Michele and I are calling this our “Summer of Wine” series where we’ve been exploring the wine refrigerator, pulling out white and rosé wines that are a bit older. So the question is: are they still as good as when we bought them? Or did we wait too long to drink them?

We recently popped open a 2008 Palmina Subida white wine. It’s made with Tocai Friulano grapes grown at the Honea Vineyard in the Santa Ynez Valley (within Santa Barbara County.) This vineyard is practically next door to one of the wineries that Miles and Jack visited in the Sideways movie.

Usually a very lightly hued wine, this bottle had aged into a dark yellow tint. It had aromas of white flowers, lemon zest and cantaloupe. The alcohol was 12.3% and had flavors from gardenias to candied lemons and an abundance of cantaloupe. The finish was honeyed and lacked much acidity.

Neither of us are really familiar with this varietal but we can see how this would be a stand out on in this AVA. It seems like a unique wine that an adventurous winery would try. The Rabblers are big fans of Palmina because they go off the beaten path.

However this particular bottle was long in the tooth. It was an ’08…. maybe past its prime? Still, it’s a decent white, better than a lot of table whites but not what it was back when it was younger.

This was once a great, unique, delicate wine that aged fast and turned quickly. But it still is friendly because it is a great blending wine with bubbles.

Our conclusion is that that we waited too long to drink this. If you own this wine I suggest you drink it now.

Note from Michele: This was one of the few wines that moved north with me to Portland so I may have been hanging onto it for a special occasion that we never drank it for. Learn from my mistake and drink your good wine before it peaks!