Jan 8

Written by: Kristin
1/8/2009 10:58 AM

I don’t know if it’s because 2008 finished with such a resounding THUD, but I can’t help feeling that things have got to get better all around.
At least the holidays were a wonderful beginning to the New Year, with lots of family time and laughter. I spent a few days on my own with my parents, which I have not done for some time. We enjoyed much good food together, as well as some ‘interesting’ wines of my dad’s.
My father is a very intelligent, learned man. He is an intense professional who is strongly identified by his career. He takes the passions in his life very seriously: his work, his wife, his children, his skiing and those ‘finer things in life’. My dad’s favourite expression when enjoying himself over dinner with the family, or while on the ski lift is “the rest is all bull@!?#!”

About ten years ago, he developed a mild obsession with fine wine, which has led to his own small cellar in the basement (built by him). His first buying instincts were determined by those little red dots you might have seen in the Vintages section of your local LCBO. These were indicators of ‘staff favourites’. In defense of these suggestive little stickers, my father was rarely steered in the wrong direction…

His interest in wine has led him over the years to venture beyond the red dots. He now discusses major wine regions with excitement and ease, and buys according  to vintage reports and reputed wine reviews (yes, Robert Parker Jr. has a strong hold on my dad).

Having now established his own small cache of wine, my father has fallen into the trap of so many wine collectors: holding onto wines for FAR TOO LONG. The fact is that much of the wine produced today has a maximum shelflife of 5 years. Most wine is made to be drunk within 12-18 months of bottling.

We had a prime example of this issue one evening together. In fact, it was a hilarious example of holding onto something that just wasn’t worth it in the first place. My father had confessed rather sheepishly to having some really old wines he’d been hanging onto for fear that they would now be vinegar.

On our second evening at the cottage, my dad proudly brought out a rare wine indeed. A 1978 Ernest & Julio Gallo Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. Keep in mind this bottle was produced back in the day that Gallo was known only for jug wine. With good reason!

I don’t know what my dad would have paid for the wine in 1978, maybe $10, which surely would have been a splurge back then. I don’t know what possessed him to hold onto the wine for 30 years either. I was laughing as he opened the wine, certain that it was going to be absolutely awful.

It was awful, but not as terrible as I had feared. The wine was sound, just 26 years over the hill! The nose was remniscent of nail polish remover, stewed unidentifiable red (read brown) fruits, fungal undergrowth and maybe a titch of spice. The levels of volatile acidity in the wine led me to wonder just what kind of fertilizers/pesticides might have been employed in Californian viticulture in the late ‘70’s…

On the palate, amazingly enough, the wine had held onto its acidity, with some evidence of tannin also. Flavours mirrored the nose, featuring the stewed fruit/fungal undergrowth notes. If we had had a big barbecued piece of steak, I might have even tried to drink it. Grinning as my father exclaimed: ‘hey, it’s not that bad!’, I had a few evaluative sips, decided there was no way I could finish it, and covertly tipped the contents of my glass into the sink behind my back. My mom was less discreet. She pronounced the wine ‘godawful’ and asked that my father please open a different bottle, of a more recent vintage! I remained quiet, but was silently thanking my mom for her candor.

This singular wine experience has led to some real progress. My father and I have had a good talk about wine cellaring. He has also finally agreed to let me inventory his wine. No doubt I will find more ‘treasures’ buried deep in my parents’ basement! I’ll be sure to follow up post inventory…

Things are looking better for 2009 already.

Cheers,

Kristin

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