Wine critics like me can suggest a drinking window for your wines, but don’t think for a moment that you have to follow them precisely!
To start with, different people keep their cellars at different temperatures, which massively affects the rate at which wines mature. Go much below 12-13 degrees Celsius and you won’t see much change at all. But head north of 19 degrees and things might happen too quickly. I base my ranges on what would happen around 14-16 degrees.
Screwcaps are sensational for cellaring wine – especially after the wine gets to 4-5 years of age or more. Many wines however – and many wines destined for long-term cellaring at that – are sealed under cork. Being the natural product that they are, corks are indeed variable. Once a wine has spent 10 years or so of its life under a cork, it might well be the seal provided by and the condition of a cork that become the major factors relating to the health of the wine it’s meant to be protecting.
Personal taste and preference are also key here – one person’s idea of maturity might also be another’s idea of infancy. There are countless wine buyers who seek out wine able to be cellared for decades, only to open the bottle the day it’s bought!
When making my estimations of when a wine will drink at its best, I work on the notion that a wine is at its peak when fully able to express its maximum inherent complexity, and before any significant element of decline is evident. In most cases, I believe that a wine has begun its decline once it loses detectable fruit sweetness and acidity on the palate, which contribute in a major way to the ‘shortening’ of the palate so evident in wines that are past their peak. I also try to be as conservative as I can when making these estimations, since I’d rather encourage people to drink their wines a little too early than too late.
I believe that the best thing for everyone to figure out whatever interpretation of my drinking windows works best for them. That might involve shifting their personal windows earlier or later. Importantly too – outrageously good wine that has the potential to cellar for decades will usually be at least wonderful to drink in its youth.
As ever with wine, there’s often no general right or wrong. If you like what you’re doing, stick with it!
