{"id":249,"date":"2017-02-23T00:54:00","date_gmt":"2017-02-23T00:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gastromondiale.com\/2017-2-22-drinking-the-past\/"},"modified":"2024-03-02T19:41:27","modified_gmt":"2024-03-02T19:41:27","slug":"2017-2-22-drinking-the-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gastromondiale.com\/2017-2-22-drinking-the-past\/","title":{"rendered":"Drinking the Past"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Age is something that is seen as an attractive feature in wine, although of course it is only a few wines of certain makes that have the ability to age gracefully. Older wine can indeed be fascinating: to look at, to smell, to taste. It presents something unique to the senses that young wine cannot quite rival. Then there is the romance behind an old bottle, a dusty, crinkly label from being kept in a cellar, perhaps, or just an amusingly old-fashioned design. Of course exclusivity might also play a role for some, older vintages are rarer and, almost always, more expensive than younger ones. But one key reason why older wine is appealing to us has to do with something much deeper: it is a unique way to experience the passage of time, and ultimately a way to reflect on our own past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Without a doubt old wine is intriguing because of what is in the bottle. To begin with, that colour! When I talk of old wine I usually have in mind reds, though some white wines can also age very well, sweet wines, of course, Riesling<\/strong>, good quality Chardonnay<\/strong>, white Rioja<\/strong> and, one of my favourites, Assyrtiko<\/strong> from Santorini, a wine that few know is age-worthy. But the colour of old red wine is strikingly different from young reds. It is no longer bright and ruby, it begins to fade into this brick red, almost brown. This fading vibrancy however has more nuance and subtlety than the exuberance of young reds. I find it very pleasing to the eye, it has a certain elegance, the way an old sepia photo can be more appealing than a shiny, brightly coloured one. The same goes for the smells and textures that older red wine develops. Complexity takes the place of fruitiness, tannins that would have been forbidding in younger age have mellowed down, and those elusive tertiary aromas of earth, mushrooms, leather, tobacco, blend in with the remaining fruit and challenge the drinker into a full description of them, which always seems elusive. Older wine makes you reflect on it by presenting your senses with something you do not come across in most young wines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n