Wine gets better with age

Not really… most wines don’t improve with time – they hold but don’t improve. Ageing wine is an act of give and take – often what a wine gains in aromatic complexity it loses in vitality.

Some wines are “better” than others

Like many things in wine – that depends… while there are benchmarks of quality such as length and balance, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, we enjoy what we enjoy.

Serious wines are always sealed with a cork

Many of the world’s most famous wines are sealed with a cork but every closure has its good points and bad points and illustrious names such as Chateau Margaux regularly test different closures such as screwcap. To taste mature Australian wines which have been sealed under screwcap is a joy and they tend to show a slightly slower evolution than wines under cork.

In poor vintages the wines are poor

Poor vintages are often labelled as such based on poor weather conditions during the season. Rigourous viticulture and particularly grape selection can still allow a winery to craft an excellent wine in a so-called poor vintage. It is also important to remember that every site is unique and while a region may have a poor vintage overall – there will always be micro climates within regions and there will always be exceptions to rules.

Sulphites cause headaches

The only warning on all bottles of wine, sulphites are often blamed for causing headaches and hangovers. With fewer than 1% of the population allergic to sulphites they are an unlikely culprit. Dried fruit and even salad bars regularly contain much higher levels of sulphites than wine. Wine contains alcohol which can dehydrate and also histamines, both of which are more likely to be at fault for headaches from wine.

MICK O’CONNELL MW
Portfolio Manager