Cork Issues And Our Latest Bottle - 2006 Bodegas Luzon Petit Verdot

So, we can't in good conscience do a review on this wine that we opened up tonight.  As soon as we got the foil off the bottle we saw that the cork had some moisture on it....not good.  We decided to pop the cork and see how it was.  The good news was it did not have the musty basement/wet dog notes that we would expect from a wine with cork taint but it did not have what we would consider an attractive nose.  It smelled like burnt sugar or raisins.  Now, this is why we won't review it.  We don't know if there has been evaporation from the cork which might have caused some concentrations of the fruit notes but if this is how this wine is supposed to smell, it is not the best.  The burnt sugar smell goes passed the caramel and ripe fruit sensations to the raisin level.  Too much.

There is also debris in the bottle which again might be part of the wine but maybe not.  Maybe the wine has begun to oxidize and there is yeast dropping out of suspension.  We don't know if this wine is unfiltered or not so again, tough to make that call for a tasting.  The wine is a purple dark colour but does also has some brown edges so we don't know if that is because of it being a 2006 or because it might be off.  We bought the wine standing up on a shelf at the store and then brought the wine home to our rack three weeks ago.  So, our concern is that the cork dried out and then when we put it on its side the sealing was compromised.  The wine lists for $30 locally but we paid $22 as the wine was on a clearance sale (which was part of the attraction).

The flavour of burnt sugar/raisins carries over to the taste, so we have no idea as to whether or not that is the right taste or not.  There are some nice notes in there but we think that things might have concentrated in the bottle (again no idea).  If this is supposed to taste like this....then it is not the best especially at a $30 price point but we feel like it is off.

We feel like all wine in stores should be organized to be laid down with a bottle display regardless of screw cap or cork.

Bottom line, we can't find the receipt. :)  So no return to the store and no accurate review.  Booooo.

Keep on tasting!

Chris & Shannon