Penfolds Trial Bin 1997 Adelaide Hills Semillon

This is a bit of a cautionary yarn about online auctions. I made a big mistake while at grays online auction site. I clicked on bid now when I really did not want to and therefore bid on a bottle of Penfolds Trial Bin 1997 Adelaide Hills Semillon. This bottle cost me 58 bucks. I send an email to Penfolds to find out about the wine – hoping that they will tell me that it’s really special now. However the response was “Unfortunately your wine is now likely past its best drinking”.

With some trepidation I opened the bottle last night. The smell was OK – not corked- but it was a bit flat. I could have missed many of the more subtle smells as my noise is completely blocked with dust. I love the colour of old white wines, its just such a deep yellow. Now to the all important taste. It had a rich long taste with a slight cork tainted finish – only really slight. Strawberry was the most pronounced flavour and even this was not all that strong.

We had Peking duck with cherry couscous and the wine cut thought the fate of the duck like dishwashing liquid on grease. I could literally feel my palate being cleansed leaving my mouth ready for the next bite of the bird. The wine was close to perfect with the duck as the slight tainted was completely over powered by the meal. The meal and wine combo was another clear example of how good food and good wine can make the meal more that its parts. I love when that happens – its alchemy.