I tasted three 1970 Gaja Barbarescos the other evening. Though this fact may impress some wine aficionados, I’m not bragging.
Old wines have a stigma – and price tag – insinuating that they are something great. The rarity and cost will preclude many from ever getting to sample such wines. That’s not always a bad thing though.
I recall a story that a customer told me once about a group of Russian Oligarchs who were dining at a restaurant and saw wines from the early twentieth century that weren’t listed on the menu. They wanted to order a couple of bottles, but faced opposition from the waiter who insisted the wine was not for sale. The group of men persisted and ultimately paid $100,000 for the wine, which they later compared to vinegar.
My experience, however, involved revolutionary winemaker Angelo Gaja, so perhaps I had more faith in this wine. Getting to the juice was not an easy task. The corks were extremely moist and vulnerable to disintegration; it took several moments to successfully remove them using the Ah So.
The tawny hues, as expected, showed the wines’ age. Two of the three bottles appeared normal, but a third was cloudy and while it didn’t exhibit characteristics of being corked, it certainly was off.
The first bottle I tasted was not exciting. In fact, it was disappointing, lacking acidity, tannins and fruit. The second wine, however, was balanced and elegant – a word I often don’t ascribe to Italian wines. There was something fragile to it, yet it would stand up to the meat course with which it would be paired that evening.
A quick glance at wine-searcher.com shows that a starting bid for the wine is $255 at winebid.com or it could be purchased from two stores in California, at $355 or $650. But who’s to know whether any of these available wines will be as good as that one bottle or as disappointing as the other two?
Drinking old wine is like gambling. You’re taking a chance on something that may not yield a desired outcome. Yes, proper storage and finding a reputable producer will improve the odds as to whether the contents of a bottle will be good, but the 33% success rate of my recent experience is not good enough for me. I prefer to leave my gambling for the casino and racetrack.
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