mad jew said:
Dunno if you're still after this '81 vintage wine but just let me warn you that if it's not corked/oxidised then it'll probably cost you an arm, a leg and maybe some sternum too.
Sorry for the Aussie bias, but I know '81 was a pretty decent year for cabernet sauvignon in some of the cooler regions here in South Australia (think Coonawarra)
but I really have no idea about the various vintages in the Northern Hemisphere.
As
frankblundt said, buying wine that old is gonna be a gamble. You can't really tell if it's bad from simply looking at it but there are still some tell-tale signs to look out for such as a raised cork, sediment floating on the top (may need to twist the bottle around a bit to find this) and some people even claim they can smell a corked bottle too (it'll be pungent). Of course, if you can smell it's corked without opening it then the wine will be
totally gross.
Having said that, you might have more luck with something that is less of a gamble like a nice frontignac port or maybe a brown liquor.
So you wouldn't recommend a Chateau Ver D'fleur then? Get it? **** Over the Floor?? Ha ha haaa......ergh....
A lot of people in this country pooh-pooh Australian table wines. This is a pity, as many fine Australian wines appeal not only to the Australian palette, but also to the cognoscenti of Great Britain.
"Black Stump Bordeaux" is rightly praised as a peppermint flavoured Burgundy, whilst a good "Sydney Syrup" can rank with any of the world's best sugary wines.
"Chateau Bleu", too, has won many prizes; not least for its taste, and its lingering afterburn.
"Old Smokey, 1968" has been compared favourably to a Welsh claret, whilst the Australian wino society thouroughly recommends a 1970 "Coq du Rod Laver", which, believe me, has a kick on it like a mule: 8 bottles of this, and you're really finished -- at the opening of the Sydney Bridge Club, they were fishing them out of the main sewers every half an hour.
Of the sparkling wines, the most famous is "Perth Pink". This is a bottle with a message in, and the message is BEWARE!. This is not a wine for drinking -- this is a wine for laying down and avoiding.
Another good fighting wine is "Melbourne Old-and-Yellow", which is particularly heavy, and should be used only for hand-to-hand combat.
Quite the reverse is true of "Chateau Chunder", which is an Appelachian controle, specially grown for those keen on regurgitation -- a fine wine which really opens up the sluices at both ends.
Real emetic fans will also go for a "Hobart Muddy", and a prize winning "Cuiver Reserve Chateau Bottled Nuit San Wogga Wogga", which has a bouquet like an aborigine's armpit.
