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Jacky Rigaux

    • Viticulture and grape varieties
  • 2015

"Local wines and geo-sensory tasting

“Local wines and geo-sensory tasting

Excerpts from 2 books by J Rigaux

  • Le réveil des terroirs, illustration et défense des climats bourguignons (preface by Aubert de Villaine), Ed de Bourgogne, 2011
  • La dégustation géo-sensorielle, ed Terre en Vues, 2012 (reissued 2014)

When we talk about geo-sensory tasting, we’re associating wine tasting with knowledge of the place where it was born, and of the man or woman who gave birth to it. It’s about bringing to life the beautiful and happy words of Jacques Puisais, creator of the Institut Français du Goût: “Wine must have the face of the place and the guts of the man who made it… At the bottom of the glass, I want to find the landscape of the place where I am.” It also raises a major question in these times of crisis – agricultural and viticultural crises for what brings us together today: “Is great wine today a high-tech wine or a wine of high places?

Great wines, ordinary wines and “substitute” wines

While it’s always tricky and difficult to define what constitutes a great wine, from time immemorial – at least since ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman times – there have been great wines and ordinary wines… and, in between, “substitute wines”, to use A. Tchernia’s apt phrase. Tchernia’s felicitous phrase, “substitute wines”, i.e. wines in-between which, to imitate the great ones, resort to a number of tricks, tricks which have of course varied over the centuries. Today, for example, only great wines can afford to be matured in casks, especially new oak casks (2% of world production). To imitate them, industrial winemakers have invented “staves”, the wooden planks that line stainless steel vats and are shaped to generate the various woody tastes so sought-after today, as popularized by influential critics! In collaboration with oenologists, laboratories… and winemakers, the range of aromas is obtained by modulating firing times and temperatures.

The great wines, with their high cost of protection, produced in the most prestigious locations, which are also considered the highest quality for “haute couture” viticulture , have always been reserved for the elite of the time, especially those who can afford them. Substitute” wines are made for what we now call the middle classes. Ordinary wines are made for everyone else… This classification has not changed over the centuries. Ordinary wines are probably drunk less nowadays, as ordinary beers have taken their place alongside aniseed-flavored alcoholic beverages. As a result, intermediate or “substitute” wines are becoming increasingly popular.

Gourmet tasting and sensory analysis

Alongside the production of fine wines came the development of tasting rituals and a discourse on their consumption. Until the 1960s and 1970s, when wines were tasted using the “tastevin” (still known as the “cup”), the eye was the first to be solicited (“the wine must draw the eye”, as Henri Jayer liked to say, and he still tasted using this container!), followed by the mouth, where the wine was “grummed” to solicit the entire oral cavity, and finally the sensations of length in the mouth, retro-olfaction and aromatic persistence. Direct olfaction had little place in tasting.

Tasting by the glass came into its own with the invention of sensory analysis, by Jules Chauvet and a few others, including François Sauvageot, who preferred to use the term sensory evaluation. On the strength of Jules Chauvet’s proclamation that olfaction is “20,000 times superior to taste”, the primacy of odors and aromas has been established in contemporary professional tastings and the scientific research that accompanies and perfects them. The training of sommeliers, as they became emancipated and autonomous, focused on this choice. With his famous discovery, popularized as “the nose of wine”, Jean Lenoir popularized the primacy of the nose among wine lovers… His famous boxed sets are distributed all over the world! Wine critics and columnists followed suit.

Sensory analysis and geo-sensory tasting, two ways of understanding wines

When it comes to tasting, there are two competing frames of reference. One is based on the biochemical dimension of wine, in particular its dry matter, which can easily be modified with the 300 adjuvants available today, gum arabic and industrial yeasts in particular. Oenological knowledge, which is at the origin of this way of tasting called sensory analysis or evaluation, is essentially based on organic chemistry, taught as a priority in the training of oenologists, in France as elsewhere, chemistry which studies the dry matter of wine, its alcohol, its tannins and its acidity. Since organic compounds, both natural and artificial, have an odor, it’s easy to understand why sensory analysis, practiced by oenologists, sommeliers, wine professionals and wine critics, has focused on olfaction and the frantic quest to identify aromas…

The second tasting frame of reference is based on the mineral dimension of wine. It accompanies the geo-sensory tasting of the gourmet, who is always sensitive to the minerality of wines, which is therefore the major descriptor, minerality, combined with natural acidity, ensuring the sapidity of wines. This is a reference to mineral chemistry, which has not been a major focus of contemporary oenology. The benchmark oenology textbook by Ribéreau-Gayon, with its 3,000 pages published in two volumes, devotes just a few pages to the subject! There are two types of chemistry: organic chemistry, with the help of which we can intervene on wine with all the oenological products at our disposal, and mineral chemistry, which has been rejected by contemporary oenology, and which offers no possibility of intervening on the natural minerals in wine! What’s more, minerals have no smell, but they can be tasted! Geo-sensorial tasting, which focuses on the birthplace of the wine, with its different minerality depending on the terroir (limestone, granite, silica, volcanic…), thus emphasizes the mouthfeel, without ignoring, of course, the aromas, which it particularly appreciates in retro-olfaction.

A parallel can be drawn with the human being. Freud discovered the importance of the unconscious. It shapes our personality, our character, and acts unbeknownst to us in the way we behave, in our way of being in the world… The unconscious in wine is its minerality. Modern oenology has no control over this for the moment, but minerality leaves its indelible mark on wine, which differs from place to place, and the enlightened wine-lover is fascinated by what it generates during tasting!

Gourmet geo-sensory tasting is practiced in the same way as Monsieur Jourdain wrote prose without knowing it, by winegrowers who advocate terroir-based viticulture, as close to nature as possible, and vinification with no biochemical additions other than just the right amount of sulfur to prevent the wine from turning sour! In fact, in acid-rich vintages, only a minimal dose of sulfur is required. Geo-sensory tasting is, of course, practised in the same way by enlightened wine-lovers who appreciate wines by taking an interest in their place of birth.

“Substitute wines and sensory analysis

To accompany these two facets of wine today – the technical varietal and brand wine on the one hand, and the terroir wine on the other ( “climat” wine, as we say in Burgundy) – two ways of tasting have emerged: sensory analysis for the former, and gourmet geo-sensory tasting for the latter.

