Had the most delicious wine with dinner tonight. We did tacos from Leo’s and I popped open my remaining bottle of Imperial rioja. So…the first bottle of it I had gobsmacked me with how good it was. One of my favorite bottles I’ve ever had, actually. Exploding with flavor. Rich, but not cloying. Great acidity and all the earthy flavors that I love so much. So, I went and bought two more bottles of it because I loved it so much. …And then that second bottle was meh. And I was like, crap, did I remember this wine incorrectly? Is this a bad bottle? Did the wines sit somewhere they weren’t supposed to and get ruined? What happened??? So, I was super curious opening this second bottle from that second purchase. Would it also be “meh?” Or WAS it just that one bottle?
It was spectacular. I can still taste it. My god, it’s so good. And it was SO GOOD with the food. Holy crap. Like, the spices in the meat mirrored spices in the wine. And it smelled incredible! Wild, because at the very beginning, it smelled a little funky. Not bad funky, like the wine was off, but…funky. That smell wafted off completely by the time we drank it. It smelled INCREDIBLE with the food. And Scott and Addie and Liz all shared it with me. Couldn’t be happier. For real. SO. GOOD.
So, yeah. Lesson learned. Not all bottles are created equal. If I have a wine that’s great, trust that it was great, even if the next bottle isn’t as good. And try bottles that aren’t great at least a couple times if they’re supposed to be delicious. It might just be something with that particular bottle. It’s cool to know that. Like, actually know that because I’ve experienced it, not just heard about it. I’m definitely getting another bottle or two of CVNE Imperial.
Night night.