to 2 wines I asked about. I had found a bottle of Joseph Phelps Vin de Minstral Syrah 1990 and a bottle of Hidden Cellars Mendocino 1996 red table wine. Both were old one of a kind bottles in a mainstream wine shop. I took a risk.

Both were amazing. The syrah tasted like M. Chap. Banyuls rhone wine.

The Hidden Cellars tasted like bordeaux and very similar to the 1996 Chateau Meyney. Yum.

These two bottles were a steal! I paid almost nothing for them. Both of course I needed to decant.

[Auburnwine]

I had the same experience with a 94 Mistral. Quite yummy.

Such gambles don't always turn out so well. I've had ten-year-old wines of a similar lineage whose fruit had gone far, far away and nothing lovely had come to take its place.