Domaine Sainte-Anne Cotes du Rhone Villages Notre Dame des Cellettes, 2004

As recently as September of this year, I have had good bottles of this 2004 Notre Dame des Cellettes. This bottle, strangely, is simply undrinkable.

The cork comes out cleanly with almost no stain except on the very bottom. I don't think storage is the problem. The color is murky with paper-like sediment that comes out into my first glass. Burnt wood smells and smoky flavors. Not much to like. The wine has none of the wet cardboard smells that I associate with cork taint, and it is not seriously oxidized--just flat and somewhat bitter. If the wine is sliding rapidly downhill, at least it's my last bottle. And it's no reflection on other vintages such as 1998 and 2000, which have shown beautifully in the past year. All of the Sainte-Anne wines age very well.