This New Year's eve I was at a friends house, and among other bottles, I brought along a '78 Beychevelle. This had been sitting overlooked, in my cellar for a few years and for whatever reason, I thought it's probably now or never.
As I removed the cork, I noticed it was somewhat soft, and had staining all along the sides, though I did not notice any leakage. As it came out, I saw that the corkscrew had not gone all the way through, and the last 1/4 inch or so of cork broke off and stayed in the neck. No sooner had I set the corkscrew down and renewed my attention to the opening (think of looking down the barrel of a gun) the last piece of cork literally popped out of the bottle with some force, hitting me squarely in the forehead, and spraying my shirt with red wine.
Now at this point, I could believe that something had gone drastically wrong with the wine. But no such easy answer. The wine itself was not great, but not bad. The fruit was nearly all gone, and it was a brickish color thru and thru, but there was no bad taste, odor, or any note of fizziness to it. It was what I expected from this vintage. Not great, but drinkable.
Has anyone here ever had anything remotely similar happen?
"In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women!" --Homer Simpson
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