I saw a wine rack on Kijiji that came with 14 low-to-mid tier bottles, ranging in vintage from 1999 to 2006 for $65 bucks, and curiosity got the best of me. A mix of Okanagan wines (we are in Canada) alongside some Californian and Australian cheapies with a few odd European wines as well. I figured most of these wouldn't hold up well or might just be straight up vinegar, but for a few dollars a bottle I figured it'd make a funny story and who else among us can say they've tried a 22 year old Yellow Tail?
My partner and I tried the 2004 Red Rooster Merlot and to our surprise it was not corked! On the nose it smelled a bit hot and reminded us of BBQ sauce. On the palette we found it had transformed into something like port or dessert wine, with some molasses and smoke. No fruit except maybe that apple slice that gets left in a bag of brown sugar. My partner got a bit of plum and it reminded her of a homemade plum wine she had tried years ago. I was interested in trying this one since in 2004 Red Rooster was still an independent winery and hadn't yet been acquired (and then shuttered) by a wine conglomerate, so I figured there was some slim chance this might be a gem. Not sure if I'd go that far but we had a couple glasses each so I say its a win.
Only 13 more to go!
by ChristmasKrunk
10 Comments
Awesome. Well worth the money just for fun.
I would have done the same, just out of curiosity. Not many can say they have tasted 04 Yellow Tail, probably a lot more people have tasted 04 DRC than it.
if you saved some 04 Rooster, try using for cooking. I would do probably done a reduction (since you said it smelled like BBQ), add tomato sauce, brown sugar, a bit of worcestershire, paprika and make BBQ sauce out of it and top it on some meat haha
Why would you assume the Red Rooster would be corked? Did they have a TCA problem?
Wow a 2004 YT merlot. I think I’ve seen more DRC VR petit monts than vintage YT… the effort.
I’d be very interested to hear about that Mad Fish bottle.
They are in the Margaret River region, one of Australia’s premier growing regions (Cab and Chard) and although this isn’t from a top tier producer, they are generally all right.
That being said, this isn’t one of their premium wines, but those 2 varietals do hold up over time so it could be drinkable.
Should be food fun.
I would use that Yellow Tail wine to make a nice sauce.
I’m in for this series haha I love it. The BBQ sauce note made me chortle sensibly. It looks like straight up soy sauce. At least one of these bottles is going to be a banger
Love this
This sounds fun. I wish you had some notes from the ‘99 J Lohr Valdiguie as I distribute J Lohr wines and find them to be a decent retail offering for the price but would be highly skeptical of that bottle aging well
“To our surprise it was not corked”
What?