Looking at my very makeshift wine cellar, I noticed that I really needed to get crack open a few wines which were starting to hit their stride. Obviously, I had opened one of my favourite wines some three years ago, so I decided that it was time to try the 1994 Lindemans Pyrus. This wine was bought a few years back, but now given it was 15 years in, I thought that it was time to drink (especially given it is a varietal blend and doesn't age as long as the more pure wines e.g. cabernet sauvignon).
Initially, I was worried that the wine was corked given my style of wine cellaring. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that it was still in very good condition and it was not corked! Interestingly enough, a birthday present of Riedel 'O' glasses in 2006 allowed me to enjoy this wine much more than in smaller wine glasses (yes- it was a very well conducted and controlled experiment, exempt from all biases whatsoever).
I would have to rate this bottle of wine around 93/100 as it drank quite well and was still a deep red colour with the cork still reasonably wet.
For those who are wondering, the second bottle was a 2008 Sauvignon Blanc from Bluberry Hill in the Hunter Valley. This bottle was quite easy to drink and very fruity, so quite a good mix of wines. My (uneducated) rating would be a 88/100.
Just looking at my current collection of wines, I am rather worried that some of them are spoiled since some of them getting reasonably mature. What I now need is a wine fridge so that temperature and humidy can be stabilised for better cellaring (one can keep dreaming too...).
When I buy something. I often try to save it up and not use it - however, wine has taught me that unless I sell or trade it, there is a useful life and unless I consume, there is no real inherent value. I definitely would rather have drunk the wine, rather than realise that the wine was corked upon opening it too late!
