So I’m in this local wine shop returning a Silvio Nardi 2010 Rosso di Montalcino which was clearly cooked once it was opened. The manager there takes the bottle from me and does the perfunctory pulls the cork and sniffs the bottle. He says “oh yeah, that’s cooked.” I walk with him over to the shelf to pick out an exact replacement and he looks at my bad bottle and shows me the red hazing on the inside of the bottle up near the shoulder. He says this is called “scoring” and it’s how you can visually tell that a bottle of (red) wine has suffered temp abuse.
Has anybody ever heard anything like this? I’ve been ITB for over 15 years and never heard anyone mention anything like this. I have over heard this guy say things to other customers that made me go (hmmmmmm). I have my doubts.
Yes. I’ve been told that very fine hazy filming - almost like sediment but thinner like it was spray painted - along the shoulder is a warning sign of heat damage. Don’t know if it’s true or if other things can cause it, but I think I heard that from Bob Parker or Jay Miller many years ago.
Well…I was into “scoring” w/ SusanDavis in my high school days…but didn’t have a whole lot of luck!!!
Not heard of that use of the term “scoring” and rather skeptical. But do the science. Buy a cheap screw-capped wine, put it in the oven at the lowest “warm” temperature
and leave it overnight or a day or more. Then look for the “scoring”. And then open up the wine & taste it. My guess is you won’t find any obvious signs of damage.
Tom
I see bottles with that kind of spraypaint looking stuff on the inside of the shoulder fairly often, but I don’t think it has matched up with bad bottles or cooked bottles. Just in my experience and perception, anyway.
Then again, I’m only seeing that on older bottles. I don’t think I ever see that on young bottles like 2010s.
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