I Opened Aged “Drink Now” Wines: Surprisingly Complex or Past Their Peak?

Hi everybody, this is Agnes from No Sediment and today I wanted to challenge one of the biggest assumptions in the wine world that certain wines are not meant for aging. We will taste aged wine styles that are usually more celebrated for their youthfulness and see what time has really done to them. Wine's ability to age is certainly a quality indicator. However, I will fiercely defend the idea that a wine does not need to have an In fact, many wines are often marketed as wines meant to be enjoyed young, perhaps because they are appreciated most for their vibrancy of fruit flavors, energy and overall primary style. And of course, this is something we often lose when wines are developing in the bottle, whether in our wine fridges or cellars. Expressive, often fresh fruit and floral flavors are gradually replaced by dried, cooked and honeyed notes. Wines feel calmer, earthy and sometimes distinctly savory and even salty. Interestingly, as they evolve, fruit flavors might not be dominant anymore. Rieslings with age, for example, tend to show hints of kerosene. Often we also might pick up notes of mushroom, truffle as well as leather and spiciness. And this brings me to one of my many strong opinions, and it is I am against drinking windows, at least the ones wine professionals often put at the end of tasting notes. All the flavors I just described might be inviting to one person and discouraging to another. I am someone who appreciates primary flavors in wine. I enjoy youthfulness, vibrancy and energy. And I know many wine professionals who enjoy wines with a bit of age. Now, for those who enjoy wines with some development, there might be one problem. The majority of wines marketed as age worthy are premium, ultra premium and never in my life priced wines. But I believe that there are many good and even great examples of wines that can age for 10 years or even more. And yet no one talks about them. And the best part is you can actually drink beautiful, mature bottles without spending a fortune. So last year, when I started to think more about this topic, I signed up for a few wine auctions. But instead of old Bordeaux and rare Burgundy, I started looking for wines from other French winemaking regions and other grape varieties beyond the usual suspect. And just my luck, not many people were fighting for these wines. And I think I won almost every bottle I wanted, except for one. I strongly believe that these wines have aging potential. That said, I do not know how they were stored. So of course, it's a bit of a gamble. But to truly see how these wines are doing, we have to taste them and talk about them. Shall we? All right, let's start. My first wine is actually going to be from Loire. And my second wine is also from Loire. But let's start with wine number one, which is Muscadet. I have been talking about Muscadet on this channel for a while now. And I constantly have mentioned how truly great aging potential these wines have. Today we have Vintage 2010. So this wine is 15, 16 years old. And it comes from Domaine Au Fevre. And it is a Grasse Mouton. So according to some wine professionals, one of the best vineyards in Muscadet. And interestingly enough, I already sneak peeked at the color of this wine. And given the fact that this wine is 16 years, about to become 16 years old, it has really vibrant color. I mean, you don't see that much of a development in the color. And surprisingly, on the nose, this wine also does not show a lot of or too much development notes. It is more dried floral character. I think I do have that lemon peel slightly dried as well, but nothing cooked, nothing too oxidized. I am seriously surprised. I was expecting a bit more development, a bit more age on the nose for sure. Maybe I've been scammed. I don't know. Of course, we do not expect from Muscadet. The grape variety behind these wines is Melun. We don't expect that really fragrant and intense aroma profile. It is not an aromatic grape variety. So what you usually feel is rather restrained, you know, citrus fruit and floral characters. And this is exactly what we have here. And some of the yeasty characters as well from the aging on the leaves, because that is very typical for this region. So let's finally taste it. All right, I feel like I have misled you because we talked about these development flavors that maybe some people would enjoy and like more than the, you know, freshness and energy and primary fruit characters. But this wine is really not showing its age. It is developing really, really slowly on the palate. It is filled with energy. It is filled with vibrancy. The acidity is elevated, crisp and bright. And we do have that nerviness, you know, on the body as well and from the fruit as well. It is not that calm down, I guess. So I would say that this wine has quite a lot of energy. And despite its impressive age, which is 15 and a half years. And despite its really affordable price point, I think I bought it below 30 euros. It's like 25 something or maybe even lower. It still delivers and you could age it for another five, even maybe 10 years. And then we could start to talk about serious development flavors like tertiary flavors on the nose and palate. This wine is finely boned, really precise and energetic. And I will give this wine 92 points. Let's move to wine number two, which is from the opposite side of the Loire Valley. We are right now in Saint-Saëns. We are with one of the top top producers within Saint-Saëns region and that is of course Alphonse Melot. And this wine is much older. This wine is 26, you know, 25 and a half years old. So