And sometimes it disappoints

After posting recently about the joys of well-stored wine, I feel compelled to point out that it doesn't always work out that way.

1995 San Giusto a Rentennano Percarlo
I had been curious about how this wine was progressing. It was so tough and backwards for so long, I thought it might never come around. Well, it has, but I’m not sure that it was worth the fuss and the wait. It didn’t become something as interesting as I had hoped all those years ago when I stashed it away. I probably would have liked it better a couple of years ago, but maybe it went straight from having tons of structure to having none, I don’t know since it has been a while. The color is still dark and the palate is resolved and velvety. Texturally, the wine is quite nice, but it lacks aromatic drive and punch. Perfectly good and a nice enough accompaniment to an excellent osso buco prepared by my brother, but disappointing in the context of my expectations. This wine wasn’t too expensive back when I bought it (I’m sure it was around $25, I was still in grad school).