AGEING OF WINES IN THEIR JOURNEY TO PERFECTION
One of the most fascinating things about wine is watching it develop over time. It was David Peppercorn MW in his book Bordeaux, first published in 1982, that he said “Like people, wines develop character and individuality with the passage of time.”
A very young infant wine, like a baby, can be delightful, a bit of a struggle, and needs lots of care. Sometimes, like teenagers, a wine can go through a “difficult” period, loose its early charm, and disappoint. Then, as our youngster gets older, it starts to develop personality and character, and shows potential. The experience, charm and interest can grow with age. But, at some stage, can start to become too old and tired. On opening it will tell you that you have waited too long.
VINTAGE TIMECHARTS
The most remarkable graphic expression of the ageing curves of great wines was in a unique 1989 book by Jancis Robinson MW, Vintage Timecharts published by Mitchell Beazley, where she bravely tried to make predictions of which particular wines might last to the year 2000.
Here are just two samples of part of her Vintage Timecharts. These importantly concentrating on the first ‘10 years from vintage’. They show how these fine wines certainly need 10 years in bottle before they even begin to get near an expression of their ageing capability.
One chart here for a great Mosel winemaker JJ Prum for the famous Mosel Riesling vineyard of Wehlener Sonnenuhr. German estate Rieslings are generally recognised as the greatest ‘long-lasters’ of all white wines. The other chart is from the famous Tuscan red from the very long established, and always innovating, very old Florence family house of Antinori – Tignanello.
Jancis Robinson MW
These Vintage Timecharts are reproduced here by kind permission of publishers Mitchell Beazley/Octopus.
Just click here to see a number of other charts from her seminal work.
What happens after those first 10 years is affected by many different factors, but there is a message that buyers can become over- demanding of what others say about a ‘special vintage’. In truth, as a good wine gets older than 10 years, many ‘unfashionable’ and therefore less expensive vintages from good vintners can delight. But storage conditions, (too dry, too hot) uncertain ‘provenance’ can all take their toll on the quality of any end-result.
New thinkers, and old, writing about ‘wines of age’
Neal Martin’s recent and exhaustively researched Bordeaux Vintage Guide 1970-2020, recently published in 2023, is a feast for all who enjoy good Claret. As an original and highly innovative ingredient in this remarkable book is the way the author places each vintage year with what was also happening in the world outside wine.
Robert Drouhin, of great Burgundy House Joseph Drouhin, when talking about Red Burgundy used to speak of its three phases of life; – youth, under five years, when it was all primary fruit. Second phase, generally over five years when it becomes ‘spicey’ wild herbs and mineral characters. Then its last stage when it gradually becomes gamey, with a gamey sweetness and often wild mushroom characteristics, and becomes very special.
Christopher Burr MW remembers one of the first times that he met Hugh Johnson and took along a bottle of Chateau Batailley 1934 to drink. It was very ‘restrained’ in character. Christopher apologised to Hugh that he thought it ‘over the hill’. Hugh said “Nonsense, it still has fruit and lovely gentle aromas” and persuade Christopher to look for the complexity and charm of the very old wine from a good vintage.
Tasting or drinking young wine in its infancy is all about predicting its future. It is true some “junior everyday” wines can be well made and crisp and fruity. David Peppercorn MW says “one has only to read the prognostications of experts made at the time of any new vintage release to see how wide of the mark they can be on occasion.” He goes on in his excellent book on Bordeaux to track vintages from 1798 through to 1989.
Whilst it is often said that the greatest wines always tasted brilliant young, with great balance of the essential elements and good concentration. However, this is by no means always the case. Sometimes poorly reviewed wines at birth turn out wonderfully with age.
The now sadly departed, Bruce Guimaraens, the one of the greatest port winemakers at Fonseca and Taylors Port, always said “to make the finest, long-lived Port, the young wine should taste hard and tough, not at all attractive. We need to wait, not be in a hurry….“
How wine is preserved
The great preservatives in wine are alcohol, acidity, sugar mainly in whites. But also, many fortified wines, tannins in reds and, controversially, sulphur dioxide added to the grapes after picking, and adjusted before and during bottling. But overall, tiny parts per million should be indiscernible.
Importantly sulphur dioxide does retard ‘oxidation’ in a wine. Use is far more restrained in wine than in other products, like dried fruit.
Oxidation is the ‘killer’ in aged wine, but a good cellar or storage with a level of dampness to keep corks moist and a secure closure. A cold cellar slows down ageing and oxidation, as does darkness, as light can damage and prematurely age a great wine.
