Tags
animal shelters, Bordeaux, cats, Drouhin Beaujolais, Graves, wine
The Long-Suffering Husband and I recently attended a benefit for our local animal shelter. Among the items at the silent auction was this well-aged bottle of Bordeaux. It was only an appellation controlée, but the donors noted its “value” as $110. We paid considerably less than that. Thank goodness.
Clos St. Georges Graves 1982
The next day, I tried to find some tasting notes online, but came up with nothing. I couldn’t even find Clos Saint-Georges listed as a Graves producer, except for whites. It seemed an inauspicious sign.
The next bad omen was the cork. It came out spongy and black. Uh oh.
By this point we were more or less resigned to our fates, but poured out the thick orange sludge anyway to get a look at it.
The bouquet, of course, was musty, corky vinegar, and the color was V-8 juice. We emptied it down the drain (it probably did a good job of cleaning the pipes) and opened a pleasant bottle of Drouhin Beaujolais Nouveau (which I much prefer to this year’s Duboeuf, by the way).
But remember, it was all for the animals!
Ya gotta love shelter cats.
Linnet Moss 
That is one disgusting looking cork! Lovely kitties, though 😉
Ha, ha! Many thanks!
Wow, that cork… that wine! I didn’t know wine could do that! I’m on wine-buying duty for tomorrow’s dinner with Yummy Janis – no pressure! 🙂
What’s the selection like there? I hope it’s better than the cheese offerings…
It’s not too bad actually! Hopefully we won’t poison each other 😉
Oh, yipes. And I have never seen a “sediment sunset” like that. The cork – sounds like the wine was upright for too long, maybe, or subject to extreme temperatures. Black – I’ve never seen that either. You did the right thing.
Yes, perhaps it was stored under less than ideal conditions. Though it can happen to any bottle, if the cork is defective. That’s why I never complain about plastic corks (or indeed screwtops), though I enjoy the ceremony and scent of a good cork.
interesting I am a collector in France, I just took a look at your bottle 1982 was a good year in the area more in the médoc than in Graves. The prop Noêl Labat has several properties there. château montgaréde is one small one,Chateau des peyréres,Chateau Ménota,all are sub of Ménota , none Under that name, could be an export?; many times they do change names for export.
Many thanks for the comment! I’m very sad that the wine went off, as it would have been a great pleasure to taste a Bordeaux of that age. The changed name for export may explain why I had trouble finding any tasting notes on it.