Old wines are full of surprises. Tonight’s version was a result of my desire to open a bottle of Aloxe-Corton 1978, a Burgundy of moderate importance, but always interesting. First of all, I had to get the cork out and that was not easy. It was very black from many years in the cellar. I was able to scrape off most of it but then, when I took the corkscrew to the cork, it immediately pushed through the bottom of the neck and into the bottle. Not a good start.

I sniffed it and, and much to my disappointment, it was very old smelling, so I put it aside after decanting it and straining out the cork. When I poured a glass from the decanter, the smell had improved a little, so I was encouraged. I let it sit for quite a while, perhaps 45 minutes or more, while I prepared my dinner — a salad of mixed greens and radicchio, plus olives, walnuts, daikon radish, beets, and pickled onions. By the time I had my next glass or sip of the Burgundy, things had resolved quite a bit and it tasted smooth and gentle, a little bit velvety with a nice maroon color to go with the radicchio. Soon there appeared a slight orange tint from the oxidation one would expect at this stage, but it was not too objectionable. The lesson from this experience is that you can expect an old wine to go through a number of significant changes from when it is first opened until you finally finish or discard it. This can take place over as much as three days or as little as 2 hours.

Earlier in the day I had made three loaves of Olive-Walnut Sourdough bread from 2 different recipes. With the salad, the bread, and D’Affinois cheese, I had a delightful accompaniment to go with the wine.