1 for 3: Good in baseball; bad in wine

Had a rough wine day yesterday. Had to open 3 bottles to get something good for dinner (Spanish chicken stewed with chick peas).

1st at bat: 2003 Onix Priorat (Spain). Oxidized, dammit! Color seemed OK, but make no mistake, this wine is on the way out. No ullage (cork leakage), bottle filled up to proper level -- so how does this happen? Beats me. Caught looking.

2nd at bat: 2001 "The Fifteen"Grenache (VDP Pyrennes Orientales, France). Smelled like tired old plum juice. Flabby, no structure. Cloying finish. The 2000 of this was way better. Weak pop-up to pitcher.

3rd at bat: 2003 St. Cosme "Little James' Basket Press" (VDP from the southern Rhone). 87. Very nice, gutsy red with some complexity. Ripe grenache (sappy cherry) scents augmented with lots of earthy, animal, and garrigue notes. Balanced and medium full, with a relatively long finish. I'm going to get a couple more of these for the closet this summer -- I think I paid $10 or $11 for this at Spec's on Westheimer a couple of months ago. Double down the right field line.