Of course, as in all wars, each method tries to win! For the moment, sensory analysis has the upper hand, just as chemical viticulture, renamed “conventional”, still has over organic and biodynamic viticulture! Sensory analysis is taught at universities and wine-growing colleges, which also fail to pass on the basics of biodynamic viticulture to their students… Sensory analysis is used by the agri-food industry and is the subject of research by public and private bodies. It is popularized by most wine critics…

“Vins de lieu” and geo-sensory tasting

It was against this backdrop of the “awakening of terroirs” that the reaffirmation of “vins de lieu” as the profound truth of wine and the return to center stage of “geo-sensory tasting” took place.

  • To speak of geo-sensory tasting is to intimately associate knowledge of the place and those who bring it to life, who interpret it, who reveal it, with the art of tasting.
  • Place is only hope without the man who serves it, interprets it, transcends it or debases it.
  • Every place is different. All the wines born of them are therefore different from one another.
  • Not all places are created equal. There are differences, and there is a hierarchy of places where vines can grow! From time immemorial, this hierarchy has been recognized, and in modern times there are different levels of appellation. In Burgundy, there is a 4-level hierarchy: regional, village, premier cru and grand cru appellations. However, not all French vineyards recognized such a hierarchy by the 1930s! Brand, grape variety, château, delimited perimeter, but no hierarchy…
  • The grape variety is the intermediary, the link between place and man.
  • The grape variety is the translator of the complexity of the place into a complexity of taste… Different places generate different tastes…
  • We’ve gone from simplifying tasting with sensory analysis to rediscovering tasting for complexity.
  • Geo-sensory tasting began with the tastevin. The gourmet appreciated color (“Le grand vin tire l’œil” said Henri Jayer), then let the wine enter the mouth (“grumait”) and appreciated aromas through retro-olfaction.
  • Salivation as a welcome, a passage between the outside and the inside. Wine is not made to be noted, but to be welcomed. You have to trust your salivation to welcome the wine into your mouth.
  • Main characteristics: consistency, suppleness, viscosity, liveliness and petulance, texture, minerality, length, aromatic persistence.

The foundations of geo-sensorial tasting

It’s by “tasting” the wine, by focusing on its mouthfeel, that we enter into the complexity of the place where it was born. To speak of geo-sensory tasting is to combine knowledge of the place and the person who interprets it, with the art of tasting. It means approaching tasting as an experience in which the inescapable subjective dimension takes precedence over the technical, a practice closer to art than to a possible science…

As Henri Jayer liked to say, wine isn’t meant to be assessed or graded. Nor is it meant to be sniffed, but to be drunk! It was created by our elders to activate the pleasure of being and the pleasure of being together. It accompanies the most accomplished rituals of living together, from the banquets dear to Plato to the pots of friendship opened by a “à votre santé!

When you taste wine, you taste the culture that gave birth to it. A subtle encounter between man and place, where he grows an infinite diversity of varieties, it is the combined fruit of nourishing earth and human genius.

Wine tasting is always an experience of encounter, an encounter between a liquid shaped by the subtle clash of an ever-original nature and a man who has understood it, or is seeking to do so, a nature tamed by a grape variety, a veritable translator or ferryman between these two entities: Nature and Mankind!

Wine is meant to be welcomed, not evaluated, appreciated, not judged! As it enters the mouth, it is welcomed by saliva, the link between the outside and the inside, the activator of our intimacy, the preparation for incorporation and digestion, necessary for the maintenance of life within us! It spends a few moments in the mouth and remains in the body for a long time, while sometimes persisting much longer in the mind… So wine is only truly wine when it’s in us. We are unique, our taste is unique, our saliva is different from someone else’s, we don’t all taste the same. Wine is not made to be described, but to be welcomed. Created to be listened to, it activates our self-identity, that singular experience of being us and not someone else, by opening us up to otherness, because wine was created for the pleasure of sharing. Everyone receives it differently, and no one has the whole truth about it!

Geo-sensory tasting descriptors

A wine’s vocation is to be welcomed in the mouth. Gustatory perceptions, once the wine is in the mouth, are to be favored in the tasting of terroir wines, because wine is made to touch us, and we already touch it with our mouth, before letting our imagination wander.

  • The consistency of the wine, its sap

Gourmets spoke of consistency and sap, rather than power, because consistency is generated by the grape’s natural matter, which, through fermentation induced by indigenous yeasts, will give a more or less concentrated, more or less dense juice, depending primarily on the characteristics and quality of the terroir, but also on the quality of the vintage (exceptional, great, good, average or poor). We also talk about body, structure, framework, shoulders… We can also describe a wine as fleshy, compact, thick…

Wine has been recognized and tasted with skill since ancient times! There was a hierarchy, with the recognition of great vintages with their own denomination of origin, their own original characteristics and, as today, a rivalry among connoisseurs of the time! Hippocrates, quoted by Galen in the 2nd century AD, considered that wines differed in color, flavor, consistency and strength. “(Commentary on Hippocrates’ Regimen of Acute Illnesses, Book 3) The greater the vintage, the more important and pleasing the consistency. Later, during the Renaissance, in 1589, Julien le Palmier, in his Traité du Vin et du Sidre, stressed the importance of consistency : “Concerning the consistency of wines, one is subtle, the other is coarse and thick…”. J.-B. de Salins, in 1700, in his Défense du vin de Bourgogne contre le vin de Champagne (p. 3) writes that “wine is praised for its color, smell, flavor and consistency…”.

It’s also worth reintroducing a related term that was widely used until the end of the 19th century: “sap”! This term is already present in R. Estienne’s Dictionarium latinogallicumsous Saliua, dated 1538. Richelet, in his Nouveau dictionnaire françois, written in 1710, points out that “each sap is different according to the nature of the plants (…). So, with regard to wine, sap is a certain flavor, in keeping with the nature of the vine stock, which the stock has communicated to the bunch, and the bunch to the wine.”

Concentration by various modern techniques (concentrators, reverse osmosis, oak chip maceration, addition of industrial materials…) can give wines power, but upon aeration, and especially with ageing, one discovers the absence of complexity in such technical wines. The term consistency (the wine’s natural concentration) is therefore distinct from power (concentration accentuated by modern oenological techniques).

