Rebels with a cause

                                              Picture by Riedel

        It’s not a secret that the saying wine gets better with age is not all true. It obviously does if was made to be aged but its price or the waiting time it requires are often a very effective discouragers. Besides, these wines are not what one commonly pairs with a Tuesday dinner, are they?

        Accessible prices of wine resulting from tight competition between producers allow us to taste virtually unlimited selection of amazing wines from all over the world. This trend towards globalization of wine has been favouring the new, the exciting, the unusual, wine from beyond the traditional boundaries of legislation, geography and winemaking. Over the last decades the new world has been gradually gaining the ground, slowly but surely, with such milestones as the Judgement of Paris of 1976 that left the French flabbergasted.

        Freedom in viticulture and winemaking has given new wine regions the edge with they have been taking advantage of very skilfully and efficiently. Modern and young wines are worthy companions of even most demanding plates. Their deep, intense colours, great complexity, fresh aromas and a full body are more often preferred to wines that have years or decades of aging. On the other hand, very mature wines, sensational and unique as they are, with mind-boggling nose and palate take us on a different journey that usually requires a different scenario to get the most of them.

        Recently, a friend came to visit and brought an oldie, a 1993 Vernaccia de San Gimignano – typical of Tuscany, which she found on some forgotten shelf in a wine shop. As this wine isn’t one of those that are left for long aging, and no one could really guarantee that it hadn’t gone bad, they sold it for a ridiculously low price probably to clear off some shelf space. Seems its options were really between my wine glass and a wine museum. 

It turned out to be still alive and very drinkable. For an 18-year old dry white wine, which by definition is difficult to age it was a treat. Brilliant and deep golden in colour, it still maintained some of its typical hits of citrus fruit, flowers and minerals combined with quite pronounced viscosity. I still remember how well it paired with truffle risotto.

Sometimes exceptions from rules are just great.