I just finished reading a very interesting and insightful post on the value of aging wine (or buying well aged wines at a restaurant) on a great wine blog -- Vinography, which also hosted Wine Blogging Wednesday a couple months ago!
I've never had the opportunity to try a Bordeaux from the 60s or 80s...but I wonder if my palate, one used to much younger wines, would be able to appreciate an older wine like that.
I've had a few wines from the mid-90s (a 1994 Rioja that Nena brought back from Spain and a 1996 Shiraz I picked up a few weeks ago) but that's about as far back as I've gone. Both were excellent and I did notice unique aromas and flavors that I've never found in the "baby" wines I drink most of the time.
Many of the wines I drink (the ones that are sent to me for review) are often still coming out of "bottle shock" when I drink them...which is a terrible experience. I was sent a bottle of a Cab Franc (from one of my favorite producers) and I bought one as well. After trying the first...I know I'll hold onto the other one for at least another six months. Its fruit was buried...and its oakiness was raw and overbearing.
Anyway, Alder's post is an interesting read...enjoy.
Lenn, I have a bottle of a 1929 Sauternes, purchased at auction years ago. I've had offers to sell it and offers to open it but I still can't bring myself to do it. It is the color of burnt caramel now. Perhaps someday I'll muster the resolve. For now, I just, from time to time, take it out of its "coffin" and look at it. ;-)
Posted by: Seattle Bon Vivant | November 24, 2004 at 11:38 PM
Ohhh, the 1994 Rioja vintage... I doubt we will see such a good vintage for a while.
However, 2001 seems promising. We will have to see how it develops.
Posted by: Jose Aanes | November 30, 2004 at 05:59 PM