In both white and red wines, the importance of tannin and its harmonious ripening is paramount. It’s because a wine has great consistency that it can achieve “grand vin” status! For red wines in particular, it’s the quantity and, above all, the quality of the tannin that’s crucial to achieving the highest standards of quality and originality. Tannin contributes fully to the wine’s color and consistency, and of course to its ability to age harmoniously. Although it comes mainly from the skins – hence the importance of a juice/skin ratio as close as possible to the ideal – it also develops on the pips. Henri Jayer considered that the most interesting tannins came from the pips, hence the great attention he paid to their ripening and to the way they were treated during cuvaison: “never hit the pips too hard by excessive punching down, which is better started at the end of fermentation, at a density of one thousand, and with a different frequency depending on the vintage! In the 18th century, Dom Denise recommended sucking the pips before deciding on the harvest date!

The more complex the terroir where the grapes are born (quality of the parent rock, quality of the clays, very favorable exposure, slope, sunshine, ideal circulation of water…), the more the plant will offer its grapes the capacity to reach the most optimal physiological maturity of the year. There is a hierarchy in all the great terroirs of the world, hence its recognition in the vineyard that has taken this philosophy furthest, Burgundy, with the distinction of Grands Crus, Premiers Crus, Village appellations and regional appellations. Not all places are created equal, and what is true in Burgundy is true everywhere, even in Bordeaux, where the “Château” brand has taken precedence over the hierarchy of terroir!

The importance of plant material is also essential. Productive clones should be avoided, massal selection should be favored, and old vines should be cherished… Well-treated vines make admirable centenarians! In the vast majority of emerging vineyards, and unfortunately in many top-quality European vineyards, too much emphasis has been placed on clones, too much has been demanded of the vines in terms of fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides, and we are forced to uproot them at forty years of age or even younger, “when it’s at forty that a vine begins to be interesting”, as Henri Jayer liked to say! Of course, you need to be very careful in your choice of rootstock, and don’t hesitate to undertake research to return to the free-standing vine, which is even better suited to expressing the complexity of the terroir.

The importance of the vintage in determining tannin quality is probably not emphasized enough, probably because modern oenology maintains the illusion that it can work wonders in the cellar whatever the quality of the grapes! The more favorable the vintage, the more ripe the grapes, the more obvious the quality of the tannins, and the more consistent the wine will naturally be. The enlightened wine-lover will treasure wines from exceptional vintages – a few per century – and from great vintages – several dozen per century. Wines from small and medium-sized vintages will be tasted quickly. As for the good vintages, their ageing potential on great terroirs is always well over ten years. Of course, in small, medium and simply good vintages, we choose wines from the best terroirs for ageing (Grands Crus and Premiers Crus). In exceptional vintages, you can easily buy wines from modest terroirs for ageing, if you don’t have enough money to buy Grands Crus and Premiers Crus, whose prices tend to soar.

Without man, a great terroir is only a hope, and man can pervert great terroirs with fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and anti-rot agents. The work of man, throughout the vegetative and fruit-bearing cycle of the vine, is therefore decisive. In large terroirs, organic viticulture should be included in the specifications, leaving the most motivated winegrowers the choice of going even further in respecting the terroir with bio-dynamics. The use of harvesting machines, in their current state of technology, should be banned. Of course, if we want to get away from the philosophy of terroir-based wine, all tricks are allowed, but that’s another story whose dead ends we can see today with the death of certain lands, mad cow disease, perverted algae…

Examples of particularly pronounced consistency in wines:

Chambertin, Mazis-Chambertin, Clos de Tart, Bonnes Mares, Richebourg, Tâche… are naturally very consistent climats . Chambertin is more consistent than neighboring Ruchottes-Chambertin or Chapelle-Chambertin. Generally speaking, red wines from the Côte de Nuits are more consistent than those from the Côte de Beaune or Côte Chalonnaise. There are, of course, differences in consistency between the latter two regions, to the delight of wine-lovers, and certain climats in Givry and Mercurey have great ageing potential. The great climats of Volnay are more consistent than those of Pommard.

In Burgundy, “Grands Crus” and “Premiers Crus” are always more consistent than wines from “Village” appellations and, a fortiori, those from “Regional” appellations . The best “climats” are destined for a great future, a century or more in exceptional vintages, and their consistency is always present, like the 1865 Richebourg and Clos-Vougeot I tasted in December 2006. Burgundy’s great white climats age just as well, like Meursault-Charmes 1846 or Montrachet 1864, tasted on October 22, 2003.

In the Loire, Clos du Bourg is always more consistent than Poyeux on Saumur-Champigny, Buisson Renard than Chailloux on Pouilly, Grands Champs than Les Romains on Sancerre. In Bordeaux, Latour offers one of the finest consistencies of all wines. In Alsace, the clay-limestone soils give wines great consistency and accentuate their fine minerality: Clos Windsbuhl, Hengst, Goldert… Clos Windsbuhl, with its limestone soils, was already mentioned in the 14th century and is equally suited to Riesling, which gives it great fullness, and to Pinot Gris, which combines power and minerality with elegance. Gewurztraminer is a welcome addition to Hengst, for a wine of lively power, delicate texture and exquisite freshness. Goldert, set on oolitic limestone, is also perfectly suited to Gewurztraminer. As Léonard Humbrecht likes to say, “the grape variety is the wine’s first name, the terroir its surname “. This fine phrase is perfectly suited to Alsace’s terroirs, which boast an incomparable mosaic of localities: granitic and gneissic, schistose, volcano-sedimentary, sandstone, limestone, marl-limestone, marl-calcareous sandstone, calcareous sandstone, marl-sandstone, clay-marl, colluvial and piedmont, alluvial, loess and lehms….

  • The wine’s suppleness and elegant attack

The consistency of a terroir wine must always be revealed with suppleness on the palate, generating an elegant attack. Martine Coutier, in her Dictionnaire de la langue du vin (p. 386) states that “suppleness qualifies a wine whose consistency offers no asperity and which seems to adapt to the mouth thanks to moderate acidity and astringency”. In 1845, W. Franck, in his Traité sur les vins du Médoc (p. 177) wrote: As they developed, the reds of 1834 largely lost the vicious taste that had caused us to fear for their success; this is unquestionably one of our great years; it combined great warmth and strength, suppleness and a very rare pleasantness”. In 1869, J.-M. Duvault-Blochet, in his book De la Vendange, wrote “the silky suppleness that true gourmets love so much”. The following year, in 1870, Emile Féret, in his Almanach du buveur (p. 67), declared: “The wines of Blayais and Bourgeais (vintage 1868) have perfectly lived up to the expectations placed on them at the start of the harvest. Today, they have an attractive color, great suppleness, a taste of fruit that is becoming more pronounced by the day, and a clarity of taste that is quite exceptional”.

