Our AWS Group has good reason NOT to cellar their wine!

Alice and I are getting old and our cellar full of wines are getting older too. We were curious to see if our American Wine Society friends like old mature wines as much as we do.

So, Rod and Jo Schmidt, chair persons of the Lakeshore Chapter of AWS hosted an event that Pam and Tim Koeze and Alice and I put together. Our goal was to compare pairs of wine about 10+ years apart in age to see if there was any kind of pattern to people’s preference between old and mature vs. young and fresh. I was able to come up with four pair, two white and two red that were exact or nearly exact matches other than vintage. Pam and Tim came up with a great bottle of maturing Vintage Port to cap off the evening. The wines were poured double blind. I was the only one who knew what wines were poured. No one else knew varietal, region, producer or vintage. I chose white wines known for longevity and reds that should be both approachable while young but able to age gracefully. We rated the whites and reds separately.

WELCOME / WARM-UP WINE

2022 Toad Hollow Unoaked Chardonnay “Francine’s Selection” Mendocino County CA (13.5% abv) $13 was selected by Dick Scheer upon my request for a wine that would cleanse the palate and create a benchmark for what I had hoped would be fresh, pure and absent any winemaking over reach. This wine fit the bill perfectly. Though clearly varietal and coastal, the fruit couldn’t have been cleaner or brighter. Everyone seemed to enjoy it immensely.

WHITE WINE FLIGHT

2007 Dr. Fischer Steinbock (dry) Riesling Saar Valley (Mosel) GERMANY (12.5% abv) is a real whopper to slam into right off the git. The maturing nose is absolutely massive! It is textbook Saar Riesling with endless layers of honey, resin, baked lemons and diesel. The bouquet continues to unfold while the complexities of the terroir take over. It is a HUGE wine for a dry crisp QbA. Just goes to show how even a basic wine from a great estate can show magnificently with a little age. My score, a perfect 20/20. The group average was 15.2/20 fourth (last) place. 2021 Dr. Fischer Steinbock (semi-dry) Riesling Saar Valley (Mosel) GERMANY (11% abv) $18 was selected because it showed very well among other young wines at a recent local wine tasting group. It is precisely varietal Riesling; fine, clean, fresh and lively. Floral notes start to emerge but a real identity or strong sense of terroir is still a long way off. It is promising but hard to evaluate after experiencing the much more developed version of the previous wine. My score 15+/20. The group average was 15.9/20 first place TIE. 2012 D’Orfeuilles “Les Coudraies” (medium-dry Chenin Blanc) Vouvray (Loire Valley) FRANCE (12/5% abv) has a complex bouquet of fine sweet rich citrus fruit with hints of Sherry elegance yet fresh and lively. The fresh acidity really carries the fruit all the way to the finish. My score 16+/20. The group average was 15.4/20 third place. 2022 Champalou (Chenin Blanc) Vouvray (Loire Valley) FRANCE (13% abv) $25 seemed quite a bid drier than the preceding wine so maybe the comparison is not entirely fair but it did display an empathic sense of limestone and rich, full textured fruit. This pair hardly seemed ten years apart in that both Vouvray’s had ample fresh acidity while also showing a mellow ripe texture. My score 15+/20. The group average was 15.9/20 first place TIE.

RED WINE FLIGHT

2009 Chateau Tour St Bonnet Cru Bourgeois (Merlot, Cab, Petit Verdot) Medoc, Bordeaux FRANCE (14% abv) did not show as well as other bottles we’ve opened. At home, I normally single decant or sometimes don’t decant and just pour very carefully. I think the fact that in this instance to mask the bottles in a bag, I double decanted which may have shut it down somewhat. The texture was immensely rich, tannic and dry. Actually, “drying out” possibly as in it will never mature. Some fleeting black fruit and tobacco emerged but disappeared. Hard to evaluate. My score 15-/20. The group average was 15.3/20 fourth (last) place. 2019 Chateau Tour St Bonnet Cru Bourgeois (Merlot, Cab, Petit Verdot) Medoc, Bordeaux FRANCE (14% abv) $22 on the other hand was one of the best 2019’s we’ve enjoyed. The fruit was bright, fresh, and purely nuanced by its origin. The balance was perfect for enjoying now with a meal. Maybe a little short on complexity just yet, but deeeelicious! My score 18/20. The group average was 16.7/20 second place TIE. 2012 Simi Cabernet Sauvignin Alexander Valley, Sonoma County CA (13.5% abv is everything one hopes to find in a mid-aged maturing California Cab. It is fine, elegant, classy with hints of smoke, spice and black pepper. The black fruit is ample and rich balancing the tannin so well it feels like silk on the palate. This is a magnificent example of how less is more. Nothing fat, showy or fruit forward; just pure and complex. My score 19/20. The group average was 16.7/20 second place TIE. 2021 Simi Cabernet Sauvignon California CA (13.5% abv) $22 apparently no longer comes from the highly esteemed estate vineyards in northern Sonoma County. Don’t get me wrong, this is a very decent wine with its simple, juicy, ripe, green herb, Cal-Ital Dago Red style. If it were $6, I’d be elated to serve it as my house red. But at $22 pretending to emulate the great wines for which this once proud winery was known, it is very disappointing. My score 14/20. The group score was 17.2 first place.

IN CONCLUSION

2003 Graham’s Vintage Porto PORTUGAL (20% abv) couldn’t have been more exemplary showing everything one hopes a port can be. The black fruit was so deep and carried forcefully in the nose through the finish by the airy exotic sense of the alcohol. Though not oaky, it does have the feel of a wine aged in oak due to its concentration and mouth coating grip. This is a classic!

The scores were very close with some only two one hundredths of a point difference so I called them a tie. But, in EVERY instance, the younger wine in each pair even when the younger wine was of a lesser quality, reigned over the older wine. I found that very curious. Whenever I pull out older wines my guests typically ooo and ahhh over them. Are they just being polite? Maybe so. It appears that mature wine is an acquired taste. Why cellar it?

Enjoy in Good Health,

A Brian Cain, the Michigan Vintner