Monday

If I had heard of 1's Christmas tree follies, I had an Alzheimer's moment and forgot. Glad this year's experience worked out better. (For what its worth 1.1, I had Sue decorate a plant pole in our apartment the first year that we were married. I'm pretty sure that that was the last year that I had any decision-making responsibility with regard to Christmas trees.)

We're in the Deep Freeze here tonight. The front came in last night, first with cold rain, then freezing rain, then snow. Then cold. More snow is headed in tomorrow. Hello Winter.

Anyone planning to head to Hawaii to see the Irish in their bowl game? Right.

The next problem to ponder is, "How long does it take an open bottle of wine to go bad?" Consider that it is not uncommon for better sense or time to come into play and a newly uncorked bottle is not fully consumed, and the cork goes back on. Since I usually drink red wine, my questions focus there. I suppose that the same applies to the whites.

I'm not sure if there is an exact term for the process or not. Spoilage? Putrification? Gone bad probably says it well enough.

There's probably some math at work here as well. For bottles costing less than $10, there's probably an FDA (or ATF?) warning on the bottle that says that it needs to be consumed within two hours of opening. For $15 bottles, there may be a 24 hour window. For $30 wine (which I have little experience in unless my pal Roy has been involved), the time frame may be out there a little further.

This whole hypothesis is a little curious since the sommelieres are always asking if you want the bottle to "breathe" a little before pouring. And when you are hosting a wine party with the wine being butlered, they will commonly "decant" a number of bottles into a decanter for ease in filling several glasses at a time.

There's probably another variable involved with how well the bottle is recorked. And yet another on how long the bottle has breathed before it is "saved". (I'm wondering if the opacity of the bottle's glass is a factor as well?)

My experience is that anything past three days is anathema to my taste buds. If it was any good to start with.

Then you have the occasional bottle that doesn't quite meet your expectations, and you recork it after a single glass and set it aside for later use. Later use really doesn't happen very often at my house unless 2 stops by, and I unload the pour (sic) performer on her (with full disclosure).

In their later years, Grandma and Grandpa H would buy a bottle of red wine (can you say, "Mogan David?") for holiday meals when the Left Coast crowd would be in for a visit. It was rarely fully drained, and the remnants ended up in the refrigerator, usually for several weeks. I'm guessing that it eventually made its way down the sink.

I'm sure that Google and Wikipedia have a perfectly scientific explanation for all of the above. I didn't check.

Thanks for reading.

BCOT