Consistency and suppleness like to go hand in hand in the appreciation of an authentic terroir wine, leading the editor of the Larousse dictionary, no doubt inspired by gourmets, to define suppleness as “the flexibility of consistency”. This exquisite taste sensation is still the signature of a great wine made using viticultural and oenological practices that respect nature. Any exogenous addition during the vinification and ageing of a wine perverts it!

Examples of finesse particularly evident in wines:

Romanée-Conti, Griottes-Chambertin, Ruchottes-Chambertin, Amoureuses (sur Chambolle), Iles des Vergelesses (sur Pernand), Grèves (sur Beaune), Genevrières (sur Meursault), Caillerets (sur Puligny), Les Chaponnières (sur Rully), Les Champs Martin (sur Mercurey), Clos du Cellier aux Moines (sur Givry), Les Coères (sur Montagny), La Fortune (sur Bouzeron)… naturally give a sensation of great suppleness as they enter the mouth. Wines from the great terroirs of Pouilly-sur-Loire, particularly those from the Saint-Andelain hilltop, enter the mouth with a great suppleness that allows their beautiful minerality to unfold gracefully. Clos Häuserer, in Alsace, where Riesling thrives, thanks to its marly-limestone substrate and fine clays, gives birth to a wine that enters the mouth with a generous suppleness that blends perfectly with a nervous, saline finish.

  • Wine viscosity and smoothness

One of the most overlooked aspects of sensory analysis, viscosity is an essential criterion for appreciating a terroir wine, a “climat” wine . Yet it’s a term put into circulation as early as 1380 by Evrart de Conty in his Problèmes d’Aristote (XXIII, 27, p. 169): “la viscosité et la unctuosité du vin doulx aident moult aussi (…) Car chose crasse et unctueuse noe volentiers de sa nature.” This quality is conferred by sugars, alcohol and glycerol, but it’s the quality of the tannins that generates a more or less brilliant viscosity in the mouth. The more the climate naturally brings its grapes to optimum physiological maturity, the more radiant the viscosity of the resulting wine. When we think of the great terroir olive oils, we understand what viscosity is, the noble quality of this agricultural jewel. Pressed as soon as they are picked, the olives give rise to an oil of great, delicate viscosity. It’s perfect for enjoying on the table… but also for reactivating the palate when you’ve tasted a lot of wine! Focusing on viscosity allows us to perceive the quality of the wine’s tannins: round, coated, delicate, fatty, unctuous… or hard, firm, acerbic… When the wine is young, but from a great terroir, we quickly feel the density of the tannins and that wonderful oily sensation. It’s because a great terroir wine has good viscosity that its minerality can be expressed without dominating. Viscosity is arguably the cradle of minerality, tannin being the fundamental element of a great terroir wine.

An example of particularly marked viscosity in wines:

Among the Burgundian “climats” that generate the most immediate and unctuous viscosity, we should mention the best parcels of Clos de Vougeot(Grand Maupertui, En Musigné)… Mazoyères-Chambertin, Richemonne (Nuits-Saint-Georges), Clos des Epenots (Pommard), Clos des Santenots (Volnay)… In Sancerrois, the Grands Champs climat produces a wine of regal balance, viscosity and racy minerality. In Alsace, Heimbourg and Herrenweg give wine-lovers the opportunity to fully appreciate the racy viscosity expected of a great terroir wine.

In the Loire, Coulée de Serrant (on Savennières) offers an iodized, unctuous mouthfeel, one of the finest sensations of alert, elegant viscosity when the wine reaches full maturity. Brézé, from Saumur, combines great mineral tension with exquisite viscosity. In reds, Cent Boisselées, on Bourgueil, regularly gives birth to a gourmet wine, with delicious fruity accents combined with beautiful viscosity. Similar sensations, against a different mineral backdrop, for Clos du Chêne Vert in Chinon.

The Clos Jebsal, with its marl-limestone terroir, pinot gris grape variety and south-facing exposure, is “a terroir that is fundamentally at heart a liquoreux terroir”, as Olivier Humbrecht likes to say. The wine that comes out of it has an astonishing sensation of viscosity, admirably combined with a brilliant vivacity.

  • The liveliness of the wine, its petulance

The vivacity, (or petulance , as it used to be called) is conferred by the wine’s natural acidity, the fruit of subtle fermentative transformations including the famous malolactic fermentation carried out in fine-grained oak barrels. It’s also known as nervousness and tension. In 1736, the Abbé Tainturier, in his Remarques sur la culture des vignes de Beaune (Remarks on the cultivation of Beaune vines ) evoked “vivacity, petulance... wines. ” A little earlier, in 1728, Abbé Arnoult, speaking of Alosse (now Aloxe-Corton), in his Dissertation sur la situation de Bourgogne (p. 39) recalled that “this small village produces wines of extreme delicacy; they are less lively than the previous ones (Beaune wines), but of a more flattering taste…”. In 1822, A. Jullien, in his Topographie de tous les vignobles connus (p. 23) considered that “vifs is said of wines that have little mellowness without being piquant; those with this quality are light and diuretic.”

Acidity, more commonly known as vivacity in wine tasting, is the vehicle for sublimating the natural minerality of terroir wines. It maintains a very subtle relationship with the mineral salts they all contain, with great variability depending on their place of birth. This biochemical process is known as salification. Thanks to this process, the mineral salts blend harmoniously in the mouth with the wine’s natural acids. Of course, the acids have a reciprocal effect on the salinity. It’s easy to understand why enlightened wine-lovers were so keen on the wines of Didier Dagueneau in the Loire and Olivier Humbrecht in Alsace, who helped bring the term minerality to the fore in the 20th century. In Burgundy, at the same time, it was Nadine Gublin who launched interest in minerality, popularizing the term “salinité”.

Olivier Humbrecht emphasizes the quality of acids rather than their quantity. “It’s not so much the quantity of acid that gives structure, but its quality or strength. In wines, tartaric acid (natural, of course!) helps to obtain a beautiful texture, as it favors a better association with minerals and increases the wine’s sensation of salinity. From a green, vegetal acid (malic), we move on to a juicy acid that makes us salivate and whets our appetites, while exacerbating the wine’s fruitiness… which is still more pleasant!”

