An interesting note about wine is that often one can be pleasantly surprised. In July we bottled the Muscat that Kathy and I made from juice sourced from Lodi. At the time of bottling we were not very enthused about the wine. A month later and we were disappointed in the wine. The aroma was almost non-existent and there was a lot of heat on the finish. The wine was at 14% alcohol. If left out in the glass for a couple hours, the wine was better and the heat on the finish was greatly diminished. It looked like this wine may have been destined to use in a white Sangria.

However surprises do happen and wine continues to evolve while in the bottle. Kathy opened a bottle of the Muscat late yesterday afternoon. My first thought was, “Oh no!” However there was an aroma which took me by surprise. Apricot was predominant. There were also apricots on the taste and finish. I had to hunt for orange blossom, but there was an hint of orange blossom on the taste. The finish had a little heat, but not like the wine had a month ago.

It’s easy to write off a wine if you don’t like it after tasting it. The value of having several bottles or cases of a wine is to discover how the wine continues to age while in the bottle. A wine that you might dislike one day, could tell a different story another day. Given enough time, many wines can have a pleasant surprise.

Cheers,
Terry