The Auswine Forum

At my work, I organised a tasting of various rieslings and shiraz, one bottle of each wine. Included was the St Andrews Riesling.

As there was quite a lot, some bottles were left half open in the fridge or on the bench after the event. There was a screwcap on it, but of course it was as good as open to the world.

This was about 8 weeks ago.

Someone wanted a drink, and the St Andrews was in the fridge. I told them how old it was, and said I doubted it would be drinkable. However, they were game, and so was I.

It is actually not bad at all. Of course it has lost a bit of its fruit, and the kerosene characteristics are accentuated, but there is still an excellent underpinning of grapefruit, intensfying on the long finish.

Has anyone else had such an experience with a half-filled bottle kept in the fridge?

Yeah, I have this happen with whites left in the fridge, and every now and then I can check a red I have left open for a week or two and they're fine. I don't know why but some wines seem to hang in there.

orpheus wrote:At my work, I organised a tasting of various rieslings and shiraz, one bottle of each wine. Included was the St Andrews Riesling.

As there was quite a lot, some bottles were left half open in the fridge or on the bench after the event. There was a screwcap on it, but of course it was as good as open to the world.

This was about 8 weeks ago.

Someone wanted a drink, and the St Andrews was in the fridge. I told them how old it was, and said I doubted it would be drinkable. However, they were game, and so was I.

It is actually not bad at all. Of course it has lost a bit of its fruit, and the kerosene characteristics are accentuated, but there is still an excellent underpinning of grapefruit, intensfying on the long finish.

Has anyone else had such an experience with a half-filled bottle kept in the fridge?

hi orpheus
st andrews - where are they from?
the reason i ask is that my wife won a mixed case of st andrews wines. i tried the cab sav and poured it down the sink. im now thinking i should have at least tried the whites before giveing the rest away.

My experience was with a half to three-quarter filled bottle of Madeira. It was a Malmsey, and it had been opened 5 years previously. The bottle was stoppered and sitting on the dining room side board, not the fridge.

At a wine dinner, after the coffee, we got around to looking at the bottle of Madeira. I warned my friends that the bottle had been opened five years ago but they were interested in trying it. I cannot describe how good it was, and how my friends wanted to know if I had any more bottles and wether they could buy them off me. Needless to say I refused to part with my remaining two bottles.

Fantastic experience, and a lesson how indestructible Madeira can be.

Cheers.....................Mahmoud.

Rocket - the riesling and shiraz are normally pretty good - haven't had the cab. They are the Taylors top-of-the-line label from memory and aren't cheap.

rocket wrote:hi orpheus
st andrews - where are they from?
the reason i ask is that my wife won a mixed case of st andrews wines. i tried the cab sav and poured it down the sink. im now thinking i should have at least tried the whites before giveing the rest away.

Hi Rocket
You may well have nothing to worry about - round here we tend to think of St Andrews as Taylors St Andrews (Taylors Clare Valley top of the line range) but Liquorland/Vintage Cellars have a merchant brand called St Andrews - $6.99 single bottle on the VC site - if the wine was tip down the sink quality it was probably that.
Cheers

DJ wrote:

rocket wrote:hi orpheus
st andrews - where are they from?
the reason i ask is that my wife won a mixed case of st andrews wines. i tried the cab sav and poured it down the sink. im now thinking i should have at least tried the whites before giveing the rest away.

Hi Rocket
You may well have nothing to worry about - round here we tend to think of St Andrews as Taylors St Andrews (Taylors Clare Valley top of the line range) but Liquorland/Vintage Cellars have a merchant brand called St Andrews - $6.99 single bottle on the VC site - if the wine was tip down the sink quality it was probably that.
Cheers

Yes, don't worry, I meant the Taylors, Rocket.

yes i think they were the horrible merchant brand. "sth eastern australia" rings a bell. oops sorry for mentioning those 3 words on this forum.

That 05 St Andrew Riesling is an excellent wine so it doesn't surprise me.

I think Nev can tell you some stories too about German stuff that he left in his fridge that looked bulletproof for ages after opening.

Moral of the story = Riesling rocks.