From time to time I use this space to report on the age-ability of older wines. I’m not really a collector. I buy wine to drink. I drink more white wine than red, none of which I age, and as I prefer relatively young Pinot Noir there is none in my wine cellar. The wines that sit forgotten in my cellar are mostly Merlots and Cabernets, as well as special bottles put away especially for dinner parties and other events. None of my wines are particularly ancient, but old age is a relative thing. Wine years are somewhat like dog years, and it’s been my experience that wine held longer than twenty years is a recipe for diminishing returns. Most wine is made to be drunk the day it’s bought. If a wine has the structure and balance to age, it will most likely peak between fifteen and twenty years of age.
As my children were born I set aside cases from their birth years to present on their twenty-first birthdays. My eldest will drink wine, but he lives in another state, so his stash languishes in the cellar. His brother is allergic to sulfides and avoids wine. And the year my daughter was born was not a stellar vintage. Of course, wines like children continue to age, and some of these wines have gone over the hill. Had I to do it all over again, I’d have bought them vintage port, which could have lasted them a lifetime.
I’m not the only one who puts away wine of a certain vintage to celebrate anniversaries. A few decades ago winemaker Stu Smith ran out of wine from an anniversary year, a vintage that I happened to have in my cellar. So I traded for some of his 1985 Smith Madrone Cabernet Sauvignon grown on Spring Mountain above St. Helena. I remember the 1985s were wonderfully fruity and approachable when they were first released, though the tannin levels were higher, and the alcohol lower than are typical today. I still have a few bottles of the Smith Madrone, and opened another just last week. The cork was fully saturated, an indication that a minute bit of oxygen may have passed into the bottle, though there was no apparent ullage. At thirty-three years of age it still had a solid core of black currant flavor, enhanced by notes of leather, tobacco, coffee and cloves. It’s lost a little weight and gained more complexity with time. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s probably about five years past its peak, but still showing very well.
Buoyed by that experience, this week I opened a 1985 from the other end of Napa Valley, the Buena Vista, Carneros, Cabernet Sauvignon. This wine had a waxed cork that looked almost new, which I note because I’ve found that wine stoppered with waxed corks generally develop differently (I’m open to comments on this observation). The full-bodied, velvety smooth Buena Vista displayed spectacularly rich fruit, predominantly black plums, blueberries and black cherries, with a faint background of wet earth. It unexpectedly reminded me of a current vintage of Golden Eye Pinot Noir. Had I tasted it double blind, I doubt I’d have guessed it was a Cabernet, which in no way diminished my pleasure. It tastes remarkably young. I just wish I had more in my cellar.
Feel free to comment, or to leave your own impression of the 1985s.