this is vintage 2000. It is one of the top labels from Alphonse Melot. It is Edmond. And I specifically included this wine in this tasting. I was looking for Sauvignon Blanc. We've been told that Sauvignon Blanc is this perfect grape variety for early consumption. It offers this really bright fruit flavors, you know, citrus fruit, everything green, freshly cut grass, you know, asparagus, stuff like that. And I think we oftentimes forget that this grape variety is one of the greatest grape varieties of the world. And it actually, and especially in the right hands, can be made into wines that age beautifully. And there are some wine professionals who speak really loudly about it. And yet, we usually consume our Sauvignon Blanc from Saint-Saëns, from Puy-Fumé, really early. And of course, they do deliver that early appeal. But let's taste this wine. This is 25 years old Sauvignon Blanc. And yes, this wine shows much deeper color. So we are talking about some, you know, lemon and straw color. It is not brown yet, you know, there is really no brown hint. So it's definitely not too oxidized in no way. But let's talk with this wine and see what's what. I don't even know what to do now. Because, yeah, this is going to be a disappointment. This wine is corked. Yeah, yeah. The color was so nice. And I was so excited. I feel, unfortunately, these things happen and wines can be corked. It is not the story of how it develops or doesn't develop. It is just corked. And it could be corked, you know, when it was two years old or three years old. And it can be corked right now as well. So it does not matter. This wine was the wine that I was really looking forward to. And to be honest, wine number one was really affordable. And this was towards the higher priced wines that we have today. It was... All right. Anyway, I am hugely disappointed. And my cameraman didn't give me a heads up. Yeah, I know. I do prefer these really authentic reactions on my YouTube channel. This is what I want to do for you and for myself as well, because it is interesting and fun to do these videos. So I always ask my cameraman never to comment anything. I almost feel like maybe it would be nice that you have told me or something. But no, no, let's stay on this track. This wine, sad. All right. Let's move to wine number three, which you might know by now already if you have watched my YouTube channel, because I've talked about this wine and this specific producer for a while. And this is Chateau de Molina Vins from Molina Vins Cru in Beaujolais. So we are with and it is not a random wine, not a blended wine. It comes actually from Single Climat. It is Croix de Verriat. I think that the latest labels actually just say La Verriat. And it has been vineyard that I really enjoy. Although recently I read that maybe it offers more immediate fruit and is made maybe for earlier consumption or not necessarily made for earlier consumption, but rather it is a vineyard that produces wines that are more approachable and open in their youth. But I do enjoy this Climat a lot. So this is why I chose this specific wine. And it is from vintage 2011. So in fact, this wine is 15 or 14 and a half years old. And we hear sommeliers sometimes whisper that Beaujolais Cru can age beautifully and magnificently, you know, but we rarely ever get to taste these wines and experience how do they actually age. So let's finally do this. And of course, this is not Pinot Noir. This is Gamay grape variety. And just so we are clear, it is the same grape variety that is responsible for Beaujolais Noir, which we absolutely should not age. Okay. Color wise, it is interesting because it is quite deeply colored wine. I usually expect some of the lighter color, not as intensely colored wines from Gamay grape variety. But let's be honest, Moulin Au Vin is usually associated with most structured and deepest colored Beaujolais Cru wines. Of course, we do see some of the age. It is not all violet and bluish, you know, and reddish color. We do see some of that garnet, but it's definitely not yet towards brick or brownish color. So there's still some vibrancy on the color as well. On the nose, it is, as I said it in the introduction, we do have calmer fruit. For me, Beaujolais, especially when it's young, I have this really bright and expressive vibrancy on the nose. And here we do have the same red fruit flavors, you know, raspberries, red cherries, strawberries, but they are Creo dried. They are dried and maybe slightly wilted in their character. It does not show a hint of stinkiness, you know, because sometimes older wines can have that bottle sickness. Okay, let's taste this one. All right, this wine on the palate, it is a bit hollow. I do have those structural elements. I do have, you know, tannin frame and I do have acidity, but the fruit somehow on the palate is gone. And of course, my mind goes straight to thinking why this could be the case, because I know that the new owners took over this estate in 2009. And according to them, the wines were in a very poor condition. And what they have done over these years is to replant and, you know, to invest in the vineyards, to rejuvenate the wines. And the wines that I have tasted lately, especially the younger vintages, they are absolutely superb and beautiful. But this specific wine has not lived through its age that I promised you in the introduction. Unfortunately, I think that maybe five years ago, if I would have this bottle, I would have been more happy with it. But to be honest, while on the nose, I think it is quite okay. Wine, palate wise, the mid palate, the fruit is gone. And unfortunately, I don't think, or at least for my taste, this