Aged Wine Disappointment

[Grape Stuff]

I’ve only been exploring wine seriously for about 2 ½ years now, and I read so much about how mature wines taste so great, yet it’s extremely difficult to drink older wines because:

A) My collection is only 2 ½ years old
B) Restaurant prices are mostly ridiculous for good older vintages
C) Library wines in wine shops are also quite expensive

So I splurged for Valentines Day and bought from my local wine shop a 1992 Woodward Canyon Artist Series #1 Cabernet Sauvignon for $75.00

Granted my expectations were high as I’ve really enjoyed the 99 and 00 release of this wine, and the 92 vintage in Washington that year was good, and I’ve not had a Woodward release I wasn’t satisfied with, and some have been stellar.

The color was very dark red/ruby, but had slight brown touch to it. The body was much lighter than I expected, more like a light Merlot than a Cabernet. There was not much fruit evident at all, a little earthy flavor, it had a lengthy finish, but without much interesting going on to linger around….so what if it’s long.

So I’d like some help understanding what I tasted, as this is by far the oldest wine ever to pass my lips. Was it:

A) Past it’s prime?
B) I’ve read about wines going through a dead or asleep period, could that be it?
C) Not a very good wine to begin with?
D) My expectations are off for what aged wines taste like.

Thanks, any input is really appreciated.

[Bucko]

This should have been consumed at the eight to ten year range. It is already fading. The vintage year was good, but the wines are not holding. I just drank a mediocre 92 Quilceda Creek and 92 DeLille.

[winoweenie]

Also the storage could have been suspect. WW

[wineguruchgo]

I second what WW said about storage conditions and this goes way beyond your local retailer.

There are many distributors here in Chicago, yet the one I worked for was the only one to air condition the warehouse in summer.

The wines will bake in the warehouse then get put onto a truck - sometimes refridgerated, sometimes not.

Many trucking companies who do long distance trucking don't have air conditioned trucks, only the cabs.

Our distributor, when I was working for the French Importer, would pull out of the southern states warehouse during winter rather than the warehouse in NJ which was much closer because of climatic conditions.

There are so many variables here. I'm really sorry that you were disappointed.

[Grape Stuff]

Pretty sure it wasn't storage. The wine shop is one of the oldest in Seattle, McCarthey & Schiering, and I bought it directly from Jay Schiering who said this had been in their own temp controlled cellar since release. In fact that was one of the reasons I took at chance.

Any suggestions out there on how to obtain affordable aged wines?

[Thomas]

Your description sounds like a faded wine, which leads into your last question.

First, you need to know about the wine producer in question: are their wines long-lived?

Second, you need to know the vintage: is it a good one? what are the odds that the long-lived wine reputation will hold up for that vintage? et al.

Third, you need to understand that it is essentially a crap shoot--the odds are in your favor IF you know the producer's reputation, the quality of the vintage and the storage conditions all the way through the wine's life. Remove one of those ifs, you roll the dice...



[This message has been edited by foodie (edited 02-17-2004).]

[Grape Stuff]

sounds like the planets need to align...which I guess happens, doesn't it!

[winoweenie]

There is only one way IMHO to have sound aged wines that are cost effective; Buy the suckers on release and put them in a good cellar. Any re-sellar is going to make a profit on his capitol outlay and the cost of storing. Sad, But True. WW

[sedhed]

Start young because when you reach our age you're buying for your grandchildren.