ONE OF THE HOT TOPICS among wine lovers the world over is whether to drink wine young, or to cellar. Even though most people don’t actually cellar their wines, they’re fascinated by the sheer potential that exists. The reality is most wine is bought for early consumption. And many people have a stock of wine on hand for week-to-week drinking - sometimes quite a large quantity. Then again, a small number of wine enthusiasts actually carry out systematic cellaring, which is where wines are aged in order to see what the passage of time will do to enhance their quality. For systematic cellaring you need multiple bottles and must be prepared to try one every now and again to see how they are developing.

The image of cellaring wine is powerful, whether you cellar wine or not. As anyone who sells wine to the public will tell you, the most commonly asked question that buyers ask is: Will it age well? A curious question, given it is generally accepted that most wines are drunk within a short time of purchase! Obviously a wine’s cellaring potential is used as a quality measurement - even for short-term consumption!

Imagine the question from an earnest potential consumer: “Will this wine cellar well?” Consider the honest response: “This wine has been made to suit the majority of purchasers - it will keep nicely for a year or two, but it is fine to purchase and drink straight away.” Compare this to the alternative reply: “This wine has great potential and it is strongly recommended that it not be drunk for at least 10 years.” The latter response has a better chance of impressing the consumer - even if they want to purchase a wine to drink that evening. Some winemakers say that drinking certain wine when it’s less than 10 years old is committing infanticide. Such a claim makes the wine very desirable.

What to cellar?

How do you know whether to drink a wine young or keep it? If in doubt, drink it young. Seek out information on the wine if you intend cellaring. There should be a track record of ageing - look for commentaries on vertical tastings by experts. If you are going to taste the wine and then decide to keep a few for ageing, then look for intense flavours, very good balance of flavours and high natural acidity in the wine. Acidity is a natural preservative. This is why riesling and Hunter semillon have a great reputation for ageing. Wines that are ‘big’ and rich and soft in flavour when young will not cellar well.

The reason that Grange, for example, ages well is that it has big fruit flavours but also big tannins and well balanced acidity. At a recent Penfolds function the latest Grange, the 1996, from an excellent year, was ‘previewed’. Winemakers John Duval and Peter Gago commented on how drinkable it is now but is obviously made to be aged. This drinkability comes through balance and harmony of the components.

I subscribe to the principle that a wine must be good when young if it’s going to be good with age. Too often you hear the lament, “It’s a bit rough now, it just needs time!” This is a good winemaker’s excuse to hide behind!

The debate about wine style and ageing

Bordeaux in south-west France is home to cabernet and merlot and has the reputation as the finest ageing region for table wines. There’s currently a fierce debate in Bordeaux about ageing potential. Some French producers say their wines are becoming richer and earlier drinking. Some blame the influential American critic Robert Parker for this change of direction because he prefers rich, fleshy wines. His opinion counts a great deal because vignerons can charge much more for wines with a high Parker rating. Bordeaux producers say, though, that the modern trend is not in response to Parker.

In the eyes of another American critic, Kermit Lynch, the last ‘real’ vintage in Bordeaux was in 1981. He attributes this to the various new techniques introduced since that time and he doesn’t like them. The techniques are aimed at making better wines in poor harvests and another result is a fleshier, softer tannin, easier drinking wine.

The increased prominence of merlot is one trend. The two main grapes of Bordeaux are cabernet sauvignon and merlot. The value of merlot worldwide is in providing ‘insurance’ in cooler, wetter regions because it ripens earlier. Especially in Bordeaux the weather can turn nasty suddenly at the autumn vintage time and a promising crop can be reduced in quality or even devastated by the heavy rain and fog that can roll in from the Atlantic.

At the 1999 Hilton Master Class in Brisbane, respected winemaker at second-growth chateau, Cos d’Estournel, Jean-Guillame Prats explained that the early-ripening ability of merlot means that it can be harvested before the bad weather arrives. Then the cabernet can be left longer as producers strive for higher ripeness. Monsieur Prats explained that in Bordeaux, vine trellis and pruning techniques have much improved in recent years. Even in wetter autumns the grapes can be left longer on the vine, whereas in past decades harvest would have occurred even if the crop was still a bit green and unripe. Earlier harvest avoids the outbreak of rot in grape bunches, caused by humidity initiated by rainfall. Modern vine pruning lifts the leaves away from the grapes and allows better air circulation and less humidity. Hence recent vintages of Bordeaux (since about the mid 1980s) have been richer and fuller, and the tannins are richer without the very grippy mouthfeel of bygone vintages.

Some commentators say that Bordeaux reds have moved away from the austere tannic style towards a New World style (referring to more recent wine-producing countries such as Australia, NZ, USA, Chile and others). The New World style is more drinkable at a younger age. Prats says while this is a good feature it is not the primary aim - which is to get riper cabernet fruit and a bigger, juicier tasting wine. Hence these wines can be consumed young, although they also age well. In the past many Bordeaux wines needed to be aged to allow the tannins to soften; the ‘modern’ school maintains that by the time the tannins soften, the fruit and richness in the wine has disappeared.

These “modern” Bordeaux styles show that a wine can be good when young, and also have the ability to age well.

What makes a good cellar?

One of the most frequently asked questions about wine is the design of a wine cellar. For wine enthusiasts there is a powerful image and attachment to the concept of ‘the cellar’. Your cellar may consist of only a few bottles, stored in a carton under the bed, or a room just for the purpose. Here you might find not only wines but also mementos such as posters, famous (but empty) bottles kept as souvenirs, all manner of corkscrews and books on wine. Enthusiasts potter around in their cellar, studying wine catalogues, checking their inventory, putting bottles in the rack, and so on. Even if you are not as serious as this about your cellar, the image is not far away. Most people talk about cellaring even if they do not carry it out. Most people ask about a wine’s ageing potential even if they know that they will be consuming it soon.