True Confession: Same Wine, Different Rating

Here's my confession, in writing: I unwittingly bought the same wine twice -- from the  national treasure in my neighborhood: The Wine House in Los Angeles. I don't know about you, but I'm looking for a new adventure with every trip to the wine store. It's easy to find something new because I study a different region every month or so. Right now, it's the Rhone. The wine I bought twice: Château Pégau 2016 Cuvée Lône Cótes-Du-Rhône.

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The first time I bought the wine it was suggested by the knowledgeable staff at The Wine House. When I start a new region of study, I lean heavily on recommendations then grow bolder with each shopping trip. Today, I picked the wine myself, mostly because I recognized the winery, Château Pégau, from the podcasts I follow. Full disclosure: My choice was also influenced by the buyer-friendly price in a region that makes me want to cry when I pay my AmEx bill.

After rating the wine today, I was disappointed to realize I had already rated it, only one month prior! At first I cursed my horrible memory for the mistake. What a dummy! Then it dawned on me that this was an opportunity to assess the consistency of my tasting skills and consider the possible differences between bottles. Think about it: These wines were made by the same producer with the same grapes in the same year. The two bottles were cared for by the same shop. Could it be true that every bottle of wine is an individual, no different than ourselves?

Though my ratings and tasting notes were not wildly different, my emotional response to the wines were night and day. Let's compare the facts, as listed on the Vivino tastings:

September 2017

October 2017

Appearance: Clear, pale lemon wine with minimally cascading tears; unfined.

Appearance: Clear, pale, lemon-gold wine with some tears.

Nose: Clean, medium minus intensity nose of white wildflower, chalk and white peach nestled in underripe lemon, vanilla and room temp hot crossed buns.

Nose: Clean, medium intensity nose of white flowers, honey and green pineapple with tones of brie cheese rind, coconut and chalk (time on lees; large barrels or stainless/cement).

Palate: Dry, medium acidity, alcohol and body. Medium intensity flavors: white peach, young pineapple skin and wet stone with notes of chalk, white mushrooms and wet stone. Medium minus finish.

Palate: Dry wine, medium acidity and alcohol. Medium plus body. Medium intensity flavors: over-ripe sweet Myer lemons, white flowers and cucumbers with notes of old coconut, yogurt and zucchini skin. Medium finish.

Conclusions: Good; drink now. Delightful but not complex. Ideal with the brie/dried meat/spinach sandwich I am eating right now. 3.25

Conclusions: Very good; drink now. Clairette, Bourboulenc, Grenache Blanc, Ugniblanc. S. Rhone.

The score for the wines are .25 apart, if you read down to the final conclusions. Here's where the scenario gets tricky: the emotional response. The bottle in September: It's a nice quaff to go along with your sandwich. October: My God this is a good wine with a luscious mouthfeel and a backbone of acidity that tells me this vintner is on the mark. I'd like to give this wine a four! When I sat down today to give it an objective review, I dialed the score down to a 3.5, but doing so in no way diminished my euphoria.

How about you? Have you tasted two different bottles of the same wine and experienced both ho-hum and joyful moments? What do you think accounts for different emotional responses to a wine? Belly up to the bar and share your experiences.