The benefit of glass time
A customer of ours stopped in the store this week and ordered a case of wine called Barinas. Barinas is a delicious wine from the Jumilla region of Spain, known for producing some of the very best Monastrell, which is also known as Mourvedre. The wines can be quite massive, with dense rich fruit and firm structure, ranging in price from $11 for the Barinas that our customer enjoys so much to wines that retail close to triple digits.
What struck us more, though, was his description of the benefit from lingering over the glass of wine. He found the wine intriguing from the first sip with its great depth and complexity, but commented that it was so good that he drank it more slowly and the wine continued to get better and better. What our customer described to us is one of the true joys of wine: the time it spends in the glass, and how it can change and develop - and most times improve - to previously unappreciated levels.
We have heard similar stories from other wine consumers. One of our most savvy collectors was trying new wines from Beaujolais. This customer is one of the most patient folks we know when it comes to slowly drinking a glass of wine, giving it full opportunity to evolve on its own schedule. His description of the way the wines he was experimenting with developed was nothing short of wonderful. With one bottle, he continued the experiment into the ensuing day and found the wine to still be evolving and improving.
Just this past week, we had the opportunity to taste through the portfolio from Jed Steele and Steele winery, which encompasses Steele, Shooting Star and Writer's Block wines. The lineup was great as always, and we were thankful that we were left with an open bottle of Writer's Block Malbec to enjoy that evening. We had some that night and some the following night as well and again, the wine just got better and better, and for $15 it struck as a heck of a deal.
For wine consumers, this natural glass time is a real opportunity to not only garner even more enjoyment from a bottle, but educational too when you can see what a wine can become. To us, it is better than aerating or any of the other tricks used to spur the wine into "opening" up more quickly. This is, for us, what a huge part of the wine experience is all about.
No doubt there are times when we are entertaining a large group, or when we are less focused on the gradual exploration of a wine, that a bottle will simply not last long enough to fully evolve. There are other times, too, when you will want to decant a bottle for either presentation purposes or with older wines to deal with the oft-occurring sediment in the bottom of the bottle. Decanting wine, like using an aerator, forces the wine to "open" more quickly than it would otherwise, but in our opinion, the wine evolves differently and in a less desirable way than it does when given ample time.
We encourage wine consumers to experiment with this process on their own. The next time you have one of your favorite bottles, take the time to linger over each glass over a more extended period of time, paying attention to how it changes. Your appreciation for your "go-to brand" may grow, or you may start to wonder if it still warrants favored status. With a new bottle, too, give the wine a chance to fully come to life on its own over a longer time, or even cork the bottle and go back to it the next day. You may find some new favorites.
There are wines that derive no benefit from being opened and exposed to oxygen as they sit in your glass or as the bottle remains open on the counter. There are still others that will actually be worse for the time in your glass. Of course, much of the improvement or lack of improvement some of us find with wine as it sits in the glass is dependent on our own palate and what we prefer from our wine. The exercise though is, to us, a great way to get to know your wine the next time you have some real glass time to spend.
If there is a topic you would like to read about, or if you have questions on wine, you can email George@thedinnerpartyshop.com, or make suggestions by contacting the Healthy Community section at the Coeur d'Alene Press.
George Balling is co-owner with his wife Mary Lancaster of the dinner party, a wine and table top decor shop in Coeur d'Alene by Costco. George is also the managing judge of The North Idaho Wine Rodeo and is the wine editor for Coeur d'Alene magazine (www.cdamagazine.com). You can learn more about the dinner party at www.thedinnerpartyshop.com. You can get all of these articles, as well as other great wine tips, by friending us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/#!/dinnerpartyshop.