Had a pleasant experience on Friday night when a friend brought over a bottle of Seppelts 1976 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. Winemaker K Rebbeck.
Cork was very soft and when I pulled the corkscrew out all I got was the centre of the cork. Looked as thought the cork itself had stuck to the bottle so I just poured the wine out through the hole in the centre of the cork.
Initially quite woofy with mushroomy bouquet but after about 20 mins it cleaned up nicely leaving a soft, savoury palate with excellent tannin structure (which probably accounts for it lasting 31 years!) After an hour the mushroom flavours gave way for chocolate, tar and even some faint primary fruit flavours of black currant. 24 hours later there was still one glass left in the bottle which had been exposed to air all night and day. Surprisingly the wine was in even better nick now! Excellent fruit (blackcurrant) and tannin balance. Interestingly the front label notes read "This classic wine grape produces a very complex wine. The range of tastes is the greatest offered by any red. A pleasant astringency from the full tannin and wood lingers lightly on the palate." And it is still lingering 31 years on. I was never a huge fan of Seppelts reds in the 70s and 80s but I must have missed this one.
We're not here for a long time, we're here for a good time!
I can believe what you say as I had the good fortune to go to a Seppelts dinner on 24th May 1999 in Adelaide ( I keep a folder of menus etc - my memory is not that good ) at which a 1972 Great Western Riesling , a 1961 Moyston Claret and and 1957 Great Western Sparkling Burgundy were served and all were in excellent condition.
These had been stored at Seppelts and were presented by Ian McKenzie. Although I enjoyed them at the time they were perhaps a bit wasted on me and I'd love to try them again. What a pity not more classic Aussie wines from all those years ago were not given decent corks and/or stored better.
I presume you didn't decant and if so, perhaps another piece of evidence suggesting that older wines often need a bit of (gentle) air to show their best (aka audouze method on E-bob).
Excellent fruit (blackcurrant) and tannin balance. Interestingly the front label notes read "This classic wine grape produces a very complex wine. The range of tastes is the greatest offered by any red. A pleasant astringency from the full tannin and wood lingers lightly on the palate." And it is still lingering 31 years on. I was never a huge fan of Seppelts reds in the 70s and 80s but I must have missed this one.