This vivacity underlines the wine’s minerality and salinity. Alcoholic fermentation, followed by malolactic fermentation, bring about subtle transformations that ensure the wine’s racy vivacity, which chisels its consistency while enlivening its texture. It’s this vivacity that brings the wine to life on the palate, making it vibrate. Of course, it also enhances the aromatic freshness of any great “climat” or “lieu” wine, as well as its mineral style.

A particularly lively wine!

In Burgundy, the climats that offer the most radiant vivacity are Chambertin, Clos de Bèze, Mazis-Chambertin, Clos des Lambrays, Clos de Tart, Bonnes Mares, to the north of the Côte, Richebourg, Cros-Parantoux, Grands Echezeaux, Vaucrains and Saint-Georges in its center, Les Rugiens and Le Clos des Chênes to the south, to name but a few. In white, Meursault1er Cru Gennevrières and Saint-Aubin1er Cru En Remilly are prestigious ambassadors. Schneckelsbourg, a lieu-dit in the heart of the Grand Cru Brand, offers one of the finest salinities revealed by a racy vivacity in Alsace. Clos du Bourg and Le Mont, from Vouvray, offer wines of dazzling vivacity against a backdrop of beautiful consistency.

  • The texture of the wine

Before the term texture became a major descriptor of wine quality, Rabelais, in Gargantua in 1542 , referred to “un vin de tafetas” and Molière, in Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme in 1670 , to “un vin à sève veloutée”. Abbé Tainturier in 1763 and A. Jullien in 1816 often used the term “soyeux”. These expressions, which today are grouped under the descriptor “texture”, were used to describe remarkable wines, offering beautiful sensations of intensity and fullness, wines that “have substance”!

The texture of wine, (its fabric), already mentioned by Shakespeare when he evoked the great wines of France and the nectars of Burgundy, has been perfectly highlighted in modern times by the admirable Pierre Poupon, who left us in 2010, in his fine book Plaisirs de la dégustation (1988, p. 99): “Passive touch, that of the entire wall of the oral cavity, collects and gathers information on the texture of the wine. Surprising as it may seem, wines are like fabrics: their tactile aspects are many and varied, pleasant or traumatic. There are smooth wines and rough wines, supple wines and stiff wines, harsh wines and velvety wines. These impressions come, as with fabrics, from their physical constitution.”

Martine Coutier and Jean-Pierre Marchand happily point out that “the tactile sensations provided by the elements of a wine are defined in terms of texture. Texture expresses the quality of touch in the mouth, from smooth and silky to rough and coarse. Its expression often refers to the feel of fabrics (velvety…). This is why we speak of the wine’s grain, whose quality depends essentially on that of the tannins”. (Petit Manuel du Goûteur de vin, p. 73)

The weave of the fabric differs, and so do the wines, depending on the quality of the tannins, hence the need to allow them to reach the ideal ripeness according to the characteristics of the vintage. This ripeness is now called “phenolic” and “skin” ripeness , and differs from the technological ripeness of classic oenologists (simplified, sugars and acidities).

Moreover, the more complex the terroir, the more likely it is to achieve “Grand Cru” status, the higher the ripeness of the tannins in the grapes, which is always superior to that of less complex terroirs, whatever the vintage. As a result, the wine’s grain can be coarse, angular or round and fine… with every conceivable nuance, as is the rule for noble fabrics!

Henri Jayer deplored the fact that some winegrowers, excellent viticulturists and winemakers, were neglecting the ageing of their wines. In the 1960s-1970s, barrel ageing had often been abandoned in favor of tank ageing, which was easier to use, even for great terroirs. However, as Henri Jayer, faithful to the teachings of 18th and 19th century viticulture (see Dom Denise and Jules Lavalle), advocated, ageing time is just as important as winemaking time. Aging must take place in oak barrels from the best forests, to ensure fine-grained wood. When the ” climate ” allows it, new oak barrels are always preferable to one, two or three-wine barrels.

Today, many oenologists advocate the control of second fermentations – malolactic fermentations – by administering industrial yeasts and bacteria to wines. Henri Jayer was, of course, hostile to this practice, which he saw becoming widespread throughout the world! By discovering this long-mysterious process, science offered oenologists and winemakers a field of industrial application that they embraced without hesitation! The process could be mastered quickly, with no risk to the future of the wine…

Sylvain Pitiot, one of Henri Jayer’s most devoted followers, advocates the slowest possible malolactic fermentation process. To achieve this, he places his barrels in the cellar for the winter, at a temperature of around 5°C to start with, rising gradually until summer. The barrels are then lowered into the cellar, where the temperature remains constant… and the cellar is ready to receive the new vintage! This essential period of ageing takes place at the rhythm of the wine’s life, naturally, without the addition of any foreign bacteria. “This allows the wine to draw more smoothness and suavity from its lees. Here (at Clos de Tart) we don’t like things to be done quickly. The wine spends 18 months in new barrels. We’re in no hurry!

It’s barrel ageing that allows the wine’s natural texture to unfold, refine and develop, while respecting the identity of each terroir. Barrels do not add new tannins. Rather, its microscopic pores allow the wine to breathe slowly, benefiting from slow, controlled oxidation. The barrel is not a source of make-up for the wine, but a cradle where its texture is refined, where the natural tannins combine at their own pace to magnify the noble characteristics of the terroir. If Henri Jayer’s wines are still so sought-after today, it’s first and foremost for their incomparable texture, respecting the identity of each terroir: Echezeaux, Richebourg, Cros Parantoux… The 1959 Richebourg tasted today remains a masterpiece!

The higher the quality of the wine’s birthplace (climat, canton, clos, enclos, lieu-dit…) , the more this texture asserts itself on the palate, generating delicate sensations of velvetiness, silkiness, taffeta… Their mouthfeel evokes great fabrics: silk, velvet, taffeta. The sensation of “silky” is distinct from that of “velvety” or “taffeta”, even if the differences are subtle. It’s right from the attack, the first taste impression as soon as the wine comes into contact with the mouth, that texture asserts itself in wines from great ” climats ” . Of course, it’s when the tannins mellow, with harmonious ageing, that the great “climat” wine asserts itself with a noble texture.

