Aging Wine, Part II: Five Wines Worth the Wait

Well-aged wine. The very thought of it stirs the spirit and whets the tongue. Older wine takes on a special character in our minds – not only has it been preserved over time, often lovingly tended by a patient caretaker, but it is a vestige of an era long past. It bears memories of the time when it was produced, the time when it was purchased, and all the time since when you’ve been waiting to enjoy it. There’s simply something special about old wine that captures our fancy in a way that new wine doesn’t.

Nor is this a modern preoccupation. Thousands of years ago, the Hebrew prophet Isaiah enticed the Israelites with a vision of the new world that awaited mankind at the end of time, saying “On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.” The passage of millennia has done nothing to lessen the power of that image. “Aged wine well refined” and “rich food full of marrow” – now that’s my kind of party.

Aging wine sounds good, yet the process of doing it can be intimidating. How can you be sure a particular wine will benefit from aging? Where should it be stored? When should you drink it? And on and on.

In last month’s column, I tried to share what I’ve learned about some of these questions as I’ve prepared to purchase a mixed case of wine to lay down for 25 years for my first child. This month, I’m going to get more specific by addressing one of the principle quandaries that can drive people cross-eyed: what kind of wine is really worth aging for two decades or more?