Do you collect wines? Sometimes a few bottles get pushed to the bottom and you forget about them till one day, several years later, you are searching for a wine and you rediscover these aged bottles of wine. That did not happen to me, but I do age my wines and sometimes try to save some for a special occasion. I’ve been waiting to open a Semillon from Australia and an oaked BC Chardonnay for several years, and recently decided to open both bottles and share with a wine-loving friend.
Sometimes special occasions are just to get together with friends, especially since we were all at home during the COVID lockdown. The two bottles of wine we opened were Tyrrell’s Wines Lost Block Aged Release Semillon 1997 and Mt. Boucherie Estate Winery Summit Reserve Chardonnay 2004. The Semillon has 26 years of ageing while the Chardonnay has 19 years of ageing. Yikes, you may say. White wines can’t age. You have to drink them within a few years of bottling for their fresh fruit flavour. That is not always true. If you can properly age your wines in a cool, dark space, the wines will evolve nicely in the bottle. I do have a temperature-controlled wine cabinet now, but previously I had a cool dark closet in my basement that was at the perfect temperature year-round to store and age my wines.
Semillon is an interesting grape variety. Freshly bottled it has bright citrus aromas and flavours and high acidity, but as the wine ages, the colour darkens and the wine takes on a woody and/or nutty character and bring out dried fruit and honeyed flavours. Oak barrels impart tannins that can help a wine age, whether it is white or red. Acidity in wine also helps wines age. With ageing the acidity in the wine does soften as does the level of tannins from oak barrels giving you a more mellow wine. Wines with very long ageing like the two bottles I opened tend to age rapidly once exposed to air, so you should drink the wine as soon as possible. If you have a bottle that is 4-5 years old, it is aged but does not have the need to be consumed as quickly. You can leisurely sip those wines in one day, or even the next day. Let me tell you about the two wines I opened.
My Aged Wine Tasting Notes
Tyrrell’s Wines Lost Block Aged Release Semillon 1997, Australia
This wine was under cork. You can buy new vintages of this wine, but it is now under screw cap. Upon removing the cork, the top half came out cleanly, but the bottom half was crumbly, so we resorted in the end to pour the wine through a filter into our glasses.
Appearance: A clear bright amber plus peach colour.
Nose: Medium-intensity aromas of nuttiness, vanilla and dried stone fruits.
Palate: Dry, medium-body, lean and smooth mouthfeel. Nuttiness and dried stone fruit flavours. Still has a medium level of acidity.
Finish: Medium-plus length finishing dy with citrus and stone fruit flavours.
Mt. Boucherie Estate Winery Summit Reserve Chardonnay 2004, BC
This wine was also under cork, but the cork came out all in one solid piece.
Appearance: A deep clear amber colour.
Nose: Light toastiness plus deep roasted lemon and lanolin aromas.
Palate: Medium-plus body with a thick mouthfeel and great texture. Ripe stone fruit and vanilla flavours to start, then butterscotch, sweet spices, tropical fruit and roasted apple flavours were added with time in the glass. Medium acidity.
Finish: Long finish.
The Rating for both these wines is: Priceless. They were delicious wines to enjoy. If you have a nice cool dark space in your house or a climate-controlled wine cabinet, try buying a few bottles of the same vintage of a wine then open one bottle at a time every five or ten years to see how it ages. It is a great learning experience. If you have any aged wines that you opened recently, please fill in the Comments section below to tell me about the aromas and flavours of those wines. Cheers.
