Almost exactly 50 years ago, in 1975, California signed into law the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act that protected buyers of automobiles with major flaws that made them difficult if not impossible to fix.
Called a “lemon law,” the act became so popular that it was soon copied around the country; versions of it now protect other products as well.
But not wine. And for good reason. Wine is a product of agriculture: grapes. And one of its charms is that it varies from year to year, from region to region, from grape to grape. People who expect perfect consistency from bottle to bottle often forget how different it can be—and how charming that variability can be, especially for lovers of fine wine.
One reason that the best wines are typically dated with the vintage in which the grapes grew is to let consumers know that there will be slight variations in bottles from different years.
Indeed, there are even subtle variations of supposedly identical bottles from the same year. I have experienced this for decades.
I have often purchased cases of wine in which every bottle is labeled identically. In consuming the 12 bottles, I have often observed subtle differences between them. In one case, one bottle was a complete dud, but the others were superb.
As previously indicated, most differences are very subtle and not cause for returning the wine to a store. But recently, I went to a friend’s home with a bottle of French Burgundy that was reasonably priced. The wine had been ruined by a bad cork.
I chalked it up to fate; it happens now and then. Since I had brought other wines, I didn’t fret over this one bad bottle. But my hostess was upset.
The following day, she brought the offensive wine back to the store where I had bought it and told the merchant the issue. He was skillful enough to identify the problem and he replaced the bottle.
Bottle variation, although rare, still exists. It may be due to a bad cork, although that issue has declined in the last decade as cork production has improved.
In the 1980s, professional wine judges often said that bottle variations due to bad corks and other factors represented about 8 percent of all wine—roughly one bottle in every 12. By 2000, that number had dropped considerably, to 3 percent. Although bottle variation still exists, I see it less than ever.
One area where variation may still be seen is with wines identified as “natural.” They appear to be slightly more likely to display unusual characteristics from bottle to bottle. This is because they are usually made without the protections found in traditionally produced wines.
However, regular consumers of natural wines can be remarkably tolerant of the unusual aromatics that they find in some of these wines. Fans of natural wines frequently have a good sense of humor, and when they find a wine with a little bit of what they call funkiness, many of these people appreciate the experience.
