Which bottle should I bring to the party?

[Pan]

Hi, everyone! I come to you wine experts for advice:

In the past couple of years, I've gotten three bottles of wine as gifts that I have yet to have the occasion to open. This Wednesday evening, there is a departmental party of a school I'm teaching at. These folks (especially the hosts) like good food, so I wouldn't want to bring lousy plonk. I'd like you to tell me whether each of these wines is plonk, passable, good, or perhaps a real special occasion wine. I'm not really re-gifting the wine, because I believe a lot of wine will be drunk at the party, so there's a high probability that the wine I bring would be opened and I'd be sharing it with people I respect. Anyway, enough preliminaries! Here are the wines:

La Spigola 2005 (Sicilia Indicazione Geografica Tipiaca [sic] -- white Inzolia wine)

Finca Luzon 2003 (Red Table Wine)

Vino de Eyzaguirre Cabernet Sauvignon 2001 (Wine in the Sack, D. O. Colchagua Valley)

[mike volker]

The first question is how did you store them? If they have been sitiing in your hot kitchen, living room, or dining room for a year or more they are probably no good.

Best,

Mike

[Brad Ballinger]

The first two are serviceable. Don't know a thing about the third.

[Darren72]

The third wine was voted a "top 100 best values of the year" by Wine & Spirits.

Assuming you've stored the wine in an acceptable manner, this wine should be fine. No one expects a $40 bottle of wine at a school/work function like this.

[Pan]

Yeah, the second and third wines have been stored in my livingroom/kitchen for a year. I don't have the luxury of a cellar, let alone a wine cellar. You're sure they'd be ruined? My apartment isn't so hot. I keep it comfortable for myself, which means that when too much heat is coming out of the radiator, I open the window.

[Darren72]

Yeah, the second and third wines have been stored in my livingroom/kitchen for a year. I don't have the luxury of a cellar, let alone a wine cellar. You're sure they'd be ruined? My apartment isn't so hot. I keep it comfortable for myself, which means that when too much heat is coming out of the radiator, I open the window.

←

If the temperature in your kitchen and livingroom is comfortable, and the wine has only been there a year, the are probably fine. If they have been in direct sunlight for a year, or have been stored over 80 degrees for a significant portion of the year, I'd be a little worried. In that case, I'd say better to just buy a new $10-$15 bottle for your function (and drink these yourself).

Or, just open one of the three bottles with dinner tonight. If it tastes fine, I'm sure the other two are in similar condition and are also fine to take to your function.

[Pan]

If the temperature in your kitchen and livingroom is comfortable, and the wine has only been there a year, the are probably fine. If they have been in direct sunlight for a year, or have been stored over 80 degrees for a significant portion of the year, I'd be a little worried. In that case, I'd say better to just buy a new $10-$15 bottle for your function (and drink these yourself).

Or, just open one of the three bottles with dinner tonight. If it tastes fine, I'm sure the other two are in similar condition and are also fine to take to your function.

←

Sounds like they should be OK. Thanks for the advice, everyone!

Edited December 19, 2006 by Pan (log)

[Worldly]

I'd take the La Spigola if you want to have a conversation about the wine, and the Luzon if you didn't

[Pan]

I'd take the La Spigola if you want to have a conversation about the wine, and the Luzon if you didn't

←

How's that?

Well, in the end, I brought the Chilean wine, and because so many other people brought wine, it wasn't opened and I didn't have a chance to taste it. Oh well. The other wines I had there were serviceable to good.

[Worldly]

A white wine from a native variety of Sicily - seems pretty novel to me. Perhaps I'm not as far along the education curve but might seem just as novel to your fellow guests.

In any case, I'm glad it went off well.