This post was originally published on the now-defunct Wayward Wine Pixie blog on April 22, 2015
I got invited to a small dinner party. Hooray! I asked what I could bring and the host suggested a bottle of wine. Yep, I can certainly do that.
The host had a lengthy history in the wine biz and so I knew I’d have to bring something pretty special. As most of my really good stuff is in my wine locker (strategically located two towns away to detract from any last minute ‘great ideas’ to open wines meant for long-term cellaring) I had to go with what was in the house.
Hmmm, what to choose? Oh, look, there’s a bottle of Willamette Pinot Noir. It was expensive, way more than I would usually spend on a wine and something I’ve been waiting to share with another serious wine lover. It would likely go with a variety of food. It fit the bill perfectly.
We arrived at the host’s extravagant home, cresting on a hillside surrounded by a vineyard overlooking the lake; breathtakingly beautiful architecture and location. He poured me a marvellous glass of German Riesling that was akin to drinking honeyed flowers. Sweet Auslese from an excellent year, very low alcohol, and truly heavenly stuff. I felt like a princess savouring this elixir in such an elegant location.
I shyly produced my Pinot Noir, pulling it out of my bag and putting it on the kitchen counter when the host was outside tending to the BBQ. He came in, commented on what a good wine it was, and said it would need to be decanted.
Oh – OK.
I do not decant Pinot Noir. Not ever. To me, decanting such a delicately perfumed red wine is like buying a beautiful bouquet of flowers and then smashing the blooms repeatedly on the counter before putting them into the vase for display. But he was the host, so I stayed quiet.
The other guest arrived and we finished off the honey juice. Our host poured us each a glass of the Pinot Noir from the decanter that it had been sitting in for about an hour. I sniffed it – it smelled like a faded bloom. I tried it – it tasted muted, muddled. It did not taste the way I expected a $60 bottle of wine from a very good producer should taste.
I asked the host what he thought, and he said some not very nice things about it. He said it was because it was from the 2011 vintage (admittedly a difficult year in Oregon). I did not mention it could also be from decanting. Difficult year or not, to me, a top producer should still be able to create a good wine even in a bad year. But the host had had enough of my inferior wine, and went to his cellar to pull out something ‘better’ – decanting that one too, tasting it, and then proclaiming its superiority. He reached to toss my Pinot Noir in the sink.
Maybe I’m not cut out for dinner parties, after all.