which wine wins?

Easter Bunny

Easter Bunny

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well, technically port, but i wanted to stick with the whole "w" thing.

my mom gave me a choice between two bottles my dad got from somewhere. i picked the 1981 kwv, because i've heard of them and decided to take a chance on a drink that's older than me. the other is a 1998 allesverloren.

i picked the one and my sister put the other one in our cooler bag as we left. now i'm wondering if that was the work of dionysus to get me to pick the better one (or the one that's still fresh).

what are your thoughts?

some background info:
- i'm not a wine person. my level of wine sophistication ends at "jam jar".
- i think both of the bottles have spent most of the lives (definitely the last 7 years) standing upright. and maybe a few years lying down. nobody knows for sure.

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The Allesverloren has never disappointed. KWV has been more miss than hit for me over the years.
 
Technically, neither of those are Port
 
I doubt either of those bottles are still drinkable unfortunately.
 
^^, they're both vintage ports so should be fine still?

Never tried KWV but the Allesverloren is pretty good...not overly sweet like some others.
 
I'd rather take the Allesverloren, its like a girl, 35 year vs 18 year old...chances are with the 35 year old alles is really verloren. LOL
 
Neoprod said:
^^, they're both vintage ports so should be fine still?

Never tried KWV but the Allesverloren is pretty good...not overly sweet like some others.
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If they'd been well looked after they'd probably be ok but after so many years standing upright the corks would have dried up and let air into the bottles. Temperature is also important.
 
They should be fine as they are not wine, that's if they weren't exposed to extreme temperatures.
And both should be quite enjoyable. In those days KSwV was very scarce as it was shared between the NP elites and export only.
 
freddster makes the best argument. i'll return the kwv then on our way back home today. :D

i'm not particularly hopeful of either of these being ok though. l made a go at one of the other flat-lying bottles above our fridge once, but got a big scolding from my mom.

if it tastes bad, i'll cook with it. if it's gone off, i'll use that as leverage for one of the other bottles. :)

or maybe tell her to auction the kwv. old wine at auctions is always a gamble, so she can make an almost legitimate quick buck.
 
ponder said:
You are comparing apples & oranges.

For relatively easy drinking I would recommend,
Red - http://www.hiddenvalleywines.co.za/products/hidden-valley-pinotage-2014
White - https://www.cabriere.co.za/onlineshop/wines/haute-cabriere-unwooded-pinot-noir/

I'm not a whine snob so sorry if they are too cheap.
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last time i went for a wine over R30, it was R180 of "chocolate block" - there was no price anywhere and i thought "it's wine, how much more than R30 can it be if it comes so highly recommended by everyone we've met".

terrible wine that. ended up cooking with most of it. (yes, i heard you gasp in horror)
 
Easter Bunny said:
freddster makes the best argument. i'll return the kwv then on our way back home today. :D

i'm not particularly hopeful of either of these being ok though. l made a go at one of the other flat-lying bottles above our fridge once, but got a big scolding from my mom.

if it tastes bad, i'll cook with it. if it's gone off, i'll use that as leverage for one of the other bottles. :)

or maybe tell her to auction the kwv. old wine at auctions is always a gamble, so she can make an almost legitimate quick buck.
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Auction it how and where?? Only exceptional wines that have been stored in optimal conditions would qualify for any auction. Those are run of the mill "ports", that are just old....
 
bwana said:
If they'd been well looked after they'd probably be ok but after so many years standing upright the corks would have dried up and let air into the bottles. Temperature is also important.
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Fortified wines are not as heavily impacted by oxidation/temperature as normal wines, but it can play a roll when stored over such a long period of time. These may also be corked, but that would depend on the quality of the corks when originally bottled.

Bottom line: these ports are not worth any money in a collector/investment sense. Open it, taste it and drink it if it's still fine.
 
Yeah should be fine, if the cork has dried out just pour it through a very fine sieve into a jug then into a decanter. We had a the same issue with a bottle of Offley port a few months back. Was a port that normally goes for a couple thousand but because of being stored upright for a few years we got it for R400 the port was perfectly fine just the cork disintegrated when opening. Port was also over 20 years old if I remember correctly.
 
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