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Posted by: Chef Anne on 2010-06-21, 19:06:10
Hi Morgster! Interesting question because there's no pat answer! You can STORE it for as long as you like, but that doesn't mean you'll get its peak flavor. You could store it for ten years when the peak flavor was a year or five years and the peak flavor had passed, and you could rotate it 'til you're blue in the face, but you may have passed its peak flavor! As you'll see, it depends on a number of factors, depending on what Cabernet Sauvignon you have or what you're thinking of buying. What do we mean by peak? Young Cabernets exhibit deep, rich fruit flavors and often hard tannins, except in inexpensive bottlings. The finer the wine, the more this is likely to be the case. After time, typically around ten years in the case of top grade Cabernets, the fresh aspects begin to develop the spectrum of alluring flavors and aromas we read about in wine reviews such as the one below. Aromas intensify with bottle age. Compare the aging process with fresh vs. cooked sauces. In the case of fresh sauces, the components retain their separate identities. Cooking blends the distinct flavors together to make a whole that is tastier then its component parts. But here's the rub. Not every Cabernet Sauvignon improves with age. As a matter of fact, perhaps 90% will not. This is because red wines made for cellaring are generally unpleasantly tannic in their youth. This has always been true of red Bordeaux, whose general aging profile suggests a peak around 20 years and a very long fall off, often an additional ten years or more. They can remain quite viable even after that, provided they have received proper storage. Here is another opinion: In the 19th and 20th centuries, a large part of Cabernet Sauvignon's reputation was built on its ability to age and develop in the bottle. In addition to softening some of their austere tannins, as Cabernet wines age new flavors and aromas can emerge and add to the wines' complexity. Even with the ability to age, some Cabernet Sauvignon wines can still be approachable a few years after vintage. Premium producers such as the Californian cult wines will produce wines that need time to age and could potentially develop for two to three decades. Overall, the majority of Californian Cabernets are meant to be approachable after only a couple of years in the bottle but can still have the potential to improve further over time. Some Spanish and Italian Cabernet Sauvignons will need ten years to develop but most examples are typically made to be drunk earlier. Many premium Australian Cabernets will also need at least ten years to develop, though many are approachable after two to five years. New Zealand wines are typically meant to be consumed young and will often maintain their green herbal flavors even with extended bottle aging. South American Cabernets have very pronounced fruit flavors when they are young and the best made examples will maintain some of those flavors as they age. South African wines tend to favor more Old World styles and typically require six to eight years' aging before they start to develop further flavors. I'm sure you can see now why I said there was no one answer. After an hour and a half of searching, there still wasn't one given age that's best! It all depends on what kind you have or are thinking of buying. Cheers! :) |
