The joys of aging... taste a museum release dry white
By Joelle Thomson
What is it about does an 11 year old white taste like and how will I know if I like it?
The best way to find out if you like aged wines is to try them. It’s easier said than done but this week we’re in luck; we are armed with a couple of bottles of an 11 year old dry white from Marlborough to taste in store with you.
I say ‘dry’ because it tastes that way after spending 11 years in the bottle, developing its intensely concentrated fruit flavours of dried lemon zest and peach juice, which are balanced by this wine’s naturally high acidity. When it was first released a decade ago, the 2007 Doctors’ Riesling tasted significantly more medium dry. youthful flavours hadn’t integrated and the succulent lemon, apple and peach flavours seemed sweeter, although they were still (in my view) extremely well balanced by Riesling’s vibrant acidity.
One of the joys of tasting great wine over many years is getting to see first hand how they can age. And this wine is a great case in point.
Not long before I left Auckland, Dr John Forrest was visiting on one of his many tasting trips, and he popped around one afternoon with his distributor to show me the 2007 Doctors’ Riesling. It tasted incredibly fresh, still concentrated in flavour and vibrantly lime and lemon zesty. That was five years ago.
I count myself lucky to have had the opportunity to enjoy this wine yet again, this time just a fortnight ago while eating whitebait fritters and watching the shimmering midday sun on the water in the Marlborough Sounds. It was at Dr John and his wife Dr Brigid Forrest’s home and the three of us enjoyed a glass each of this impeccably aged wine – the bottle had been open about five days at the time and it still tasted remarkably fresh.
That’s Riesling for you.
It is far from a one horse show – if you think Riesling is all about sweetness, it’s time to think again.
Come into Regional this Wednesday and we will have a bottle open for tasting – and we hope you’ll check it out yourself too because $24.99 is an absolute bargain for a beautifully aged dry white from Marlborough.
There are some joys of aging – and Riesling is one of the best.