Wine 101: Thoughts on Age
Keith was recently tasting through some Italian wines with VinePair CEO Adam Teeter when they opened a bottle of 1974 Barolo. Though they were excited to try a wine at such a substantial age, the experience was a bit of a letdown. Despite decanting the bottle and revisiting the wine countless times in a 24-hour period, it failed to open up. The point? “Old” doesn’t always translate to “good” in the wine world.
When a wine is young and fresh, it has plenty of phenolics still interacting with each other. As the wine ages, it reduces, slowly oxidizes, and releases tertiary aromas — often considered the more savory, sophisticated notes one can find in wine. At some point, the process reaches a point of flavorful harmony, but once this period passes, it eventually becomes dull or even flabby. Eventually, it turns into vinegar. Don’t get us wrong. Tasting gracefully aged wine can be a blissful experience, but age isn’t everything.
Today on the “Wine 101” podcast, Keith takes time to conduct a PSA on wine aging, exploring everything from when a bottle reaches its peak to when it ventures into its “gray period.” Tune in for more.
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“Wine 101” was produced, recorded, and edited by yours truly, Keith Beavers, at the VinePair headquarters in New York City. I want to give a big old shout-out to co-founders Adam Teeter and Josh Malin for creating VinePair. Big shout-out to Danielle Grinberg, the art director of VinePair, for creating the most awesome logo for this podcast. Also, Darby Cicci for the theme song. And I want to thank the entire VinePair staff for helping me learn something new every day. See you next week.
*Photo retrieved from Alextype via stock.adobe.com
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