The National Wine
UnClub
Blog/Newsletter
March/April 2010
A Well-Aged Friend and Modern Wine
It has often been said about people growing older that they are ageing like fine wine; implying that they are getting more nuanced, more rich in character, with the passage of time. We'd all like to believe this saying is more truth than fancy as we too 'mature in the bottle' over the course of our lives. The facts of the matter may be somewhat different as we all know.
The inspiration for this current editorialized article is a fine, older (80+ years of age) friend of mine who never ceases to amaze me with his youthful exuberance and delight with life in general and fine wine in particular. This lively gentleman plays tennis regularly, reads the newspaper and books voraciously, and can be seen frequenting local dining spots with his charming bride of many years. His taste in wine is eclectic and he's always exploring new and different wines so as to not get bored with any particular region or type of wine. My kind of customer!
In today's world of instant gratification where iPhones are like an extra appendage it's refreshing to see someone so unaffected by 'progress' yet be so connected to the everyday universe we all share. This gentlemen has told me that he generally distrusts today's world of clinical medicine and he handles most of his aches and pains with good old common sense...eating high quality foods, getting plenty of rest, and drinking wine in moderation. It seems to work for him and I believe he is an example for us all.
The wine industry of today certainly is following the instant gratification trend as well which makes every bit of sense due to the seeming demand by their customer base for wines that are ready to drink upon release. Wine styles that used to take years to come around in the bottle like red Bordeaux and Burgundy in France, and Barolo and Brunello in Italy are much more accessible in their youth today than in years past.
California Cabernets from Napa Valley have never been more fruit-forward than is the case with the current crop of wines from this fabled Golden State vineyard region. Australia's Shiraz wines have fruit densities that rival the Californian Cabernets easily. The red wines of Spain also seem to be getting fatter, more alcoholic, and more obviously fruity with each new harvest. In fact, every region of today's wine world seems to be striving for bigger, more impressive wines that will garner them high ratings by palate-weary wine critics.
Many of these wines mentioned above have been agressively manipulated with micro-oxidation (forced ageing) so that the wine's natural acidity is reduced more quickly allowing the wine to be more ready for immediate consumption upon release. This leads us to a note about our most urgent complaint regarding the augmentation of the fruity profile of wine made today: the excessive use of acidulation (adding acids to the fermenting juice). This counter-balance acidulation quickly results in taking the finished wine in a new and somewhat bizarre flavor direction more akin to wine coolers than serious natural wine.
To offset the candy-like flavors caused by adding acid blends to their wines and to give their drink-now wines more 'character' many winemakers have resorted to using darkly toasted oak on their red wines which gives the finished product the awfully bitter taste of wet charcoal...yuk! The other great sin of winemaking is to let the wine's alcohol levels soar above the level of the flavor of the wine. These wines then taste port-like with their 'afterburn'. This really bothers my elegant friend who is always inspecting bottles for alcohol content (he prefers 12 to 12.5% wines).
What's also worrisome about the new pattern of winemaking just described is that the wine being fashioned today by many of these six-figure income winemakers doesn't seem to age well. The charm of their wines is all up-front (providing that the alcohol, acid, and wood doesn't render them undrinkable at the outset!). I constantly advise my customers to not age many of their red wines for too long these days because they won't get any better than they were upon first release unfortunately.
As for me, I choose to follow the example being lived everyday by my older friend both in how I conduct my life (fully and in moderation) and how I like my wines (natural, elegant, and long-lived). I hope he's reading this article with a fine glass of Chianti!
Cheers!
Captain Vino