*Musings on aging
wine.....*
A question I'm often asked: how do you know which
wines improve with age, and which ones won't?
Not a quick answer, actually. Of course it's obvious
with some wines--red Bordeaux in good vintages,
California Cabernets that cost more than $30 a
bottle....serious syrahs, Rhône reds, Brunellos and
Barolos, SuperTuscans, all are meant to improve with age
and can do so 15, 20, 30 years, exhibiting complex
aromas and flavors only hinted at in youth. Don't cheat
yourself--if you buy such wines, buy at least one extra
to age....and see what miracles time can work.
Most red wines that are
balanced will certainly improve with bottle age,
anywhere from 2-4 years for moderately priced ($20+)
merlots, pinot noirs, syrahs to 5, 7, or 10 years (and
longer!) for similarly priced cabernets, bigger syrahs
and merlots, cabernet franc, sangiovese, claret blends.
Even wines meant to drink young will often hold or
improve with a few years on them. Recently I opened a
three-year-old Barbera with robust and concentrated
flavors. It was a little tough and tannic the first
night, but the next night it was perfect--smooth and
round, the tannins mellowed, the fruit more forward--a
hint at what 4-7 years in bottle would do.
Some wine drinkers,
however, like vigorous, muscular reds and like the
tannin that gives the wines an edge. Chacun à son
gout--to each his own taste. Yet I've had
more than one person in my wine classes say to me--"I
really like big young reds, but after the first sip or
two I find I don't like them as much. Why is
that?" It's because with the first sip or two you
get the rich, ripe fruit of a big wine....but then the
tannin comes up hard, builds on the palate and the wine
just can't give any more--it needs aging to evolve and
give more of what it promised. See B.E.'s
Discoveries
Time in bottle does
what nothing else can. Over time, whether it's two or
three years, or 10 or 20, chemical changes
occur--tannins soften and precipitate out, pigments
darken and eventually lighten, creating sediment. I
always decant
wines 10 years old or older. But then I often decant
very young wines when they seem stiff and tannic--the
aeration can open them up and soften the tannins--aging
them in a sense. This is why when you open a young red
that is too young and tight to really enjoy, it may
taste better the next night....or the next. One that
recently did: Catena
Malbec from Argentina, dark and opaque, quite
tannic, somewhat hard when we opened it. The next night
it was much softer and more appealing. A few years in
bottle, 5 to 7, would also do that.
I
make it a practice never to throw out a young red
until I've tasted it the second or third day--if it
hasn't improved I can toss it, but sometimes it's a
revelation.
