Now's the time to take stock

When do you know it's time to cork open that bottle?

Lying in wait : Inspect your cellar as some wines are beginning to drink well
while others need more cellaring
 
THE beginning of the year is a good time to take stock of one's cellar. The year has changed, wines are a year older, some wines are beginning to drink well, others need further cellaring.

I am often asked if a wine is ready to be drunk. Although personal preferences are an important consideration, some like it young, and others old, there are nevertheless a few simple useful rules of thumb.

The first duty of a wine is to give pleasure. The age of the wine does not seriously matter. If a wine gives you pleasure, then it is the right time to drink it. The purist may moan that it is too young - perhaps it is, but it gives pleasure so nothing else seriously matters. This is the first and most
important rule of thumb.

But having accepted that, there is a serious question to answer. Should I open it or should I wait?

The simplest answer to the question is: Open it and try.

It is at this point that additional guidelines are useful. Simple general guidelines (to be used with common sense!):
1. The better the vintage, the longer the time needed to reach full maturity.
2. Average vintages need four to five years age, good to great vintages anywhere from 10 years upwards.
3. Reds need more time than whites.
4. The better the reputation or fame of the Chateau or Domaine or wine property, the more time is needed.
5. Old World wines need more time than New World wines.
6. Bordeaux Crus Bourgeois and Petit Chteaux need four to five years in average vintages, a few more years in better vintages. The best non-classified Chateaux, e.g. Sociando Mallet, Chteau Phelan Segur, will need more time.
7. The top Crus Bourgeois will hold for 10 or more years. Sociando Mallet 1982 is still drinking very well.
8. Classified Growths below the Firsts need minimum of five years for average vintage, in good vintages seven, but preferably 10.

Pichon Lalande 1994 is still drinking beautifully despite a certain plumminess. Grand Puy Lacoste 1978 in magnum drunk on New Year's Day was a classic old-style claret in the best Bordeaux tradition, and drinking very enjoyably. This was not a great wine as it did not have the intensity nor power, but the ripe fruit was holding well, the tannins had mellowed, and it had a medium-length finish. 1978 was a good vintage, considered great at the time, but now regarded as just good.

For comparison, on New Year's Eve, one of the wines was a Barolo 1978, Pio Cesare, a very fine vintage in Piedmont, a famous wine region, and a highly respected producer. It surpassed expectations - it was in very good condition, very fresh still, with deep brown-red colour, nose of lovely ripe fruit. On the palate, very ripe fruit still holding, and mildly tannic long finish.

Both these wines were 28 years old from very respected producers. Neither would have merited being in the trophy or collectible categories, but there they were at that age, showing extremely well, and drinking very enjoyably. The Firsts require at least seven years in average vintage, preferably 10; in good vintages 15 years or more, and in great vintage such as 1982 and 1990, upwards of 20 years.

Latour 1982, for instance, is just beginning to drink well. Lafite needs very much more time. I learnt my lesson with Lafite when in 1999 I drank a magnum of Lafite 1949. It was absolutely beautiful delicate, elegant, complex and beautifully balanced. A work of art. Since then, Lafite
for me needs at least 20 years in a great vintage.

For red burgundies, the same guidelines more or less apply. For Crus Bourgeois read Village, non-First Classified Growths read Premiers Crus, and for Firsts, read Grands Crus. I had a simple Village wine, Gevrey-Chambert in 1999, Domaine Dugat-Py, on New Year's Day and found it still very youthful and a touch raw, enjoyable but not really ready. 1999 was a great year, and
Dugat-Py a great wine grower. This wine needs least 10 years more.
 
WHITE WINES
New World whites generally should be drunk youngish, best to start at around five to six years old and will hold for at least 10 years. Beyond 10 years, the relative lack of sufficient acidity to balance the lush ripeness begins to tell and the wine loses its freshness. For French white burgundies, a useful general guideline is five to six years for village wines, e.g. Puligny Montrachet, Chassagne Montrachet, Meursault. Premiers Crus need 10 preferably more, and the Grand Crus much more than 10 years. These wines even at the village level will keep for a very long time. It is not uncommon to find Premiers Crus from the top growers drinking beautifully at 20 years old. A Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Ruchottes 1996, Domaine Ramonet, drunk recently was splendid, but still had some way to go.
 
CHAMPAGNE
Non-vintage champagnes are intended to be ready for drinking on release. They can be drunk soon after, but some of them can be quite tart and a little raw at the edges. If possible, buy two when you need only one and keep the second for a year. It becomes very different. The sharpness, the bite and the roughness have gone, the wine has become rounded and quite mellow, but still very fresh Vintage champagnes, like red and white wines, need age. As a general rule, vintage champagnes are not released until seven years after vintage, theoretically ready to be drunk. It still pays to cellar them for a few more years.

1996 was a great Champagne vintage but most Houses have already finished with their 1996, and moved on to the current vintage is 1997 or 1998. Dom Perignon, the most famous luxury cuvee, has come out with their 1998. The champagne vintage to drink now is 1990 and older, with the exception of 1998 which in the great names e.g. Krug and Salon, is far from ready.

The saddest thing that can happen to a wine collection is to find a wine clearly past its due date. Hence the need to take stock in the cellar at least at the beginning of the year!

This article was first published in The Business Times on January 5, 2007.