Need Assistance Understanding a Wine Fault

[Chuck]

We were at a lunch function at a winery and a 2005 version of a certain highly regarded wine that was supposed to have a decade or 2 ahead of it was served as a special treat. We were interested to see how it was travelling. The colour was jet black with not much else to see and it reeked and tasted of port. No TCA that I could detect. Not particularly nice to drink. Tasted a bit like a vintage port. The wine was closed under cork. Is it correct that this is a faulty wine caused by premature oxidation? If it was a faulty wine I am disappointed the servers did not check the bottle beforehand particular given its place at the top of its range.

Carl

[Ozzie W]

Sounds like the wine was heat affected.

[mjs]

Sounds like a Greenock Creek Roenfeldt Road Shiraz

[winetastic]

Sounds like the wine was heat affected.

Indeed, perhaps you could reach for the term "Madeirised", shamelessly copied definition:
"A negative ‘cooked like’ character in wine resulting from accidental exposure to heat. The oxidative character which results is reminiscent to that of Madeira - hence the name."

[Lincoln]

Sounds like a Greenock Creek Roenfeldt Road Shiraz

Nah... was the Cab Sauv....

[Ian S]

Sounds like a Greenock Creek Roenfeldt Road Shiraz

naughty... but you beat me to making a similar comment!

[Chuck]

I can recognise heat affected and madeirised wines but this was not like that.

[Ddavew]

When you say 2005 and a highly regarded wine, is it a French wine? Or a very high alcohol wine?

[Chuck]

OZ wine from McLaren Vale. Function was there as well so wine did not travel far. Alcohol 14.5% so fairly standard. The producer does not produce "hot" high alcohol wines.

[Ozzie W]

I can recognise heat affected and madeirised wines but this was not like that.

You mentioned that "it reeked and tasted of port". This is a telltale sign of overexposure to heat. Did the wine taste sweet?

[Mahmoud Ali]

There is nothing, I repeat nothing, wrong with anything reeking and tasting of port. Port is a lovely drink and it would in fact be a compliment if talking about Australian port. However, when talking about a regular wine, it implies an over extracted, high alcohol wine that is dull and stolid. The original description by Carl, of the 2005 wine, reminded me of the '05 Amon Ra and Carnival of Love that I tasted a number of years ago.

Mahmoud.

[Ian S]

So difficult to say without tasting ourselves, but all the following seem possible
- Exposed to heat in storage
- Served too warm (the 'old room temperature for reds' proinciple was based on the sunless climate of England, where ~ 14-16C would not be unusual)
- It's the style (plenty of $$$$ wines are made to impress critics by brute force)

I'm wary of oxidation/age being the answer, but it's possible if you were getting mushroom-like savoury elements in the flavour profile.