Tim's Ravings

I am not into facelifts or other enhancements, as you can see from my photo. I mean, just look at Madonna.

In the end, age and time don’t lie. So it is with wine.

Traditionally wines - red ones in particular – have been made to age. Its what the French and Italians do so well, particularly in Bordeaux, Burgundy and Barolo.

These wines are made so that as time passes the tannins become finer, the acids soften and fruit matures. The combination of these things means a wine that is soft, elegant and complex, a joy to all of the senses.

It starts in the vineyard, where the skill is to craft fruit with excellent flavours and tannins at lower sugar ripeness levels. The wine is slightly lower in alcohol but higher in acid which combines with other components to preserve the wine. On the other hand, fruit with less acid, higher alcohol and broad fruit and tannins mean the final wine will not age.

In the winery the extraction process ensures the right components are converted to the wine and this recipe varies depending on the vineyard characters. Finally there is the conditioning process of ageing in barrels with infinite variables to ensure longevity.

It is all incredibly difficult and not for the impatient, but the rewards are immense. It often takes generations to perfect.

In Australia, most wineries employ shortcuts to get the wines soft when young. These ‘face-lifts’ include higher alcohol (giving sweetness and less acid), overt oak treatments, added tannins and a host of additives which take the rough edges off. The wines are designed to drink well at a young age and believe me, it keeps the accountants happy. But they won’t age.

I know which route I prefer – the non-surgical one and to hell with bean-counters I love you to death, Bert Newton, but I don’t wanna look like you.