Every now and then I receive a telephone call from someone with a wine or winery question. Most often the callers believe they have reached a winery rather than an online publication. Calls have been on the increase this year averaging about one a week. I’ve helped mothers planning their daughters’ weddings, people interested in a particular wine they’d like to buy and have shipped to their address, telephone numbers for wineries and suggested itineraries to wine country.  Today, I received a call from a person concerned about the advice he received from a friend about wine.

A friend told the caller that his several bottles of a 2005 Chardonnay had to be thrown out since they were too old. The caller wanted to take the wine to a Fourth of July celebration. My quick response was maybe, but chances are the wine is still good. I suggested that he taste the wine in one of the bottles. It didn’t seem like he wanted to open the bottle though. So I asked him to describe the color. The Chardonnay was a light yellow. It doesn’t sound like it was oxidized. I asked him to describe the storage conditions. The wine has been in a room with a temperature of about 65º. The room had very little change in temperature over the years. The wine was stored on its side. It sounds to me like he should open a bottle and give it a taste.

The caller admitted that he probably wouldn’t be able to tell if the wine was good or bad since he seldom drinks wine. He did say that he could probably tell if it tasted like vinegar. So after talking for 15 minutes he felt better about taking his wine to the party, opening it and seeing if it is ok to serve.

I have whites older than 2005 in my storage room. I’ll get around to them one of these days. The oldest white I tasted and thoroughly enjoyed was a 20-year-old Riesling Icewine. Delicious!

I’ll start posting other calls about wine and wineries that come into Wine Trail Traveler. The calls add some highlights to our already busy days.

Cheers,
Terry