Thank you for taking the time to sort through the confusion often caused by well meaning yet errant pieces occasionally popping up in the winosphere, Joel. I think one of the problems is that some enthusiasts just haven't been around long enough to know things that lifers like you well know: That ageability has nothing to do with tannin; re you simple point, that German Riesling are among the longest lived (if not the longest lived, period) wines in the world, with nary a speck of tannin. In my experience, acidity and balance are far bigger factors. Hence, the way people are often shocked at how fantastic 16% alcohol Zinfandel or 12% Burgundy (white or red) can taste after 20 years in the bottle. It ain't the meat, it's the motion. Thanks again!
Hey Joel, interesting that I read Paul Gregutt's article immediately prior to yours. As I commented in Paul's article, the writer of the article on Pinot Noir was writing from a perspective of limited experience (in other words, she didn't know what she was talking about). You and I both have 50+ years of experience in this wonderful and crazy business. I've had 50 year old French Burgundies that were still sublime. To me, the key to age-worthiness is balance...and with each wine the concept of balance is somewhat different. Balance of fruit to acid to ph to alcohol to....well, the list goes on, and the list is different for different varieties and blends. Your friend's mathematical formula is beyond my comprehension, but an interesting way to present the concept. If any one component of a wine is out of balance (too low or too high in relation to the other components), the age-worthiness is reduced, or even eliminated.
I recently got my hands on an affordable 1974 Sonoma County Petite Sirah, and was pretty surprised to see 12.6% alcohol! For a Petite Sirah from Sonoma!!! It was just a different world in terms of climate back then. Admittedly, the wine was barely holding on for dear life - 50 years is a lot to ask of ANY wine - but it still had a little bit of life left, and it's always such a worthwhile exploration to see what wine from these era were like. You can still translate the aged profile back to what it must have been young.
Thank you for taking the time to sort through the confusion often caused by well meaning yet errant pieces occasionally popping up in the winosphere, Joel. I think one of the problems is that some enthusiasts just haven't been around long enough to know things that lifers like you well know: That ageability has nothing to do with tannin; re you simple point, that German Riesling are among the longest lived (if not the longest lived, period) wines in the world, with nary a speck of tannin. In my experience, acidity and balance are far bigger factors. Hence, the way people are often shocked at how fantastic 16% alcohol Zinfandel or 12% Burgundy (white or red) can taste after 20 years in the bottle. It ain't the meat, it's the motion. Thanks again!
Hey Joel, interesting that I read Paul Gregutt's article immediately prior to yours. As I commented in Paul's article, the writer of the article on Pinot Noir was writing from a perspective of limited experience (in other words, she didn't know what she was talking about). You and I both have 50+ years of experience in this wonderful and crazy business. I've had 50 year old French Burgundies that were still sublime. To me, the key to age-worthiness is balance...and with each wine the concept of balance is somewhat different. Balance of fruit to acid to ph to alcohol to....well, the list goes on, and the list is different for different varieties and blends. Your friend's mathematical formula is beyond my comprehension, but an interesting way to present the concept. If any one component of a wine is out of balance (too low or too high in relation to the other components), the age-worthiness is reduced, or even eliminated.
I recently got my hands on an affordable 1974 Sonoma County Petite Sirah, and was pretty surprised to see 12.6% alcohol! For a Petite Sirah from Sonoma!!! It was just a different world in terms of climate back then. Admittedly, the wine was barely holding on for dear life - 50 years is a lot to ask of ANY wine - but it still had a little bit of life left, and it's always such a worthwhile exploration to see what wine from these era were like. You can still translate the aged profile back to what it must have been young.