Riesling - wine-rack and ruin

Wines alter with time - sometimes positively, sometimes not. It could be that a number of cases of a particular wine is immediately purchased in a fit of post-tasting enthusiasm, and they are placed in the cellar, but after two or three years it is found that it tastes rather flat and dull, or even unpleasant.

There can be two reasons for this:

• Either the wine was a "deceiver" which had no aging capacity,
• or perhaps storage conditions were not suitable.

The straightforward, inexpensive, everyday Riesling is best consumed soon after purchase. High-quality Rieslings may be given some more time, and they can develop positively.

This also applies to complex, dry Rieslings as well as for all botrytized specialties, which usually possess ageing potential for decades. The winemaker or the wine dealer should be able to give competent advice on whether a wine is suitable for storage and above all for how long.

You can however, always consider the following basic principles:

• a Riesling that is bitter in its youth will not lose this note even after decades. Bitterness suggests green, unripe phenols which become rather more aggressive with increasing age.
• A dry Riesling with a lot of acidity only develops ideally when the acidity is buffered with extracts, alcohol or residual sugar. There would otherwise be the risk of the wine "drying out" and later presenting less acidity but also an empty flavor.