Unrated Bottle of Pinot Consumed

A friend of mine found himself running late for a wine tasting dinner. Realizing that he would not have time to stop by his 5,000 bottle wine cellar at home and consult his computer to access the scores of every wine, he made a hurried stop at the nearest wine retailer. According to a witness at the store, he was unable to get the attention of the store’s resident wine expert and appeared quite jittery. What happened next in the store is uncertain. Apparently, he reached for a bottle of Pinot Noir for which the store had not posted a “shelf talker” with a high score noted from a major wine publication. Still shaken by the ordeal several days later, he said, “I don’t know what came over me. I thought I remembered something about the wine and the producer, but I was in a hurry and did not know the score on the wine.”

When he reached the door at the wine tasting dinner, he was in the dark about whether the wine had received a score above 90. He actually tried to discourage the host from pouring the wine, exclaiming “Parker says this wine is still closed and needs a few years to open up.” The host, however, was undeterred, and said he would gladly decant the wine. Even though the wine perfectly complemented the food and showed very well, my friend was besides himself with grief about the group consuming an unrated wine. He apologized profusely to the group and promised never to do this again. Fortunately, no one in the group was harmed.