Older Wines . . . So What's the Big Deal?

Older Wines or “What’s the Big Deal?”

Montauk Club Wine Club Meeting, January 17, 2013

Our first gathering of the New Year focused on old wines. We've all heard supposed experts boast about opening that special bottle from long, long ago, but is it really worth it?  Well, once again, we brought in our favorite expert, Bryce, to take us down the historical path.  This was probably the most special meeting of the Wine Club ever as we were privileged to taste four vintages of a single wine – a  Château Prieuré-Lichine.  That is we tasted wines from the same region (Margaux, left bank) and same vineyard produced in 2009, 1999, 1988 and 1978.  Trust me, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to taste wines from this wide a range of vintages, so we all felt very special.

For those who had had a hard day or couldn't wait for the special vintages to be poured, we included a generic 2009 Bordeaux as a control wine.  You’ll note that it shares the same age as the youngest of the featured wine.  While we were having the featured wine poured, we started out looking at the color of the control wine.  We found it to be purplish because of its relatively young age.

Then before we learned anything else, Bryce gave us a quick quiz.  Whoever heard of taking a quiz at the beginning of a course?  Just goes to show how unconventional Bryce can be.  Here’s the quiz:

True or False?

Chateaus can produce as much wine as they want and bottle it under their own name.
Bordeaux vintners can irrigate the vines.
Chemicals and fertilizers are allowed.
98% of wine sold is consumed in 48 hours
Want to know the answers?  Well you should have been there.

Bryce, having noticed that we were starting to tire of the preparation, then got us sipping.  To really set the mood, he provided interesting historical context including recordings of the particular year’s top song.  So here we go:

2009 

 "My Life Would Suck Without You"  - Kelly Clarkson

As a youngster, this glass should have been light in tannin.  We found some similarity to the control wine on that score.  Compared to control wine, however, all said they’d prefer the Prieuré-Lichine even if Saturday involved a hard day of work followed by a drinking contest with people they didn't like.  To compare the wines from a different angle, Bryce asked us to guess the price of the control wine.  Guesses ranged from $7.99 to $20.00.  The actual cost?  About $7.00.  In contrast, the 2009 Prieuré-Lichine costs between $50.00 and $60.00.  Upon learning this, guests wanted to change their votes on which they would prefer to guzzle in order to forget their troubles.  One guest, in order to be clear, said she liked it several times more than the control wine but not nine times more.  We noticed that, with some air, the hidden tannin came out a bit more when tasting the Prieuré-Lichine a second time.

1999 

 "Believe" – Cher

This glass was browner than the 2009 – i.e. red, not purple – as a result of the tannins starting to disappear.  At the same time this vintage seemed to have more fruit.  One person thought it the 1999 still had more tannin than the 2009, but that’s just one person’s view.  Everyone agreed that both vintages were nice, that is, that neither would insult your friends.  The 1999 was plausible according to one guest.  (The effusive praise just about killed the note-taker.)  In the end we decided this was our least favorite of the four.

1988  

 "Faith" - George Michael

We found this vintage to be ver-r-r-ry interesting.  (Someone went too far back in his time-machine, I’m afraid.)  We thought it had darker tastes, and it was much browner than the 1999.  We were seeing the tannin disappearing.  (“Seeing”?  Well, don’t forget, we’re on the fourth glass by now.)  Anyway, as a result we tasted more fruit.  We thought it little musty, but more complex.  (Of course; go grab something that’s been in your attic for 25 years and see how musty it smells!)  This seemed like a great wine to drink with sharp cheeses.  It would be good with a beef steak, but might not be enough for a lamb unless it’s a rack of lamb.  (Now we’re getting awfully discerning aren’t we?)  Like a genie in the bottle, this older wine starts to do interesting things when it is exposed to air.  (!)  Someone had the audacity to suggest that the wine got more cheerful as you drank more.  Bryce informed us that this was the year that Lichine, the proprietor of the vineyard, died and his son brought in some modern winemakers.  Could that be the reason?

1978  

 "Shadow Dancing" - Andy Gibb

Now for the big test.  This glass was quite a bit browner than the others.  But to our surprise, some guests liked the 2009 better.  We queried whether the 2009 might be somewhat rounder than the 1978 because winemakers are now making wines for immediate consumption.  (Remember – modern winemakers, starting in the eighties?  What d’ya expect?)

At the end of the formal tasting, students were asked to try to put their glasses in date order (after mixing them up of course).  Four students got at least two right.  That’s what happens when you give the hard test after five glasses of wine.

So was it worth it?  We think the answer is it depends on how hard your day has been, what you’re having to eat, etc., etc.  Or to sum it up:  you know it’s over the hill when the label makes promises the tannins can’t fill.  But to find out if this is true, you have to open the bottle and drink a little, and for some that’s always worth it.