This weeks column may come across as slightly schizophrenic. I have some thoughts on older wines, and a wine recommendation. They are totally unrelated.

Go out and find the Winery of Good Hope’s Pinot Noir. It’s their entry level Pinot, retails for around R120 bucks, and in my opinion the best damned Pinot in the country for under R150. The 2011 is the best one yet. There is plenty of tangy berry fruit – raspberries and strawberries – with Pinot Noir’s characteristic mushroom forest floor aroma. The best part for me though was that it wasn’t a puerile Pinot like so many of those at the cheaper end of the market. There are too many tooty-frooty, lollipop Pinots sadly lacking real interest. This one, however, is elegantly structured, with fine tannins, a long mineral finish. I slapped myself for using ‘mineral finish’, but in this case it is definitely true. I was considering using ‘sea shells’ but thought better of it.

So there you go. My wine suggestion for the week. Right, back to business.

Older wines. I think I have written about the pleasure of drinking older wines before, but it is a topic that cannot receive too much attention. That’s a bare faced lie, but I am willing to live with it.

Properly aged red wine is, to be honest, the whole damn point. I was in attendance this week at a panel tasting of over 60 red wines from the 2003 vintage. As I sat at home that evening – sipping from a 3l bottle of 2003 Rudera Cab – I thought why the hell do we subject ourselves (myself) to so much new red wine? It’s like loving reading, but never progressing beyond Spot the bloody dog. Can anyone tell me what that dog was hiding from? 

Anyway. Even though we hear of winemakers producing wines that are ready to drink on release, so many wines simply need a good few years to really drink well. We punish ourselves with assertive tannins, acidity and oak. Like the more moronic wine drinkers among us – who drink more for the label than what is in the bottle – struggling through a few glasses of brand spanking new R400 Cabernet Sauvignon bravely (stupidly) ignoring the teeth shattering consequences of newly born tannins and acidity. Why do we do this to ourselves?

Disclaimer: Wines are not guaranteed to improve with age. An old wine DOES NOT EQUAL A GOOD WINE.

When we pop the cork on brand new wines that deserve some time in a cellar we are forcing them into the world before they are ready. Imagine this: You are preparing for a night on the town. You have called your mates, made plans, and have just stepped into the shower. As you are massaging the shampoo into your hair, with hot streams of water pulsing on your back, the door bursts open. You friends have arrived and start to pull you out; dragging you kicking and shouting toward the front door. You hastily grab a towel to preserve some dignity. This is going to be a kak night for everyone involved. Just as you need time to prepare and get ready to show yourself to the world so does wine.

That is one of the more sketchy analogies that I have drawn between life and wine, but I think the point is well enough made.

As I was tasting through some of the 2003 reds this week, I saw the results of this preparation, this vinous time in front of the mirror. In the really good wines their tannins had softened to offer structure without aggression; flavours had developed to offer real complexity, the wines had become complete, delicious, and harmonious.

Now, let’s get something straight. Out of the 60-odd wines I would say that only perhaps 10-15 of them were really outstanding. The other thing that happens with an aged wine is their failings are more pronounced. Wines with added acidity showed their added acid more clearly, clumsy oak was obvious, faults stood out; age is a cruel mistress.

I was not judging these wines, and I don’t want to talk too much about the wines as it was a competition. I have no idea which wines scored what, but one wine stood out for me for the wrong reasons. An expensive, modernly styled wine that I now know I like neither young nor old. It may be unfair to single it out, but I think it is instructive

Whenever I have tasted the big, ripe, possibly even monstrous wines of De Toren, whether it be at a wine show or in a more private setting I have always heard the phrase “needs time” uttered. I’ve normally just accepted this at face value. But no longer. Everything I dislike in these wines in their youth – ripe, sweet fruit, new oak, and high alcohol remain 10 years on. There was no elegance, nothing had improved, and I would not be able, or simply unwilling, to finish a glass.

It’s not just De Toren. There is so much bullshit spoken about how these big, modern, oaky wines will age. Be careful. Remember that balance, elegance, and freshness will not improve with age. An unbalanced wine with high-alcohol in youth, will be an unbalanced wine with high-alcohol in old age.

Start a cellar friends. Buy some Kanonkop, Alto, Boekenhoutskloof, De Trafford, Grangehurst, or whatever serious red wine you like to drink now, and put it away. Find a cool dark place, lie the wine down and forget about it. There are places like Wine Cellar in Cape Town that will cellar your wine for you at a small cost. Do it. A properly aged wine is a thing of beauty that can only be attained with patience, believe me, it is worth the wait.