same but different wine?

[jamie]

Hey guys,
This maybe something very simple and i have had a look for the answer but i am new to wine so my thoughts maybe wrong,I have been trying a couple of different wines here and there,i found one that I liked so i got another bottle to try just to make sure before i purchase afew bottles,but the second bottle which was the same as the first had a very different taste,i treaded both bottles the same.
The only thing is i got the bottles from two different retailers,would this be the reason? Could it be the way the bottle was handled by the retailer? or just a fault with one bottle?
Sorry for the questions but would like to know if i should maybe stay away from one retailer or the other,or was i just unlucky
Cheers Jamie

[Michael McNally]

There is bottle variation: random oxidisation, cork taint, levels of filtration etc, and there are storage issues: heat, sunlight, temperature variation, etc. Hard to tell with a two bottle sample. If the first bottle was good, go back and try a second from there. If it is good, you know your answer (well, a bit!). What did the second bottle taste of? Was it "flat" or "stewed" or acidic? That might provide a clue

Cheers

Michael

[sparky]

Jamie, it would be handy to know what the wine was, what vintage it was and what the closure was - cork, screwcap?

Also handy to know how far apart you purchased and tried them. Big solid reds might not show that much variation over the space of a few months, but one of those horrid NZ sauv plonks might.

Where you live might also be a contributing factor - FNQ or Tassie?

Cheers, Moira

[jamie]

Hey it was two bottles of 06?(sorry not near bottle) wild oats cab. merlot,the bottle is a screw cap,and they were purchased and tried a week apart,and both bottles were brought in the wollongong area,one bottle from a large retailer with a large wine selection the other from a smaller store,
The better of the two was from the large store that has the bottles laying on there side,on proper wine racks.
The worse of the bottles to me tasted like it had oxidized,so any thoughts?
cheers Jamie

[sparky]

There is bottle variation: random oxidisation, cork taint, levels of filtration etc, and there are storage issues: heat, sunlight, temperature variation, etc. Hard to tell with a two bottle sample. If the first bottle was good, go back and try a second from there. If it is good, you know your answer (well, a bit!). What did the second bottle taste of? Was it "flat" or "stewed" or acidic? That might provide a clue

Cheers

Michael

Yeah, what he said.

Upright or vertical storage won't have an impact with screwcap and it's going to reduce the chance of bottle variation due to the closure so it's probably going to come down to storage conditions, heat & light damage.

Oxidisation can still occur under screwcap, particularly is the cap has suffered mechanical damage (othewise known as a dent) and the seal has been compromised, so I'd avoid any bottles with dings in the cap and try another one.

[jamie]

Thank you for the help,
I was kind of nervous about posting a question like that on here but thanks for that,I think i will have to give it another try from the place i got the better bottle from,I will let you know how i go.
Cheers Jamie

[smithy]

Multiple bottlings of the "same" wine aren't neccesarily the same.
Too many times I've seen big differences with wines bearing the same label.
Happens in the show ring too.
It is still "08 Shiraz from J Blogg" so yes I can see the argument that the punter is getting what is on the label...bit sometimes the dffrences are stark.
Sometimes there is a bottling code or date on the bottle....bottle itself rather than label?

[Michael McNally]

Hi Smithy

I guess to some extent it depends on how big a container you can put your blend into? Is that what you are saying? That different "batches" made according to the same "recipe" from components might not be exactly the same?

For examle when you work out which barrels will go into a "reserve" can you get all those barrels into a vessel big enough so that all that wine comes out of that vessel is the same? Or do you just make a blend from those barrels in the same proportions?

Not sure how this works with tank farms!!??!?!

Cheers

Michael

PS Jamie, glad you posted!

[DJ]

Another thing which will make a huge impact on a wine is what food you have with it. The old red wine with red meat and / or cheese has a lot going for it as the proteins remove the tannin and soften the wine. Discovering what wines and foods go best is one of the great joys of learning about wine.

That being said I have bought a case on the basis of a sample bottle only to find the second lot not nearly as good - I suspect heat affected in transit.

[Bigwun]

Upright or vertical storage won't have an impact with screwcap

Actually, and this is slightly OT, storing screwcaps lying down may still be a good idea if only for the reason that a poor seal might be more evident due to wine leaking as opposed to air cycling which would be invisible.

And to get back on topic, many wines change dramatically with a bit of breathing, even 30 mins can be enough for it to be a stark change.