That's a roundabout way to introduce a story on cellaring wine, but you have to be something of a fanatic to appreciate the silky complexity of a properly aged wine. And wine-makers from around the world are getting proficient at producing these enjoyable everyday reds. But for folks who want to intensify their appreciation of wine, a first step is to tuck away at least a small cache of bottles intended for aging. With the right wine kept in proper conditions, maturation allows the tannins to fade, the fruit to remain and the bouquet or scent to become profound. The brash youngster transforms over time into a mellow, complex adult.
Wine is a living, changing thing.
He has been at the Lisbon Ave. location since 1961. A quick stroll through the neat rows of boxes and crates turned up a 1938 Chateau Latour, a 1950 Chateau Talbot, a 1967 Chateau d'Yquem and a 1969 Clos St. Denis. The oldest wine he ever tasted was a 1898 Mouton Rothschild. Although the cork was disintegrated, when the wine was poured it was clear and still retained some of its original fruit quality. Older wines can rapidly turn sour once they are exposed to oxygen.