before & after

For some reason or another, I used to think these “Shuttle Bottles” from Hardys were pretty cool. Not that I was a big supporter in any way, but they just seemed to make drinking wine away from wineglass stocked cupboards a little easier. I now realize that if I’m going to publicly drink, as I sometimes do, I don’t want to be confined to the specific contents of these Shuttle Bottles nor the 187ml volume they offer. I’d rather go the classic wine bottle (or half bottle) and paper cup route.

It seems that others share my new sentiment, as the discount wine retailer Spencer and Daniel‘s in San Francisco had a pile of them for 99 cents. Hardys Nottage Hill ’06 Shiraz was likely bottled sometime in 2008 and overshooting the bottle’s recommended 12 month shelf life wasn’t doing it any good. The reduced raisin and rubber characters of oxidation masked the Shiraz’s simple purple fruit.

I find myself regretting the couple bucks I spent on this wine and apologize if I’ve ever expressed excitement over Hardys Shuttle Bottles to you in the past.