I recently went to WSET 2 training in Napa Valley, and one smart question from a student was,
“Does wine improve with age?”
The instructor (a level 4 Master in Wine), quickly gave the answer. “In most cases your wines will not improve with age.”
I have noticed the same result. The vast majority of wine you will buy is best the day you bought it, or within 2 years of purchase. I know from 25 years of aging experience.
So what varietals, or styles of wine should you consider aging?
Well for most Rhone varietals the answer is quite simply, Syrah based Rhone-styled wine will be age worthy in some instances.
What constitutes age worthy wine?
The answer is wine that is high in tannins, and also high in acids. It is acids, tannins and sugar components that allow wine to age and improve with cellaring. So most wine is not at this level and therefore does not really need to age very much. Grenache for example is not considered a high tannin varietals… and white wine doesn’t even have tannins of considerable quantity. Grenache is thin skinned and does not add a lot of tannins. Syrah is very thick skinned, has small berries and therefore the ratio of skin to pulp is high with Syrah. What comes from the skins of the grape?
Color, flavor, and tannin.
Most wine is sold as soon as it is ready, even early a bit, since the wine maker already went through bottle maturation, and wants to sell the wine to make a living. Winemakers also understand that consumers do like fruitiness in a wine, and the fruits are most pronounced when a wine is youngest.
If the wine is noticeably high in the (above) components, I just mentioned you can consider letting it sit. The dominant one is tannins, which can actually be offensive if they are too strong in a young deeply pronounced wine. More bottle aging will mellow such wine, and over time tertiary notes develop alongside the primary fruit components of the wine that allow for a complex and enjoyable experience. I just opened a bottle of Syrah-dominant southern French wine from Saint-Chinion that was very deep ruby colored, actually some garnet color was developing and the wine benefited from the aging (it was 7 years old). If I buy big Syrah’s (and they are almost always big), just look at the alcohol content. When was the last time you saw a 12-13% red Syrah?
What Rhone-styled wines should you consider aging?
Syrah is a potent varietal, it has lots of flavors it can enhance from various peppery notes, blackberry, black plum, licorice, smoke, chocolate, and Moroccan style spices (cumin, clove). Letting the flavanoids integrate for maybe 3, 5, or even 10 more years can produce a more integrated, mellow and enjoyable wine. For my birthday, I had a 20 year old Cedarville Syrah that was simply delicious. The wine tasted so integrated and mellow. A true delight. All of the Cedarville Syrah’s will develop nicely with age.
Getting even more specific than just Syrah doing well in the wine cellar, is to look specifically at high tannin, ripe Syrah from Southern Rhone. The most popular region is Chateauneuf-du-Pape (CdP). These wines are almost always made in a “big wine” style, because they command high prices. And with high prices come age worthy wines. If you buy an expensive CdP wine, you should look into how long you should save this wine for. Many of these wines will drink best in the 7-15 year range, and not 2-4 years when you might buy them. So you may need to save them for easily 5 more years, from when you bought them. Don’t just consider CdP, any of the AOC’s in the Rhone Valley could deliver a blockbuster Syrah so look into Cornas, Vacqueryas, St. Joseph, Crozes-Hermitage and so on.
Most Rhone styled wines, especially Grenache varietals, or Mourvedre varietals, you should drink these close to when you bought them. Within the first few years. They simply will not improve much with age.
Remember most wine does not improve with age. That’s the overriding takeaway, and why the Wine Master answered the question this way.
So consider aging your expensive Syrah’s, and CdP’s and see where that takes you. I have a number of CdP’s and won’t open them until about year 8 comes to be. It has been a formula that has worked for me.
Also age wine in a wine cellar (refrigerator). Wine needs to be kept cool (55 degrees Fahrenheit) , away from light, and on its side at all times.
Here is the latest addition to my cellar.