An example of a wine whose texture stands out:

In Burgundy, Romanée-Conti, tamed by the years, is the undisputed ambassador of this superb quality. After tasting a Romanée-Conti, Eric Orsenna of the Académie Française exclaimed: “And then, suddenly, just when you thought you’d exhausted all known pleasures, there comes a miracle, a caress, a sweetness, the breath of a rose petal just before it fades.” Musigny, Amoureuses, Clos-Saint-Jacques, Richemone, Caillerets or Vigne de l’Enfant Jésus are elbowing for the runner-up spot! Poyeux and Terres Chaudes on Saumur Champigny or Coteau de Noiré and Les Granges on Chinon, La Mouline and Hermitage in the Rhône Valley, Cheval Blanc in Bordeaux, are also magnificent champions… In white, Buisson Renard on Pouilly-sur-Loire or Les Pucelles on Puligny-Montrachet take up the challenge perfectly! Le Brand, a Grand Cru in Alsace, the ideal terroir for Riesling, always offers a remarkably taut texture.

  • The wine’s signature minerality

Contested by many people today, the minerality is praised by others, such as soil microbiologist Claude Bourguignon and geologist Yves Hérody. The famous Alsatian winemaker Léonard Humbrecht is its most inspired exponent, as was the late Didier Dagueneau. As for me, I’m an unrepentant researcher into the minerality of wines, even if I know that scientific research hasn’t yet found the molecule that explains it! Remember, just because science hasn’t found something doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist! I’ve been known to recognize “Vins de Terre” in California, wines from specific parcels of land with bedrock, among other technical, varietal and brand wines, thanks in particular to this descriptor! It is thus the key descriptor for appreciating a terroir wine.

David Lefebvre, an oenologist who had the opportunity to make wine in France, California and New Zealand, and is now a journalist for a number of trade publications, has done the most work on the descriptor “minerality”. He distinguishes it from sulphurous odours, flint, gunpowder, burnt or oxidized aromas, pencil lead, graphite or ink, to underline the great variability of this descriptor, for which no consensus has been found! He reminds us that minerality has no smell, but can be tasted. “Mineral compounds have no smell, but they can provoke physico-chemical reactions such as CO2. There’s a simple reason for this: mineral salts are 100% soluble or insolubilized (they form crystals), and cannot pass into the air as a gas. Organic compounds, on the other hand, have an odor”. (Le Rouge et le Blanc, N° 100, 2010)

His approach is essential, as it also has obvious epistemological implications. He reminds us that there is such a thing as inorganic chemistry and organic chemistry, and that only the latter is taught and studied in depth in preparation for the Diplôme National d’Oenologue. However, it has long been known that wine is very rich in minerals, accounting for around 85% of its constituents! It’s always a good idea to remember that wine contains a lot of water, a mineral compound if ever there was one, as well as carbon dioxide and salts, “not forgetting the elements at the hinge between the organic and the mineral, the organo-minerals”.

The scientific reminder is essential, as it highlights that a mineral compound is by definition a compound that is stable over time. “Wine is therefore made up of elements that cannot be decomposed, and others that can still be decomposed. Yet, as David Lefebvre points out, “in the major reference that is Ribéreau-Gayon, with its 3,000 pages in two volumes, there are only three pages devoted to minerals…”. So it’s not surprising that official oenologists find it difficult to take an interest in the minerality of wines, whereas winemakers who remain committed to the production of terroir wines have integrated it seamlessly into their appreciation. Olivier Humbrecht, one of the leaders of the terroir revival, likes to point out that “minerality is essential for the health and balance of the vine. The minerality of a wine is the result of quality viticulture! Good minerality is the signature of a job well done. Without minerality, there is no personality and no signature of a place.

What’s more, leading international wine critic Robert Parker, who is also friends with the world’s most famous contemporary oenologist, has made the concentration of dry extract, often enriched with gum arabic – many oenologists recommend up to 30 grams per liter – his main criterion for assessing wines, which he “parks” when he gives them a score of 90 out of 100 or more. Concentration and sweetness, following the addition of gum arabic, are thus the major mouthfeel descriptors of contemporary critics, the aroma breviary the key to olfactory descriptors.

It was therefore important for David Lefebvre, as a chemist and oenologist in his own right, to point out that the dry extract of wine, like its alcohol and acidity, is organic matter, and therefore falls within the scope of organic chemistry, as known to oenologists. It’s easy to see why oenologists use and abuse gum arabic (and many other biochemical additives) to please modern critics, most of whom are of the “Parkerian” persuasion . We can only hope that the journalists’ barrel is enriched to the maximum with this miracle product, “body-built” as we often say today, which has the effect of artificially increasing the wine’s sweetness, to the detriment of its minerality and salinity, which are thereby masked.

“And yet it turns” said Galileo when he renounced the theory of heliocentrism (the earth revolves around the sun) to avoid being burned at the stake! ” And yet there’s minerality in the wines” proclaim winegrowers who resist the siren calls of technical wine, as well as wine lovers and enlightened critics… This can be costly for “terroirist” winegrowers who make exquisite terroir wines with a sparkling minerality that are sought after by enlightened wine lovers, but that don’t please mainstream critics. Such is the case, for example, with Ted Lemon (Littorai, Sonoma, California), who makes arguably the finest American wines today from pinot and chardonnay grapes planted on true terroirs (“terres nobles”), but is still struggling to make them known. Fortunately, any wine lover who has tasted these wines becomes an unconditional ambassador!

Excellent news for lovers of terroir wines: the industrial addition of minerals to wines is not for tomorrow, the question being far too complex, as meditating on Mendeleiev’s classification suggests to the most motivated promoters of minerality. Moreover, there are far too many filters to take into account when “tinkering” with minerality: the root filter, the fermentation filter, the multiple biological and physical reorganizations… David Lefebvre can then state loud and clear that “if we draw up profiles of wine composition at the qualitative level, there are as many salinities (minerality) as there are terroirs. For example, calcium levels vary from 10 to 200 milligrams per liter!

This brings us back to the great cultural debate of the 20th century when it comes to wine: do we choose the complex path of terroir, reaffirmed by the application to classify the Côte bourguignonne as a UNESCO World Heritage Site under the name of “climats” of the Burgundy vineyard, which was to spearhead it, or do we choose the simplified path of the technical wine, grape variety and brand, with the addition of one or more of the 300 known modern oenological additives, gum arabic in the lead?

