Carmen's cork

I stayed with Peter Paul, a friend in Scheveningen for a few days. I had taken two bottles that I expected were very good (Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2002 and Carmen Wine Maker´s Reserve Maipo Valley 1997).

The Cloudy Bay turned out to be a complex wine, with the typical s.b. acidity but also with a less typical nose of tropical fruit and boiled vegetables. Harold Hamersma wrote in his book that reviews the s.b.'s available in the Netherlands that it reminded him somewhat of marijuana too! Of course I lack the experience to be able to concur ...

The Carmen (50% cab.sauv, 20% grande vidure a.k.a. carmenère, 20% petite sirah, 10% merlot) was a harder nut to crack: we went to the Big Rivers Rythm & Blues Festival in Dordrecht http://www.bigriversbluesfestival.nl/ and had diner at his parents' house. I took the Carmen and P.P. attempted to open it with what looked looked like a very modern high-tech corkscrew. It only served to crumble the cork. Next P.P. brought forward a very old-fashioned corkscrew with a closed spiral which did pretty much the same (crumble the cork even further).
We left it at that and drank the house rosé with our meal instead. When we came back from the festival hours later, the bottle was at the top of the stairs; apparently P.P.'s dad had managed to open it. So now it really has to be drunk. I will start drinking it tonight.