“Everyone” knows that northern Rhones are far better when aged 20 or 30 years. I’ve known that since I was about 16 because it is a frequent comment in classic French literature we used to read in French class. The best Hermitages I have ever had were over 20 years old and my biggest wine regret was not packing in a lot of northern Rhones 30 years ago because I couldn’t see waiting until I became a cranky old fart just to drink the wine. West coast syrahs are an entirely different story. Although some of you think those wines are the spawn of the devil, I like them and they clearly have a different flavor and aging profile allowing them to be enjoyed young. I just got some 2007 Royal City Syrah and I’m going to have trouble holding off on the wine until Thanksgiving next week. I can’t believe the difference is in the clones, because the core genetic makeup is too similar. It can’t be entirely geographic, because everyone says that Grange is also a 30 year wine and it’s grown about as far from the Northern Rhone as you can get.
Ripeness? Takes longer for the Rhone wines to age because they have to make up for poor growing seasons? Winemaking technique? Seems unlikley because that can be replicated regardless of region. Any thoughts?
I think there is kind of an “all of the above” in your answer. Clones and location do make a difference. A perfect example is merlot. Winemaker’s have transplanted merlot from Bdx to Napa and other CA areas. The merlot produced here, from those vines, do not age like the Bdx wines. People have lots of reasons for it, but basically it’s just not Bdx! Nebbiolo and sangiovese don’t even do well outside of Italy.
As some Rhone producers go for longer hang times and riper fruit, in the “modern method”, it will be interesting to see how those wines age vis-a-vie those made in the traditional style. We’ll just have to wait 15 (03s) years plus to find out!
There are lots of factors that affect aging, and acidity is a big one. Most Northern Rhones have that in spades.
That said, there’s a lot of variation within the Rhone. There aren’t many Cote Roties that are better at 20 years than at 10, for instance, at least not today. I find its rare for a Cornas to improve past 15 years, too.
As for Grange, I think it lasts because of concentration and balance. I think some of the cooler climate California syrahs with more acid hold up quite well. I had a couple of bottles of the 2000 Copain Hawks Butte earlier this year that were just beginning to open up and seemed to have a long life ahead of them.
I have had wines from Qupe and Edmunds St. John which were great at the 15-year mark, so certainly California syrah can have an aging curve similar to Northern Rhone syrah when it isn’t deliberately made to be drank young.
Jay – Given the changes in how the wines are made, when the grapes are picked, etc., I don’t think this “fact” is true for most Northern Rhônes today, just as it no longer is true that Hermitage is undrinkable before its tenth birthday, another frequent comment in the older literature.
In the past year, I’ve enjoyed 1992 Orion, 1998 Dehlinger, 1999 Araujo, 1999 Carlisle, 2000 Jaffurs Thompson, 2000 Saxum Bone Rock. All exceedingly enjoyable.
I think Cluade pretty much hit it on the head. Modern wines, made in the new world or old world are pretty much made to be drinkable upon release, or shortly there after. In this day in age, when we are sending wines to critics to be evaluated and scored when the wines are less than a year in the bottle, most wineries will gear their picking decisions, and winemaking techniques to have wines that will show well early in their lives. Let’s face it. 95+% of wines are consumed within days of purchase. Yes, there are many producers that are building wines to age and go the long haul, but they are more the exception than the rule.
But that is a result, not an answer. My question was, in some respects, a technical one. What is it that the winemakers do so they are “drinkable on release?” Longer hang times so the fruit gets ripe? Why does that cause aging weaknesses? Cold soaking to increase extraction? How does that affect aging potential? New oak? They were using that years ago.
I guess you need to define ‘drinkable’ as well. There are some that love wines that are incredibly fruit forward and do not dig secondary characteristics at all. There are some that are so tannin-averse that they run away scared as soon as their tongues become dry from any amount of tannin.
An example of this is certainly petite sirah. There are some, including Turley, who suggest NOT touching these wines for up to 10 years after release. Does this mean you will not enjoy them before then? Of course not . . . but the tannins may be too forward for some to enjoy.
From my perspective, I do believe that tannin and acid allow for a wine to have a ‘longer life’ in geneal, and pH may come into play as well (it certainly is tied to acid levels).
Ojai makes serious, age worthy Syrah… there’s so many variables, it’s tough to pin down any one thing… and until we actually taste a 25 year old central coast Syrah (anyone?), everything is basically an extrapolation/guess. My guess is that the majority of northern rhones age like the majority of new world Syrahs… which is probably poorly. Each region has specific wines that age well.
dollars to cents, i bet Arcadian’s Purisima syrah is up to the challenge. i’m currently in the beginning stages of putting my money where my mouth is on this one.
Good question. Many of these decisions are somewhat ‘out of my hands’ and are vineyard / vintage specific. That said, I like acid driven reds - and am not averse to decent tannin levels - and therefore ‘pick’ accordingly. I won’t wait to pick until the grapes have become ‘fruit bombs’ with skins that are almost falling apart - I’ll pick earlier when I feel the inherent ‘structure’ in the berry still remains.
In addition, I usually do some whole cluster in my syrahs to add additional ‘structure’ - my 09 Thompson is 100% whole cluster and one of my 09 Larners is 1/3 whole cluster.
Will these ‘techniques’ make these wines more ‘age-worthy’? I may never know as I am an impatient drinker who prefers to drink them younger than older . . .
![[stirthepothal.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/f/f40faec63ca1018898a40805efbf9f0066a3d205.gif "[stirthepothal.gif]"){kind=small}
Winemaking technique? Seems unlikley because that can be replicated regardless of region. Any thoughts?![[worship.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/9/99a8907a1d5b3c023582052741dc72dc9823c044.gif "worship"){kind=small}