The first step was taken by the Benedictine monks of the 6th century, who delineated terroirs with their Aristotelian science, still marked by ethics. Did they not seek, with wise rationality, to represent terroir in wine? The Cluniac monks who followed them deepened this choice, the Cistercian monks, from the 12th century onwards, imposed it, and Philippe le Hardi, the first of the Grand Dukes of Burgundy, confirmed it. It was at this time, moreover, that the “tastevin”, a remarkable tool for the gourmet-taster, was introduced, enabling him to recognize the original minerality of each “climat”. The legend of the infallible gourmet popularized this choice of the primacy of minerality and its original expression in each “climat”! This gourmet was so skilled that his jealous colleagues put him to the test by planting a vineyard where, in living memory, no stock had ever been planted. Tasting the wine several years later, after a few moments of doubt, he declared bluntly:

  • Sorry, gentlemen, but this wine doesn’t exist!

Michel Serres, impressed by this story told at Clos de Vougeot during his induction as Chevalier du Tastevin, wrote a modern version in his superb book, Les Cinq Sens.

For this vision of wine put into orbit by the Benedictine monks, minerality is the wine’s skeleton, its backbone, hence the terms that frequently come into the mouths of tasters in love with it: “Vertical tension”, “verticality”, “vertical straightening”, “upward spiral”, “rectilinear”, “vibration”, “aerial”, “purity”, “rock water”, “crystalline”, “saline”, “iodized”… Jacques Lardière is undoubtedly the most inspired contemporary winemaker in this field, making minerality the vibrant soul of wine, a soul that rises in an endless upward spiral… However, some of his emulators exaggerate when they talk about “telluric power or “spiral conduit to describe the wines they taste. But with great terroir wines, we’re also into poetry, into the pleasure of being… For our survival, water is enough!

The second path, that of technical, varietal and branded wine, was opened up by oenology, which, like all contemporary sciences, is organized around the principles of simplification and disjunction. It has rightly distinguished between inorganic and organic chemistry (the principle of disjunction). To ensure its operability, oenology has retained only organic chemistry (principle of simplification), as the latter offers technical and biochemical interventions that are easy to implement, through the addition of various and varied substances that enrich the dry extract and promote sweetness, particularly appreciated by the American consumer, educated from early childhood to sodas, each sweeter than the next. To appreciate technical varietal wines, oenologists have invented the so-called “INAO” glass, designed to maximize the organic dimension of the wine in the mouth, both olfactory (aromas) and gustatory (concentration).

We can only hope that tomorrow scientists will take an interest in inorganic chemistry to understand wine, but this will require them to move away from the logic of disjunction and simplification advocated by the official sciences and embrace multidisciplinarity, in particular by taking an interest in the sciences of terroir and their attendant complexity. Fortunately, a number of independent researchers are increasingly open to this approach to complexity, of which Edgar Morin is a tireless ambassador, and René Dumont, the father of ecology, was a precursor! In cancerology as in the social sciences, new inter- and multi-disciplinary approaches are emerging. Let’s hope the same applies to oenology.

In creating sensory analysis, the triumph of oenology could only enhance the nose, a highly sensitive organ, far more sensitive than taste, but incapable of distinguishing natural from artificial aromas. The perfume industry, synonymous with the luxury industry, had paved the way, and the sensory analysis of oenologists had only to follow suit… by simplifying it. Nothing could be easier than producing synthetic yeasts and aromas! The road to food-style wine had been paved.

Whatever the case, terroir wines still exist, and enlightened wine-lovers the world over are passionate about their minerality. Difficult to appreciate, it can be approached by tasting limestone, marl or clay. You’ll discover that these three mineral elements taste different, even if it’s not so great in the raw! Fortunately, this minerality is also evidenced by that subtle note of white pepper that can be felt in direct olfaction in terroir wines, but especially in retro-olfaction.

A richly emotional experience, tasting terroir wines reveals that some generate a finish more marked by sweetness, others imprint a finish more marked by salinity, or the sensation of iodine, but all reveal minerality. Of course, a wine’s minerality is only interesting if it’s consistent, supple and viscous, with an elegant texture, vibrant vivacity, obvious length, pleasant fruitiness and a myriad of nuances in retro-olfaction! The initiatory wine is Cros Parantoux, rehabilitated and replanted by Henri Jayer in the 1950s, and claimed for the first time with the 1978 vintage!

Examples of wines that are particularly mineral

In Burgundy, many “climats” proudly display their promise of minerality: Clos de la Roche, Ruchottes, Perrières, Les Cras, Les Crais, Criots, Les Cailles, Les Caillerets, Les Chaillots, Sous Roche, Roichottes, Casse-Tête, Dents de Chien, Les Porrouts, Porusots, Lavières, Lavrottes, Grèves, Aux Gravains, Les Argillières, Les Marnées, Les Rugiens… All these names evoke the stony hillsides of the Côte bourguignonne. In the Rhône Valley, we find Les Pierres and Les Rocailles in Saint-Joseph. In the Loire, we find Les Cris, Les Chailloux…

With its incomparable diversity of terroirs, Alsace is the emblematic vineyard of minerality in a diversity of expression that is without doubt unequalled, as it also reveals itself differently according to grape variety. The Clos Saint-Urbain, the historic heart of the Grand Cru Rangen de Thann, gives gewurztraminer an astonishing ability to dominate its varietal expression to offer one of the most beautiful mineralities you can taste. As for the expression offered by Riesling, it confirms the incredible plasticity of this grape variety, “this transparency in relation to its place of origin”. (Olivier Humbrecht)

In the Bordeaux region, with growing interest in biodynamic viticultural practices, we’re starting to find a few wines offering great, savory sensations of minerality. Stéphane Derénoncourt’s Domaine de l’A and Olympe and Yvon Minvielle’s Château Lagarette are the best ambassadors of this trend. Will we soon be seeing the names of lieux-dits (“climats”) proudly displayed on Bordeaux labels?

  • Long on the palate, a wine that holds its own

A great terroir wine “has length on the palate as Hubert de Montille passionately expresses in the film Mondovino. It’s not enough for it to be aromatic and tannic, with a pronounced taste of wood, as technical wines know how to be; its complexity must be actualized by a long presence on the palate.