wine is not it. It has at least one of its foot already on the other side, on the different realm. Let's move to wine number four, which could be two things, slightly cheating from my side, and slightly not knowing what I ordered from my side. And I will talk about it. So it is Marcel Deis, highly recognized and respected producer in Alsace, biodynamic. Usually when we talk about Marcel Deis, it is synonymous to biodynamic wine making and wine production. And this is Altenberg Grand Cru, one of his top and warmest cru sites. So of course, from my side, this could be somewhat cheating, because we are talking about Grand Cru site. And the other part was not knowing. Well, actually, I do know that Marcel Deis is associated usually with field blends, and it rarely makes wines from single grape variety. But I, when I purchased this wine, I somehow had in my mind that it is Pinot Gris. When in fact, it is a blend of different grape varieties, all allowed in Alsace. When I bought it, I was expecting Pinot Gris. And I wanted to talk with you about Pinot Gris and its ability to age. Because most of the time, we associate Pinot Gris as a grape variety from Italy, under the name Pinot Grigio. And it's just, you know, glue glue wine for majority of people. And I just wanted to talk about how that grape can have different expression and how very unique and age worthy that grape is. So this is slightly ignorance from my side. And the reason why I have this wine at the very end of the tasting is because this wine is sweet. Let's taste it. And let's let's see what's what. So this is 2005 vintage. So this wine is around 20 years old. And when I got this bottle, and I started to read about it more, I realized it's not a single grape variety. And then I also realized that it is highly rated wine. It is really, really top, top wine and it smells amazing. Anyhow, color wise, you know, sweet wines, oftentimes because they are made through grape drying, or because they are later harvest wines, or because they are wines made from butchertized grapes, they will usually show initially much deeper color, you know, and maybe slightly oxidized color as well. So despite the fact that this wine is made from late harvested grapes, with some of the botrytis in them, and botrytis usually speeds up the oxidation in wines, despite the fact it still is really vibrant in the color. And on the nose, it is just so inviting. It is beautiful dried orchard fruit. We have peaches and apricots, candied pineapple, and floral characters as well. It is really complex and really rich. And I can promise you, I think I can just spend a lot of time just talking about this wine's nose. It seems like I am having an elixir in the glass, you know, the concentration of the flavors is really high, the intensity is really high of these flavors. There are honey notes, there's saffron. And despite all of these flavors, these beeswax that I just picked up, you still have a lot of freshness and a lot of fruit vibrancy in this wine. It is really impressive, really impressive. This wine is beauty on the palate as well. And it is not lusciously sweet. You do feel that that sweetness, but it just accentuates and lifts the fruit and the acidity. I don't think it is that high, like mouthwatering and vibrant and just cuts through, you know, the wine. It is just masterfully, beautifully integrated and part of the wine. It is just beautifully balanced. You know, when you take this perfectly ripe fruit, any fruit, take mango, take, I don't know, apple or pear, you know, and when you just bite it, and it's not overripe, and it's not underripe, it's just perfect. You know, those are usually those flavors when the acidity is just right, the sugar is just right, you know, and all those flavors, you just feel it. And this is this wine. It has that beautiful balance between the sweetness and the acidity and the body and the fruit. And I think if we are talking about the drinking windows that I told you I'm not a fan of, and I think this wine just for me is that it's perfect drinking moment. I am enjoying it right now a lot. I think it's magnificent. Alsace, you beautiful, beautiful beast. Oh my God, what are you hiding? This is just amazing. The aftertaste is so long and it's so pleasant. It's not just acidity or sweetness that we are talking about. It's all the flavors. This wine is amazing. And look at this beautiful, beautiful label. I am really happy that we ended up on this really high note. I will give this wine 98 points. It absolutely deserves this. And for those of you who enjoy more matured bottles, you can open it right now, but for sure you can, you know, keep it for another 10 or 15 years. With all honesty, this was one of the most expensive bottles in the slot. And I'm really happy I had it. All right. Unfortunately, of course, buying wines on auction also means that you are risking, you are gambling. And we did gamble away with two bottles. So this was unfortunately porked. And with wine number three, Chateau du Moulin Au Vin, we don't know how this wine also has been aged. You know, maybe there was some heat or whatever. That's also the case. So we did gamble and we have 50-50 success rate. But we did start on a high note and we finished on amazingly high note. Please let me know in the comment section below which of the wines that majority of wine community says you should drink young, you know, but you actually enjoy them quite old. And maybe there are some gems that we don't necessarily talk about enough. And if older wines is your mojo, make sure to watch this video next where I tasted wines 50, 60 and around 70 years old and see how that tasting went out.