Mystery Wine

The wine I'm going to talk about today is something that you can't buy. Sorry!

About six months ago, a relative that works in the industry (can't say who - don't want to jeopardize any position) came across a very interesting deal. A winery in Kelowna was going out of business. This winery seemed to have success as it had been open over ten years, I believe, and was even the main supplier for a famous spa (my wife has gone there and enjoyed the spa). I had never tried this winery's wine before and would, now, never get the chance at all. Or would I?

The deal was this - the soon to be defunct winery was liquidating all of its wine but you kind of had to be in the know - or know someone in the know - to buy any. I don't remember if there was any white but there was definitely red.

From what I heard, they just bottled everything in the winery - I'n not sure if they mixed batches or not. I'm not sure about the age. All I know is that it was red wine.

And it was a good price.

$57 a case.

That's right, $57 a case. Or $4.75 a bottle!

Who could turn that down?

A couple of weeks later, I opened a bottle of the four cases I had bought. It tasted awful.

But I persevered.

Now, six months later (and almost into the last case), most of this wine is quite drinkable! It does have a bit of a bite to it at first, thanks to its youth, and there is a fair bit of sediment as it is unfiltered.  Also, I don't think it is all the same variety of wine as some bottles taste a lot better than others. At this point, I can't figure out what the wine is made from but I can tell you that this is a nice, Wednesday night pasta wine, even if it is a bit young.

Like all things in life, in the world of wine, there are deals to be had and disappointments to be felt. A $5 bottle of plonk might just be a great find and perfect with a burger or some linguine. A $50 bottle is most likely going to be a bottle to remember but has the potential to disappoint and merely taste like some $15 bottle.

There have been studies done where even experts can't tell the difference between fine wine and plonk such as those cited in this The Atlantic magazine article. But I find that, since I have been reading about wine, and studying about wine, and really tasting wine, I am noticing differences and am starting to tell when I have a good wine and when I have a not-so-good whine. I am encouraged that I can sometimes taste a $4.75 bottle of wine and confidently state that this is actually a pleasant bottle of wine.

And  that is why I am so excited about learning about wine, mystery or not!