Michael Broadbent MW, 1927 – 2020. Credit: Christie’s
Robert Mondavi
The late Michael Broadbent MW of wine auctioneer Christies famously raved about some of the cold, damp, dark cellars of Scottish Castles, and sold at auction some wonderful bottles in perfect condition from the late 1800’s from Glamis Castle.
Bob Mondavi one of the great innovators of Napa wines in California once served a forty-year-old Sauvignon Blanc to a visiting wine friend. A wine he used to make with barrel fermentation and ageing ‘Fume’ style, and he called ‘Fume Blanc’. It was extraordinary for a wine of that age, very complex and a great balance of fruit and acidity still, but gentle, a wine where one wanted to try the next glass.
When Bob Mondavi was asked if there was anything special about the vintage or the way the wine was made to enable it to last and develop as it had? He admitted that there had been a mistake in the winery, and the wine had been over sulphured, which made it unsaleable. But, forty years later the SO2 levels had fallen to normal, and the perfectly and slowly aged wine was deliciously complex, but still fresh.
Bob Mondavi’s long friendship with Baron Philippe de Rothschild brought about the birth of the ‘Opus One project’ A Californian wine, grown in the Napa Valley, made with Bordeaux winemaker thinking and methods over time has become one of the most famous and expensive American wines in the world.
Acidity helps wines age well, but it has to be ‘in balance’. The most famous high acid wines are sweet, like Sauternes or sweet German wines, the acidity being masked and helping balance the concentrated sugar.
Baron Philippe de Rothschild
More on the importance of patience…
Alexis Lichine, then owner of Chateau Lascombes in Margaux who wrote the first Encyclopaedia of Wine and Wines of France in 1952; – “It is disappointing to drink a red Burgundy or Red Bordeaux when the wine is too young. Sweet wines can last for a generation or more. Some people turn their noses up when a great wine is slightly past its prime, missing all the small, wonderful detail that age could produce such a complex and elegant result.“
Acidity also helps Champagne age well. Indeed, the Union des Maisons de Champagne rules stipulate minimum bottle age before release of 15 months for non-vintage and 3 years for vintage Although most House exceed this very considerably. Age allows the acidity to drop and to create complex flavours.
Patrick Forbes, who was the UK chief of Moet et Chandon, wrote the seminal book on Champagne in 1962.; –
“Certain great vintages do possess a ‘life force’ that carries them into their 30’s and 40’s, and even 50’s and 60’s. Whoever is lucky enough to drink them is in for a treat.” He also said that one of his mentors, “as Mr Warner Allen has put it, old Champagne is a wine in which time has obliterated all traces of human handywork, so that one could almost swear that nature alone could produce such a masterpiece.“
In Remington Norman’s fine book, Great Domaines of Burgundy, he says “Fine White Burgundy, although lacking in tannins, need keeping as much as red.” “Finest old Pinots have great richness and opulence, power, subtlety depth and delicacy. Above all, something intriguing which makes each sip a revelation. He also says….”buying ‘en primeur’ can only be justified when the quality is so high and the market is short of stock.“
Never has there been so much ‘old world’ and ‘new world wine’ been available. But how the wines ‘age’ is still the ‘great test’ of quality (and price).
Steven Spurrier. Credit: Thomas Skovsende / Decanter
Oz Clarke. Credit: Mark Waugh / Alamy Stock Photo
In 2023 any of us remembered the sad passing with affection of the remarkable and much- loved wine thinker and innovator Steven Spurrier.
Steven Spurrier and famous British wine educator and broadcaster Oz Clarke combined together in 2001 to produce another major extensive and recommendable guide to buying wine. The Fine Wine Guide. Wines. Growers. Vintages.
With ‘elan’ Spurrier brought exciting wines of the ‘new world’ to the French in a famous blind tasting in Paris in 1976. (Wittily called ‘The Judgment of Paris’). Followed later by Bristol Shipper John Avery MW, then MD of 230 year old shippers Averys of Bristol, challenging Burgundy supremacy with a Tyrell’s Hunter Valley Pinot Noir. Again, in a blind tasting wine competition in France. Which helped to spur Burgundian Robert Drouhin to founding a very fine and successful family Pinot Noir winery in Dundee Hills in Oregon USA.
In Conclusion
The message of ‘age’ in great wine is a simple one. You need patience for the full glory to be revealed.
You really need to try to experience 10 years + of age in bottle of a particular wine as often as you can.
Don’t believe all you read. After a harvest every winemaker is keen to ‘move on’ what is in his or her cellars and get paid for it. Nowadays there will rarely be a shortage later.
Indeed, a wine you favour may well come to be LESS expensive a purchase than the price at ‘en primeur’, after you have factored in duty additions on release from bond, and 10 years of the costs of professional storage.
‘The rewards of patience’ however can be very great.