Willow Springs 2005 Testa Limited Reserve Cabernet Franc - Bottle 2

Click here to read the original review from January 2007 

or the previous re-taste post from September 2012

(Re-Tasted September 2012) ... If you thought I was pissed in my last post you haven't seen or read anything yet, it is going to seem that I am picking on this particular producer, but I am talking to all of you half-wits and no-brains who decided to use plastic cork back in the early to mid-2000's and those that STILL insist on using this crappy closure today ... STOP RIGHT NOW.  I have read the labels on this bottle backwards and forwards, front to back, and nowhere does it say that it is sealed with an inferior closure - nor does it say that it is closed with a plastic cork.  I did read the bottom line of the back label that says, "Enjoy now with family and friends", but when you call your wine a "Limited Reserve" you have to expect that some folks are going to lie this wine down for an extended stay in their cellar - especially because 2005 was such a good year for reds, and thus ageing wine.  This wine is a nasty mess (and that's three bottles worth - see below), as the picture to the right shows, the cork on this second bottle isn't in as bad a shape as the previous bottle, but it is still leaking up the side and rimming the cork with gooey dried wine.  The colour was a sickly brown and the taste was bitter and, yes, I'll say it again, NASTY.

Plastic corks are the bane of my existence.  As a person who cellars his wine and looks forward to opening the bottle in the future, there is nothing worse than seeing a plastic cork under the capsule.  As I posted last night on Facebook:  "I'd have been happier with a corked bottle because I would know they at least tried for a quality closure." ... but putting a plastic cork on a good bottle is like giving up - you aren't even giving the wine a chance to get better, you're saying "today is the best this bottle of wine is ever going to be" - you're also saying, "I don't give a flying f--k about my customer", especially when you don't put anything on the back label (or front label) about the wine being sealed with this type of closure.  Shame on Willow Springs and shame on any producer still using this type of seal on a bottle (and I know in Ontario there's still at least one, hello Lakeview) without putting a warning on the label to customers that they should drink the wine within a year, or less.

As for my last bottle of this Testa 2005 Cabernet Franc mess ... it's in the exact same condition the other bottles are in:  The capsule is seemingly glued to the bottle.  Wine is seeping up the side of the cork. The smell is atrocious and the wine is brown and dingy with an off-puting nose and even worse taste.  What a complete waste of money this was, I take solace in the fact I paid a mere $13.95 per, but had Willow Springs added a buck or two more to the price, just so they could use a better closure, I would have been happy to pay it.  Right now I'm just royally pissed - as any customer would be - and that's not the lasting impression you wanna leave on the people helping to pay your bills. 

For more wine reviews and related articles go to www.ontariowinereview.com,

while there sign up for Michael's free bi-weekly newsletter.