Oops, opened that wine too soon.
Not all that long ago, people casually bought wines to cellar until they matured. Yes, this still happens, but it’s a lot less common. What changed?
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Perhaps we’re a more impatient generation, but anyone who can remember back that far will testify that a lot has changed – and not just wine – since the actor Orson Welles famously intoned “We will sell no wine before its time” in his memorable commercials for Paul Masson wines between 1978 and 1981.
Tastes have changed, wine making has changed, the climate in many wine regions has changed, and even wine writing has changed over those generations that went by so fast. I probably wouldn’t get a strong argument if I proposed that consumers have become less patient since those days. We want our wine, and we want it now!
In his memorable commercials of 1978-81, the actor Orson Welles declared, “We will sell no wine before its time,” while sipping a jug wine that no one would ever cellar.
Of course, I would make an exception for serious wine enthusiasts (like many of you) who still thoughtfully select wines meant for aging – better Bordeaux and Burgundy and the wines in their style from the US, Australia, and beyond; the great red wines of Northwestern Italy and Eastern Spain, and plenty more. These are the wine lovers who own quality, climate-controlled wine cellars and know how to use them; and yes, wines are still made that deserve this kind of attention.
But most of us don’t want to wait for our wine, and the industry has been happy to accommodate us, particularly for wines in the range of $30 and below. Wine writer Matt Kramer, then a Wine Spectator columnist, wrote an excellent article on this back in 2013.
Wines have changed, and so have our palates, Kramer declared in his report headlined Is It Worth It to Age Wines Anymore?”
“Simply put,” Kramer wrote, “most of today’s fine wines—not all, mind you—will reach a point of diminishing returns on aging after as few as five years of additional cellaring after release. Stretch that to a full 10 years of additional aging, and I daresay you will have embraced fully 99 percent of all the world’s wines, never mind how renowned or expensive.”
That was a dozen years ago, and I see no evidence that the trend has slowed down since then. Kramer’s entire article has aged like a fine wine; it’s still well worth your time to dive into the details.
Remember the old Paul Masson ads, “We will sell no wine before its time”? Have you ever inadvertently (or even intentionally) opened a wine that should have waited?
I’m usually pretty good at picking out wines ready to enjoy, but the Ratti Ochetti Langhe Nebbiolo that I chose for this week’s paid-subscriber report got past me. It probably shouldn’t have, as it’s one of those Northwestern Italian reds made from the a href=”https://www.wine-searcher.com/regions-langhe+nebbiolo?referring_site=WLP” target=”_new”>Nebbiolo grape, which characteristically demands aging.
In my defense, it’s not a fancy Barolo or Barbaresco but their kid brother, Langhe Nebbiolo. In this Nebbiolo-growing zone not far from Barolo, the regulations allow producers the flexibility to make simpler, quicker-growing versions that share some of the more upscale wines’ style without the high prices or cellaring needs.
It’s a good wine too, clearly showing its Nebbiolo character. But it was obviously young, without the fascinating complexity we hope to find in a mature Piemontese red, and loaded with soft but dominating tannic astringency in the flavor. There’s no problem with drinking it now, particularly with an appropriate food match and plenty of swirling to expose the wine to air in the glass.
In fact, the remaining half of the bottle was much more approachable after being left re-corked at room temperature for four or five days. This isn’t a perfect substitute for proper cellaring, but if you find yourself with a bottle opened too soon, it’s a trick worth knowing.
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