Corked?

No shock that we like fine wine and we were in the mood the other day for a really nice bottle, so we pulled out this bottle of very highly rated 2008 Stag's Leap Artemis Cabernet Sauvignon. It's not an estate wine, but rather a blend of wines from around Napa. Even so, this is not a wine we can afford to buy for ourselves; it was a very gracious gift from friends.

I opened it and poured two glasses. On the way to hand Ann her glass, I smelled mine and some little warning bell flashed in my mind. Ann exclaimed, "This wine smells funky!" It didn't smell corked to me but it also didn't smell exactly like what I would expect of a Napa Cab. On tasting it, my initial thought was that it was not corked because the attack was all sweet blue fruit, typical of valley floor Napa Cab. But then halfway through the sip, the fruit just stopped and my mouth was overcome by gripping acidity. I've never known a wine to taste just so.

I cannot say that it was corked—I smelled no TCA—but I can say that we poured it down the drain. And what a shame!