It smells like strong, hard plastic, like perm solution. Yes, the melted plastic carries through on the finish. That wine, I won't name names, did not make the cut in Wine Access' super-selective, scientific wine judging panel, which I sat in on last month at Napa's The Kitchen Collective. The panel is composed of three experts: Matt Deller, one of only 45 Masters of Wine in the U.S.; Sur Lucero, who passed all three sections of his Master Sommelier exam on the first attempt and has worked in restaurants like The French Laundry and Meadowood; Vanessa Conlin, a Master of Wine candidate who has passed the theory portion of her exams. To say the scene was intimidating, would be a giant understatement.