Less strenuous than golf or gardening, better tasting than the back of old postage stamps, and somewhat more fragrant than any other main diversion, fishing, is the pastime of wine.
Few other occupations offer so many different types of pleasure. This ranges from growing your own vineyard to making your own wine; you can tour the wine lands of the world; build a wine cellar; collect old labels, fancy glasses; test your palate with a tasting; You can even find ceramic or stone coaster sets to match your glasses and harmonize with your choice of wine.
Wine also merges with gastronomy. All top amateur chefs are equally fond of wine, because haute cuisine demands wine as a condiment and as a side dish at the table. When it comes to literature, few types of reading offer more pleasure to the senses than memories of memorable meals skillfully mixed with great vintages. Wine libraries contain the entire history of civilization.
The wine aficionado experiences the most subtle pleasures. He sees in his sparkling wine the sky above the slopes of the vineyards; aspires from it the essence of the field; he savors his bouquet, admires it as a work of art and lets the sunlight flood his veins. He pays attention to the smallest details, like using the right bar accessories, coasters and glasses for the occasion.
Nothing in this article is intended to disparage the higher arts of wine appreciation. The hope is that it will attract more genuine fans of the subject, because unlike the overcrowding of favorite fishing spots, the more wine devotees, the better. First, therefore, let’s expand on the references made in previous chapters to the aging of wines; because here is the main delight in this whole sphere.
Although most of the world’s wines peak in quality early and then decline, certain red table wines, very few whites, and a substantial proportion of sherry and dessert wines develop superlative quality over long years in the bottle. .
The extent of its improvement in the glass – after its preliminary maturing in barrels – can be compared to the difference between simply planned sandstone coasters and the same sanded stone, or to the difference between a rosebud and the full-blown flower. .
But the selection of such wines requires study. Once noted for the longevity of their wines, vintages famous for living half a century or more, many of Bordeaux’s leading producers have in recent years shifted their production to lighter, earlier maturing wines.
Even Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignons, of which there are superb examples nearly fifty years old, are getting lighter and earlier maturing now than ever before, extracting the wine from the grape skins before fermentation is complete. .
One reason for this is the modern consumer’s apparent taste for fresher-tasting, lighter-bodied wines than before. Another is that winegrowers have realized that traders cannot afford to hold stock for many years before sale.
California’s premium producers typically store their wines in containers at cellars for a few months to a year after bottling, just to remove roughness, they say. But bundling is costly in terms of space, handling and waiting for the sale proceeds. The head of the household can only reasonably be expected to purchase wines for the special purpose of aging in the bottle.
