Wisdom of years
Clearly a wine needs to have certain attributes to age: concentration and structure are vital, as is a firm backbone of acidity. What it does not need is an illustrious label or price-tag.
Even well-made, affordable wines can age beautifully. Perhaps not as long as classed growths or grands crus, but who wants to wait a lifetime when five to 10 years will often give great pleasure already. David Dudley-Jones, who specialises in older vintages at DudleyJones Fine Wines, explains: ‘More often than not wines are considered blue-chip because they’ve proved they age well. With maturity comes added prestige and therefore value. Wines age well because they are from superior vines and vineyards that imbue them with the requisite fruit, tannin and acid to age.’
But Dudley-Jones is no snob, and waxes lyrical about mature Beaujolais as much as about Burgundy and Barolo: ‘These developed, mature flavours are the holy grail of wine appreciation,’ he says. ‘The fascination is, as much as anything, a philosophical exploration of the possibilities and extremes of complexity, and therefore pleasure.’
So when to drink? Pewsey Vale’s Rose knows the answer: ‘I never say when a wine is best drunk: some will like it young and others older. What I try to do is describe how a wine will evolve so that everyone can learn.’ You will simply have to taste and explore.
Time is precious – even more so when given freely to a drink as mutable and protean as wine. Make sure you do not miss out.
‘Chief among mature whites is Riesling, which can achieve an elixir-like state’