To Age or Not to Age...

I have often wondered if aging my red wines offered the real benefits that I have read about in so many wine articles. Having cellared many wines - mostly Bordeaux, Rhone, and California Cabernet, I am just beginning to appreciate the full value that cellaring provides to wine collectors - and - drinkers. Having been drinking wines for 30 years, I began aging wine in a controlled cellar just about 15 years ago. And, in the past year I started opening some of my oldest wines. I am going to share my experiences with two French wines of dramatically contrasting styles as illustration of the benefits of aging your 'age-worthy' wines. The two wines are Chateau Calon Segur from St Estephe Bordeaux (1986) and Domaine Beauregard Côtes du Rhône Villages Rasteau (2000).
 
The 1986 Calon Segur was opened in March 2009 - after some 22+ years from vintage. This wine was bricked around the edge, normal for a 20+ year Bordeaux. It displayed almost surrealistic scents of dried candied cherries and dried herbs. Aromatic and immensely fruity, rich, very soft on the palate and very charming. This wine is certainly at its' peak and will not display these characteristics much longer. I have said many times since enjoying this wine that it was the single most profound wine experience of my life. It is a perfect with braised lamb or lamb chops with a cherry-wine reduction sauce (which is how we served the lamb).
 
The Domaine Beauregard Rasteau 2000 is produced from old vine Grenache and Syrah. This wine was the surprise of the year for me. As this wine is a Côtes du Rhône Villages, I somewhat expected it to be past its' prime - and opened it more for the experiment than for the enjoyment. However, I found an amazing, complex wine with dark fruit aromas and tannins that softened over time to offer a sweet, lush mouth feel. Herbaceous (in a good way) and sophisticated fruit filled the palate with a long finish. I would not age most Côtes du Rhône for this long (5-7 years is about the right range), but old vine wines from certain villages age better than others.
 
Which Wines to Age
Age-worthy means aging wines according to their regional and varietal properties - for instance I would generally not age a Syrah from Paso Robles for the same number of years that I would age a St Joseph. Same grape - but different region.  And, in general, certain wines lend themselves to ageing- and others do not. The most commonly wines considered age-worthy include classified Bordeaux, many high end Burgundy, Rhone - especially Chateauneuf de Pape, California Cabernet (mostly higher end Cabs), some Italian wines including Brunello di Montalchino and Barolo. I also prefer to put 5-6 years of age on my California Pinot Noir from better producers. Finally, most white wines are intended for consumption within 2-5 years of bottling however there are exceptions, most notably the sweet wines from the Sauternes in France. Some Sauternes, including Chateau D'Yquem have been known to age for decades and provide profound experiences when fully aged. Just be careful with your ageing - my preference is to not let wines age beyond their capabilities - I would prefer to drink a wine a few years too young than a wine a few years too old, as wines lose their aromas and flavor when aged too long. If you are unfamiliar with how long to age your specific wines, I recommend using one of the major Wine Writers for guidance.
 
Serving Aged Wines
When serving well aged wines, remember that they will have a significant amount of sediment in the bottom of the bottle. For this reason, I recommend decanting these wines. Decanting enables you to pour the wine and leave the sediment behind. The glass that you see pictured on this page is from the last glass of my Domaine Beauregard Rasteau 2000 - which was not decanted and had substantial amounts of sediment left behind. I also recommend allowing these wines to breathe for 30-60 minutes prior to serving.
 
Drawbacks
There is also a real drawback to aging wines for a long time - the danger of corked wine. Have you ever ordered a wine from a fine restaurant? The Sommelier will open the wine and inspect (e.g. smell the bottle) before He or She offers you a taste. This is for the expressed intend of detecting corked wines. Corked wines come from the chemical TCA - (2,4,6-Trichloroanisole). The chemical enters the wine through the cork - hence the term 'corked wine'. Without a long explanation of the sources of TCA (see Wikipedia if interested), TCA results in foul aromas which people often associate with dirty socks, moldy newspaper or even manure -  and obscures the true aromas and flavors of the wine. There have been numerous studies to quantify the amount of corked wine - anywhere between 1-8% of wines depending on which study you believe (no study that I have read is purely scientific - most are anecdotal, even if with large samples). Corked wines become more noticeable with age - so you have to make the decision on whether ageing your wines will provide you with profound enjoyment - or horrid disappointment.  
 
In summary - ageing wines will in fact result in some disappointments - however the benefits of ageing certain wines provides the most enjoyment possible from a bottle of grape juice.  
 
Enjoy!