[question] Quesiton submitted by Greg Buck, Australia. I have been a wine enthusiast for quite some time, and part of that enthusiasm has involved collecting, cellaring, and ageing good wines, and then drinking them as they mature. This has been a tricky business in Australia when it comes to chardonnay. As it is a widely held view that few Aussie chardonnays are worth holding for more than a few years, I have restricted my collection to those which apparently are – for example Leeuwin Art Series, Giaconda and Cullen, to name three obvious contenders. In each case, I have been disappointed far more often than delighted, and dismayed at just how variable the result has been. I have tried the wines at up to 10 years old. Some have been magnificent, others woeful. All too often, 3 out of 6 from the same box will be no good. A 6 year old might be good, but the 4 year old not. Far too many exhibit cork taint, but a whole lot that don’t are still no good. There seems to be no rhyme or reason here, but the message I am getting, even with the very best of Australia’s whites is “drink them young”. Is this a good policy? And is random oxidation a much, much bigger problem than it’s given credit for? The “magic” to which you refer in a tasting note for, say, a 1995 Art Series Chardonnay drunk today, seems to apply only to those individual bottles which have held up, and I can’t seem to find any! [/question] [answer] Honestly, there are very few Australian chardonnays you would want to cellar for more than 3-4 years. Leeuwin Estate, Pierro, Mount Mary and Giaconda are four of them. Too many Australian chardonnays still become dull, honeyed and toasty after five years in the bottle. When cellaring any wine over any length of time, two other factors become paramount: the quality of the storage conditions and the seal in the bottle. While I assume that your cellaring conditions are excellent, the big issue is then the seal, which for all the wines you have mentioned, would be cork. Leave any box of wine sealed with cork more than five years in a cellar, open them all at once and taste them, and you will typically find not one, but several entirely different wines. It’s also likely that you will only find one or two wines that genuinely represent the way the wine should be. While many commentators, especially those steeped in the English and French traditions of wine appreciation, purport to enjoy this variation, I can see immediately from the tone of your question that you certainly do not. Personally, I can’t think of one rational reason why you should. Random oxidation, or sporadic oxidation as some are now calling it, is a devastating thing for those of us who cellar our wines with the intention of drinking them. Perhaps it’s because so many people cellar wine for the exclusive purpose of trading, that the extent of this problem is not more widely appreciated. I keep a modest collection of wine in perfect conditions. About one in every three or four meets my realistic expectations on opening. I sincerely wish that my entire collection was under something else other than cork. I don’t care if it’s a screwtop cap, a glass seal or whatever. As long as it works. [/answer]
