Most fine red wines benefit from time in the bottle.
Although most of the wine sold in the United States is consumed within hours or a few days of its acquisition, better red wines are made with the understanding that they are a living product and improve with some maturity.
Many of the best wines have always been known for how aging improves them. One of the longest-lived red wines is Barolo from Italy, which at the upper echelons of quality is best at 40 to 50 years.
France’s esteemed Bordeaux and California’s counterpart, cabernet, often can live equally as long. Even modest cabernets can improve with some aeration. Most of America’s regular wine consumers know this.
This is one reason why the downturn in sales of all wine in the United States over the last 18 months or so has benefited not only the majority of red wines but also their potential consumers. As long as storage conditions in stores and restaurants have been optimal, the wines will improve.
This is particularly important for wines that beg for additional time in the bottle—such as most Italian red wines. Italy produces some exceptional reds that are normally priced fairly, especially in recent years when quality vintages have been widely reported.
Since most Italian red wines are made from grapes with high acidity levels, almost all of them benefit from additional time in the bottle.
I had lunch the other day with importer Don Chigazola, and we talked about the fact that some of his finest red wine imports already had a few more years than some of his competitors’ wines.
At the moment, we are beginning to see many Italian red wines come into the United States from the 2022 vintage. Many are very fine wines, but they are still extremely young.
Chigazola just imported his 2019 Chianti classico from the high-quality house of Cantalici ($30). The added three years it had in the bottle gave it more complexity than most 2022s. It has lovely fruity aromas that are still youthful but with a ripe, silkier taste from added time in the bottle.
