How will a wine age?

Learning more and more about wine I realise ageing is not a function of sugar, tannin, acid or even weight. But rather, it’s a function of balance. And if the wine is not balanced in its youth it will unlikely mature with grace and develop extra character. Of the components, concentration of flavour is probably the most important, basically  making sure there is enough ‘stuffing’ for the years ahead.

So how do you know? I often drink a bottle of wine over a week to gauge its agebility. Recently I drank a Trimbach Riesling Reserve 2009 over a week; it never showed any oxidation, but instead, gained complexity and offered better softness later on. Even in this ripe vintage, where the acidity isn’t its razor-sharp self, am I confident that this wine will last a decade. Similarly, I had an Alain Graillot Crozes-Hermitage 2009 over a week. Very shy and slightly awkward the first day or two, but on the last few days it blossomed into a really delicious drink.

Try it!

ageing roland