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1907 Blandy Bual--CORKED
Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 1:54 am
by Scott Anaya

Damnit. I drank it anyway....the cork smelled of a really strong taint while the finish showed the taint after 45 seconds.
Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 8:24 pm
by Roy Hersh
This is only the second report of a corked Madeira I have ever heard of. Only one person on the island of Madeira told me they had ever had a corked bottle of Madeira which is quite amazing. I have only taken part in a few hundred bottles but have never experienced one myself. It was Barbeito owner Ricardo de Freitas that told me that he had one once, EVER.
Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 8:29 pm
by Bill Crann
Scott,
Glad you were able to make it work. I'm still trying to acquire a taste for Madeira but if I had a precious hundred year old bottle, I would have surely drank it too. Even a nip of pickled herring & blue cheese after about 35 seconds if that's would it would take to avoid the tainted aftertaste. I read somewhere (maybe here?) that it can take a few days for bottle funk to blow off on older Madeira. I'm just curious, did you drink the bottle soon after opening or did you try letting it air out?
Bill
Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 4:51 pm
by Scott Anaya
Bill, et al.,
I was going to be serving this bottle at a small charity auction dinner my wife and I cooked and donated, so I opened the bottle in the a.m. about 9 hours before the dinner to let it air. I poured a glass off and kept the cork off to allow some air in the bottle throughout the day as well as to give me a glass to taste for breakfast.
What was interesting to me is that it was the saturated cork that smelled of the very strong cork taint and the wine itself showed almost no noticeable taint on the the nose. As my wife and I smelled the cork, I realized I don't think I ever had noticed a cork that smelled so strong of taint ever before. The wine itself showed almost no noticeable taint on the palate even as I searched for it and expected it to come, and the flaw showed up as the distinct last lingering taste of the 30-45 second finish.
I had no idea that Madeira bottles were so rarely corked. The cork still even smells a bit today too.
Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 1:12 am
by Roy Hersh
Sorry Scott,
I have not had access to the site in quite a long time. Even if a Madeira cork has been infected, it really matters how the bottle had been stored. Although I lay my bottles down on their side, I know of quite a few Madeira collectors that stand theirs up. This would prevent the corkiness from the TCA having the ability to taint the wine.