Once the wine has been swallowed, when in the presence of a great wine, the taster experiences a clean, digestible, mineral mouthfeel. If the wine has too much acidity for its consistency and texture, the finish will be too lively. If the tannins of the wine tasted are not of great quality (weakness of terroir, lack of maturity…), the finish will be said to be “drying”, “piquant”, “hard”, “bitter”… If the wine is too alcoholic and lacks balance, the finish will be considered “hot”, “burning”…

A few examples of wines with impressive length

Corton-Charlemagne and Montrachet rival each other in Burgundy to enchant our palates indefinitely. Hermitage, in the Vallée du Nord, always gives birth to a wine of admirable length, as do La Dame Brune and La Turque in Côte Rôtie, and Les Lauves and Clos de Cuminaille in Saint-Joseph. Les Monts Damnés de Chavignol, in the Sancerrois region, offers incomparable mineral length…

  • Aromatic persistence

Aromatic persistence is the length of time that wine, once swallowed – or spat out in professional tastings – allows the mouth’s aromas to be perceived, thanks to the retro-olfaction process. In fact, once in the mouth, wine not only stimulates the palate, but also the “yellow spot”, the organ of olfaction. It has been known since antiquity that the senses of taste and smell are linked in the oral cavity. As a result, it’s impossible to completely dissociate these two organs! We therefore speak of “length in the mouth” (tactile sensation) and aromatic persistence (sensing odors through the retronasal passage). While wines that are “short in the mouth” hardly leave a trace in our memory, those that offer a beautiful persistence of very pleasant aromas remain imprinted for a long time! They’re also known as “peacock’s tails”, which includes duration, quality, complexity and aroma quality. It’s with a persistence of nine seconds or more that we feel this beautiful sensation. This is the prerogative of Grands Crus and Premiers Crus, especially when they have reached their fullness.

The longer a wine lasts, the greater its aromatic persistence. All Grands Crus and Premiers Crus have great aromatic persistence, accentuated by the quality of the vintage. Some evoke licorice, others morello cherry, still others blackberry or blueberry…, but all reveal that delicate note of white pepper, an imprint of the terroir.

Some examples of wines with very strong aromatic persistence

The lieu-dit Rangen de Thann, in Alsace, is without doubt one of the longest-lasting, most harmonious wines in France. Buisson Renard, in the Pouilly-sur-Loire vineyard , rivals it in this respect. Les Chaillées de l’Enfer and Les Terrasses de l’Empire, both from Condrieu, offer exceptional, lively, slender finishes. Of course, Montrachet, like Perrières on Meursault, stand out as “climats” that also offer sumptuous aromatic persistence.

  • Vin de terroir, or the art of aging well

A great vin de terroir is made to last, and its full complexity only really unfolds after long ageing. long agingdepending on the quality of the vintage. Of course, it’s the terroirs classified as Grands Crus and Premiers Crus that have the most promising future. There are exceptional or great vintages that offer such wines the possibility of aging for a century or more. In good and medium vintages, life expectancy is not as great, but there can be some pleasant surprises. With advancing age, the initial quality of the vintage fades, leaving the terroir to assert itself and dare its noble originality.

  • Vive le vin de terroir. Without the talent of the winemaker, the greatest of terroirs is but a hope.

The greater the terroir, the more harmoniously all these characteristics come together , thanks to the dexterity of the winemaker, a true conductor for whom all these descriptors are notes to be composed and made to vibrate. Without the winemaker’s talent, the greatest terroir is no more than a hope. As Henri Jayer liked to say, the truth of wine is in the glass. For him, the art of tasting was as important as the practice of vinification and vineyard management. A true educator of taste, the winemaker must be open to all wines. An accomplished gourmet, he is also a lover of good food and open to all that culture has to offer humanity.

It’s the diversity of expression of terroir wines that delights the wine-lover, a diversity born of the multitude of carefully delimited and hierarchically ordered lieux-dits, combined with the winemaker’s art of making and the characteristics of the year (vintage). Nowadays, as the various terroirs are in the hands of many different winemakers, each one imbues his or her own style, while always respecting the originality of the ” lieu-dit”, the ” climat ” . This was the credo of my four late friends, Henri Jayer, Philippe Engel, Denis Mortet and Didier Dagueneau.

With the beautiful sensation of viscosity generated on the palate by a vin de terroir, suppleness and consistency, combined with natural vivacity and racy minerality, give the wine’s texture its full dimension. A terroir wine, whether white or red, must offer a mouthfeel that evokes silk, taffeta, velvet… From their time in the barrel and their early youth in the bottle, the great terroirs produced by the best winemakers have an unequalled texture. The length of the wine that results from all these qualities harmoniously combined will reveal the subtle aromas of the vintage as well as its original mineral touch!

When to open the bottle?

A learned 19th-century physiologist, P. Gaubert, who was also an enlightened wine enthusiast, summed up the life of wine perfectly. “If, after a few weeks, you open the barrel containing the wine, you will find it to be in a state of apparent immobility. But don’t confine yourself to this first impression, and you will see that wine, from its birth, which dates from the moment of its formation, to its most advanced old age, presents a continuous series of transformations which result in :

1° – changes in its composition;

2° – differences in color, flavour and smell;

3° – that in addition, like other living bodies, it is subject to illnesses, some of which are transient, mere indispositions, and others which denature it forever;

4° – that finally, after a period of time that varies from one or two years to a century or more, it arrives at natural death, stripped, worn out, leaving only a body devoid of all its characteristic properties.”

It’s so good to read the words of these 19th-century scholars, for whom wine was a cultural product in its own right, far removed from our modern-day lobbies that make it a mere alcoholic product, the source of all our ills! Carefully tapped, the wine is put into barrels, “envaissellé” as it was still called in the 19th century. Like a child in its cradle, it will remain there from 10 to 24 months. We make sure it doesn’t get too cold or too hot. We’ll pamper it and marvel at its evolution. He’ll be tasted with a pipette to follow his evolution. Then comes its adolescence, its first years in the bottle. ” It’s very young, but what promise,” exclaims the lover of young wines. When the years have tamed its fiery youth, when its vigor has been sculpted, its tannins rounded, its texture velvety, the enthusiast will murmur: “What a marvel! Then it’s time for the wine to come of age, and we’ll be able to grasp its full brilliance as we dine with family and friends, taking our time to enjoy its infinite complexity. And if the vintage allows it, if it happily spans the century in bottle, the privileged connoisseur will get down on his knees to take in the full dimension of an admirably serene old age…

As Henri Jayer liked to say, “a vin de terroir is good when young. As soon as it’s bottled, the wine lover who doesn’t have an ageing cellar, or who can’t wait to taste it, should enjoy drinking it. If a wine isn’t good when it’s young, aging won’t make it enjoyable!

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