Back to 1975 Sender: Ian Salut-Hi Cygnus, le-on Sun, 27 Feb 2005 01:11:48 -0500, tu disais-you said:- Many more white wines can be drunk with some bottle age than you might think. It's a common truism that red wines need age and white wines don't. Like all truisms, there is a basis of fact. OK. As a general rule, sweet wines not only live a long time, but many, especially those whose sweetness comes from "Noble Rot" (aka botrytis), improve dramatically. No, let's be more precise. They change dramatically, losing fresh fruitiness, and gaining depth and complexity. Young sweet botrytised wines are so delicious that it is unfair only to say that they improve. Sweet white wines whose sweetness comes about because the grapes are dried by letting them hang on the vine a long time, or because the wine maker has stopped their fermentation by adding alcohol, are less imporoved by age, in general. (In reds of that type, don't forget port). Amongst European dry whites, some demand aging, notably the clbuttic whites made from Chardonnay in Burgundy, and the wines made from the Chenin Blanc on the Loire and the great Rhine, Mosel, Saar and Ruwer wines. Lesser wines can take more aging than you might think, but may not necessarily be improved by it. I think it's true to say that Italian whites resist aging less well as they lose the fresh attractiveness they have when young, without gaining much complexity. But I'd suggest that even from Italy there are VERY few wines which won't keep a couple of years. Hope the above continues the process. -- All the Best Ian Hoare mailbox full to avoid spam. try me at website 
|
|||||||
