For all this poo-pooing of commercial wines, remember that this is why there are wine tastings and wine for different people's tastes. Any quality wine retailer will provide tastings on a regular basis. The good ones will not charge for it either. To think that a single varietal could be judged by a single bottle, let alone from a particular price point just isn't sound. In my first year of interest in wine I tasted over 1000 different wines of all types just by hitting 1-4 tastings a month at the different wine stores that have wine for tasting. Some of these tastings had more than 80 wines to sample at them, so in the course of those wines, you can bet that I've tasted wines that tasted worse than a swig of gasoline and yet at other times, I've been very pleasantly surprised by wines that were under $15. At the same time, I will say that thanks to a Gaussian distribution, you can bet that you get what you pay for lots of times, just like when we purchase wine kits.
In regards to aging wine, it is heavily influenced by storage conditions, and most retail stores that are not storing the wine in a refrigerated area will more rapidly experience the affects of aging. Combine that with the fact that the wine in question is a rose, which traditionally should be consumed within 6-12 months of bottling.
Any reputable wine retailer will replace a corked/bad bottle, but then if a wine retailer has wine, they want to sell it and not throw it away, too. A case in point is beaujolais nouveau wine - this wine has a 1-2 year recomended drinking span but you'll see wine retailers selling bottles that are dated in 2003, if they have stock left over.
There are some absolutely amazing wine makers out there, but there is a crazy amount of wineries out there. There are, in fact, wineries that have a string of excellent wines where others only have perhaps one out of their inventory that is of a higher standard.
Short story long: Go taste wines and in large varieties. No single bottle should be a judgment for a winery.
/dissertation
- Jim