What's up with my shiraz?

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Bick
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What's up with my shiraz?

Post by Bick »

I've been drinking some Mamre Brook 05 shiraz as a mid-weeker lately, and I like to think I know what it should smell and taste like, having had maybe 10 bottles in total, and 3 or 4 in the last few weeks. So I was surprised when I took a sniff from a glass last night and all of a sudden, it seemed quite distinct to previous btls. This one had a nice smell of fruit-cake (or maybe Xmas pudding) not noticed before. Now what's that down to? I can only think of three possibilities: bottle variation (cork closure); batch variation (seems unlikely); taster variation (maybe its a wierd pyschological thing, though I find it hard to see how, and it wasn't tasted with food).
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Jay60A
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Re: What's up with my shiraz?

Post by Jay60A »

Bick wrote:I've been drinking some Mamre Brook 05 shiraz as a mid-weeker lately, and I like to think I know what it should smell and taste like, having had maybe 10 bottles in total, and 3 or 4 in the last few weeks. So I was surprised when I took a sniff from a glass last night and all of a sudden, it seemed quite distinct to previous btls. This one had a nice smell of fruit-cake (or maybe Xmas pudding) not noticed before. Now what's that down to? I can only think of three possibilities: bottle variation (cork closure); batch variation (seems unlikely); taster variation (maybe its a wierd pyschological thing, though I find it hard to see how, and it wasn't tasted with food).


I've had this experience. About every 6-12 months I get into something I drink about two cases of ... Seppelt Dorrien 99, Centenary Hill 02 etc. You palate gets into a groove it loves and remembers the wine almost exactly in every detail.
Very likely bottle variation. Or was it served slightly warmer?

Jay
“There are no standards of taste in wine. Each mans own taste is the standard, and a majority vote cannot decide for him or in any slightest degree affect the supremacy of his own standard". Mark Twain.
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Bick
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Post by Bick »

It maybe was slightly warmer - I hadn't thought of that. Seemed too strikingly different to be just down to temp though.
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Nayan
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Post by Nayan »

Were all the bottles from the same case?
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Bick
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Post by Bick »

I don't know, but quite possibly not: I bought half a dozen as part of an online order and they came as a mixed case of wines in a non-Saltram box. I got them from First Glass in Auckland, so Sue might know the answer I suppose.
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Grant
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Post by Grant »

Bick,

I sometimes associate that difference in smell (or what I think you are referring to ) with a touch of oxidation. See what the next one is like and that might provide an answer.

Cheers
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SueNZ
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Post by SueNZ »

Bick wrote:I don't know, but quite possibly not: I bought half a dozen as part of an online order and they came as a mixed case of wines in a non-Saltram box. I got them from First Glass in Auckland, so Sue might know the answer I suppose.

Hi Bick, No idea. Sorry.
From memory this has a natural cork, so could be slight oxidation, though unlike Grant, I've never associated fruit cake with oxidation before. The 'warmer' theory sounds like a good one, as its seems you didn't dislike it.
Cheers,
Sue
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