Here in the real world, we know that ageing wines isn’t always about labyrinthian caves, an extravagant set of iron keys or even excessive dust. Let’s leave such theatre to the Médoc and Hollywood. Ageing wines today is the hallmark of a confident wine collector, one who’s savvy enough to know that storing bottles – even if just for three to 10 years – can benefit the wine hugely, improving both its flavour and our enjoyment of it.
I remember a Barolo producer once telling me that after 20 years, all red wines start to taste the same, i.e. ‘old’. Well, whether you agree with that controversial statement or not, thankfully we’re not talking about 20 years here, we’re talking about wines that, in the space of the next decade, will really come into their own.
You don’t have to be holding up a paddle in an auction house to experience the dynamic shift in flavour that comes from this little extra rest. And in fact, the shorter the ageing period, the wider the options available to us.
While historically big red grapes with bold flavours and hefty tannins, the likes of cabernet sauvignon and tempranillo, have fared well in the ageing game, wines with robust fruit flavours can also cellar especially well. Just think about all those mind-blowing older rieslings. Try to think of wine as a new building. Does it have the foundations and structure in place to last, or will it crumble at the first hurdle? Then you have your answer.
For this assortment of styles, all of which have something to give back in the immediate next few years, it’s well worth looking at the ‘almost’ styles. Is there a grape variety that’s had particular success in a famous region (making it now prohibitively expensive) that’s now being made in a neighbouring region? Snap it up.
You can flip this theory, too. Is there a wine made in a region which has a history of making great wines, but with an alternative grape variety? Get ordering.
Here are a few specific cases in point. People, of course, love to age red Burgundy, and while it might not be as robust as other red grapes, the tertiary flavours of older pinot noir can be mesmerising. So, make sure you hold onto the best pinots from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, all of which will certainly benefit from extra time in the cellar. Talking of Burgundy, chardonnay is also proven to age well over five to 15 years. Even the once more affordable sites from the Mâconnais can be challenging on price these days, so how about Argentina, New Zealand and the US, all of which are cooking up a chardonnay storm with their generous buttery-ness and mid-term ageworthy-ness.
And from South Africa to Chile, there are plenty of exquisite, non-headline-grabbing wines that are the products of masters of their craft. For those more traditionally minded, France and Italy are still worth a second look. Little pockets of possibility are there, if you dedicate time to look. An up-and-coming star from an established region or a yet-to-be-lauded region for a top-notch variety, are, in my mind, the places where some of the greatest ageing wine rewards can be found.
Disclaimer alert: These bottles aren’t the kinds of wines from which you’ll make tonnes of cash, but based on flavour, after a few years they could certainly make you tonnes of friends. I know which I’d prefer.
12 wines for under $100 to cellar
2018 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Brücke Riesling Spätlese, Nahe, Germany
