Semillon Advice - Updated

[Mahmoud Ali]

I found a couple of semillon wines that I had forgotten about. One was a very early one-off purchase of the 1991 Basedow and the other is a 2000 Jenke that I bought at cellar door. The Basedow looks okay, still a bright yellow in a clear bottle, but the Jenke looked odd. At first I thought it had turned cloudy but on further examination I see that the cloudy appearance is due to a coating on the green glass bottle.

Tannins coating the glass of a red wine is something I am familiar with but not something in a white wine bottle.

Any thoughts?

Mahmoud.

[Polymer]

It can happen with whites as well...

[Mahmoud Ali]

Clearly ...

[Bobthebuilder]

Nice pun there!

[Brucer]

They are so bloody old, I think you should open them, drink or tip them down the sink.
91 Basedow may have held up, but I doubt it, and Jenke is not known for great sems.

[Mahmoud Ali]

The horror .... tIp it down the sink? Since it is a white, then as long as it isn't corked, an oxidised, madeirized quality would make it useful in cooking as it tends to replicate sherry. Don't laugh, it's happened before, once with an older store aged Bordeaux and another time with a New Zealand chardonnay, also store aged and over ten years old. The sherry-like quality is one lesson learned and the other is to avoid overly old whites on store shelves.

Good advice Brucer regarding the drinking.The Jenke has already been slated for drinking and is already in the fridge. The Basedow is likely my oldest semillon (unless there's another I've forgotten) and is next in line.

Cheers ..... Mahmoud.

[grhm1961]

I agree Mahmoud ... oxidised, older whites really do make a fine substitute for cooking sherry.

Which reminds me of something, as a bit of a warning. A handful of years ago we had half a dozen 1998 Lindemans Show Reserve Riesling, which sadly had been caught in a broken down car for two days in the middle of summer. We kept them anyway, hoping for a miracle ... when it came time to open them, sure enough, the first one was totally cooked, as was the second and third ... and so we started pouring them down the sink (you only need so much cooking sherry). The fifth and sixth bottles however, were superb; utterly sublime wine, and I am extremely thankful we persisted with tasting them before consigning them to the sewer. Be warned!

[Brucer]

Haha, wine is a weird thing.
My oldest semillon is 1999 Tyrrells Vat 1.
But its sealed under cork.

[Mahmoud Ali]

Ooh, that Vat 1 should be good. I wish I had one of those in the cellar.

[Mahmoud Ali]

Opened the 2000 Jenke, Barossa, Semillon (12%) last night.

Imagine an older boxer wearing dark yellow shorts. Definitely not a good sign.

After a swirl in a figurative boxing ring, down on the mat, the referee counting down:

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 ... YER OUT!!!

Boxer retires and starts a new career cooking in a kitchen.

Mahmoud.

[Mahmoud Ali]

The Jenke Semillon has been in the refrigerator door for the last three weeks. Tonight while cooking chicken breasts in a dutch oven and sipping KWV Pale Dry (a fino sherry look-alike) I used the Jenke in the cooking. Then, looking at my empty glass, I decided to taste it. To my surprise, while not being fresh, it appeared more like a tired fino, like one with a little left in the bottle and forgotten about.

There is a sweetish madeirized nose with a floral lift. The palate is slightly off-dry with a light madeirized quality but a little low in acidity. It is a poor semillon but makes for a decent cooking/sherry wine.

Wines never continue to surprise and amaze. What a glorious hobby.

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