cork

So the parcel from Ziereisen, one of my very favourite wine estates, has finally arrived, open one right now, methinks, so let's see, oh yeah, here's just the thing:

Steingrüble 2008, a serious dry single-vineyard version of a regional white grape known as Gutedel in Germany, and Chasselas in Switzerland. Been dying to try it.

Nice dark straw colour, appetizing ripe fruit in the nose, hay, mineral freshness and - uh oh - what's this, oh no, it's...

- cut, change of scene -

...imagine that wine has only been invented in 2009. Someone has come up with a way to ferment grape juice into a tasty alcoholic beverage, a corporate board has been set up for branding and packaging this exciting new product, and we are now live with its last decisive meeting:

It does not happen often, but it always leaves me a little sad when it happens. You open what promises to be a nice bottle of wine and then you realise that something has gone terribly wrong. Today it was a 2008 Weißburgunder (Pinot Blanc) from Keller - it should have been a nice and jolly food companion, perhaps creamy with hazelnut, and just pleasant to drink. What came out of the bottle is still causing pain to my palate.

It started with a smell of smoke - not unpleasant, actually quite tempting and unusual. Lots of bubbles in the glass and the wine not as clear as it could have been. And then a bitter taste of smoke, burned wood, sharp, almost acidic bad feet and nothing pleasant about it. Most wines I have come across that had cork did have something pleasant, some hint of character below the nasty taste (often wet cardboard). Here: nothing. It is like something very bad had creped into the bottle and killed the wine, destroyed every memory of it.