WTN: 1995 "Pagani Vineyard", Ridge, Alicante
The average time between buying a bottle of wine and drinking it is surprisingly low. My friend Mark recently suggested forty-eight minutes, but I don't know if that was in jest or if he read it somewhere. Everyone agrees that, whatever the actual number, it's well under twenty-four hours. Most people buy wine to drink with dinner that night, and since stores typically stock recent vintages, most wine is probably drunk within a year of release.
This is fine. Few wineries make wines that can mature over time. At best, you can say a bottle will keep, given proper storage conditions.
But a small percentage of wines actually mature in the bottle, shedding their simple fruit mantle for a suit of deeper flavors that defies simple tasting terms. So profound is the difference that wine geeks use different synonyms for "smell" depending on the age. "Aroma" refers to the scents a grape gives to the wine, "bouquet" to the more complex compounds that come from bottle age.
I wouldn't have guessed that the 1995 Ridge Alicante from the Pagani Vineyard would mature in an interesting way. Ridge is a good producer, and the Pagani site is a good one, but Alicante rarely does more than fill out a blend. The thick skin, which allowed the grape to survive cross-country railroad trips during Prohibition, adds tannins to a wine, and the unusual red juice adds color. Almost no one bottles it on its own, but Ridge's ATP club often offers unusual bottles. My former boss got me a couple bottles of this wine, one from 1995 and one from 1996, and Melissa and I pulled one out the other night on a whim.
There's still some fruit in this wine, simple cherry aromas and a light cherry finish. But a funky, earthy bouquet dominates the nose, occasionally suggesting mushrooms, at other times cheese. You might also notice a whiff of cinnamon or other baking spices. Its still sturdy tannins and low acidity make it a tough match with food: perhaps seared tuna would work. It has a modest 13.7% alcohol: It comes from a magical time when New World wineries made wines that went well with food, instead of the high-alcohol wines that show well in a wine magazine's tasting. Melissa and I both enjoyed the wine, and drank it while we watched Wimbledon.
- Beaucastel, Old And Young
This site has provided me with a wealth of new friends, but it has also connected me with old ones. Some, from my high school days, have found their way here after searching for my name. Others have jumped to this page from somewhere else, recognizing...
- A Love Song For Old Rieslings
It doesn't look like a white wine as it oozes into the glass. Instead of a bare tint of yellow, the 30-year-old liquid has become saturated with a hue of light caramel. Instead of apple, pine, and almost-harsh mineral aromas, you smell wax and lanolin...
- House Red Hunt: Summer 2006
Melissa and I recently went on a hunt for a "house red," an inexpensive red wine that pairs well with a wide range of foods. A wine we can afford to buy in "bulk" and open for the most casual of dinners. (As a couple who amass German...
- Wtn: 2002 Seghesio "old Vines Zinfandel", Sonoma County
There's no official definition for the term "old vines" or its many variants. This often surprises beginning wine enthusiasts, who see the term frequently in their local wine stores. It could mean that the vines are 100 years old, it could mean they're...
- Raising The Bar
When I first told a wine-enthusiast friend that I was signing up for a wine appreciation class, he said something which proved to be prescient. "You know what the problem with that is, don't you?" "No, what?" "You'll never be able to go...