Troubling article, from Blomberg.

[Bob Ross]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... er=culture

Regards, Bob

[Jenise]

Bob, this article hints at a problem many of us who buy at auction have wondered about. I asked one house I deal what they did to ensure that wine I might bid on wasn't Katrina wine. They responded that they flat-out aren't taking any consignments from the general area affected by the hurricane(s), and also that they examine every lot they list for heat-affected labels. It was a relief to read here that those wines have been mostly going overseas. Makes one wonder, though, to whom?

[Ian Sutton]

It was a relief to read here that those wines have been mostly going overseas.

Not to us it's not!

[Jenise]

Hey, you Poms would know better. I was presuming that 'overseas' was more likely to mean Namibia or Moscow.

[Robin Garr]

Here's a curious point, though:

When Jimmy Brennan sat down to taste the wines, he found bottle after bottle had gone bad, tasting like burnt sherry.

Within weeks after exposure to heat? That seems a little odd.

[Jenise]

Mmm...I don't think it's so odd. That was pretty prolonged exposure, which probably does more noticeable damage than just an hour or two in a warm car.

[Robin Garr]

Mmm...I don't think it's so odd. That was pretty prolonged exposure, which probably does more noticeable damage than just an hour or two in a warm car.

No question, but bear in mind that cooked doesn't manifest itself as "burnt sherry." It sounds like he's describing severely oxidized/maderized wine, which could certainly have happened if the extreme heat blew the corks all the way out. But they wouldn't have had to resort to tasting to detect that.

I'm just saying either the writer got something wrong, or the writer or the source may have embroidered a little.