Old Wine (7 July 2017)

Old Wine

July 7, 2017

Preparing for our most recent move, I decided to work my way through a bunch of old bottles that I hadn't tasted in twenty or more years. Imagine opening a drinkable time capsule. My first wine obsession was California Cabernet Sauvignon, especially Napa Valley Cabernet. I bought more than I could afford of Joseph Phelps Vineyards Insignia - multiple bottles of 1976 and 1977. Joseph Phelps Eisele Vineyard Cabernets (1975, that '76 Insignia, '78). Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Cask 23 1977. A visit to Produttori di Barbaresco in 1983 netted a couple mixed cases of 1978-79-80 vintage Barbaresco. I must have been taken with Torres Gran Coronas (Penedes Cabernet Sauvignon), since I have several bottles each of 1976 and '78. It was time - perhaps past time - to open a few of these bottles to see if they were still alive. 

I was skeptical. Old wine is not necessarily an improvement over its younger self. If it's no longer possible to identify what the wine was made from, or where it was grown, it's too old for me. I was concerned that would be the issue with many of these bottles. The last time I'd tasted a few of them I was less than impressed, but I couldn't bring myself to dispose of them. Good thing.

After opening nearly a dozen different bottles, I am pleased report that most of the experiences have been positive - a few have been remarkable. We have tasted Chalone Pinot Noir 1981; Joseph Phelps - 1976 Insignia (94% Eisele Vineyard Cabernet), 1977 Cabernet (regular bottling), 1977 Cabernet Backus Vineyard, 1977 Insignia (50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 20% Franc); Stag's Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon 1977 Cask 23; Caymus Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 1982; Laurel Glen (Sonoma Mountain) Cabernet Sauvignon 1994 (relatively, a baby); Torres Gran Coronas 1976 and 1978; Produttori di Barbaresco 1978 Normale and 1978 Rabaja; Chateau de Fonsalette Cotes du Rhone 1978 Syrah; Domaine Weinbach Gewürztraminer 1991 Vendages Tardives. 

Some observations. All of the California wineries have changed ownership - none of them lasted one generation in the same family. Produttori di Barbaresco is a growers cooperative established in 1958, but Barbaresco hasn't been a legal appellation for much longer than that. Torres was founded in 1870 and remains family-owned in its 5th generation. Chateau de Fonsalette, along with Chateau des Tours, Chateau Rayas and Pignan, has been owned and operated by members of the Reynaud family since 1880. Domaine Weinbach, established by Capuchin monks in 1612, has been owned by the Faller family since 1898. 

Even the most fragile bottles took some time to open up, to stretch out after decades in a little bottle, but most everything we opened either held on or improved for hours. The Cabernets still tasted like Cabernet, whether from California or Penedes, Spain; the Barbarescos like Barbaresco. The "younger wines" - Laurel Glen Cabernet Sauvignon 1994 and Weinbach Gewürztraminer 1991 - were extraordinary. While both could be as good ten or twenty years from now, I'm not sure they'd be better.

And that, my friends is an important question to ask yourself if you've considered putting wine away in a cellar or wine cooler. If you haven't tasted a wine with significant age on it - say, ten years at least - you should go to a restaurant with some old inventory and splurge on a bottle. You might love it, but you could also hate it - either response is acceptable. And if you hate it, hey, you've just saved yourself significant cash. I've run into old customers who informed me that it took them ten years to realize that, in fact, they preferred to drink younger wines rather than older wines. 

Despite having a great time opening old bottles, I wish I'd been a better custodian of my "wine cellar," but I have learned some important lessons to pass on to those of you who are preparing to build your own collection of wine. First, never purchase a wine to cellar without tasting a bottle first. If you don't like it now, do not assume you will like it in the future. Second, never "cellar" one bottle of anything. If you can't afford to buy multiple bottles, it's too expensive. Third, plan to open one bottle of each wine you've collected every few years or so.  Part of the fun of having your own collection is tasting the way a wine changes with age, as it slowly oxidizes. I have more tips, but for now, I will end with one other important point: What you love to drink today is not likely to be what you will love to drink in, say, ten years. Your taste will change. The wines you put away today may not be the ones you would choose to drink ten years from now. This advice is not meant to scare you, but to help you embrace the fact that your wine collection is a living, breathing entity. Accept and enjoy the fact that the wine you've put away will change with each bottle, just as your taste will change, slowly, over time.

My little time capsule experience has been fun, but I wouldn't recommend putting yourself in my current position thirty years from now. I would have had more fun with my "cellar" if I'd taken the advice I'm giving you today.