Wines for laying down | A gift to savor in 15 years

Giving a bottle of wine on Valentine’s Day may seem conventional… unless you meet up in 15 years to taste it! Giving a wine for laying down as a gift is indeed a great way to say “I will always love you”. Here are some suggestions for bottles to put in the cellar and some tips from sommelier Hugo Duchesne to choose them well.

Karyne Duplessis Piche
special collaboration

Sommelier at the Coureur des bois restaurant in Beloeil, as well as at the H3 restaurant in Montreal, Hugo Duchesne is used to opening bottles that have aged for several years.

“Associating wine for laying down and love is such a beautiful symbolism,” he notes.

The specialist is still surprised by the great capacity of white wine to age beautifully. Its main asset for laying down: acidity. “My lover loves white,” he says. It ages so well, because three things allow a wine to age: acidity, sugar or tannins. White wine is full of acidity! A Riesling with 10-12 years of age or even a Meursault is absolutely magnificent. »

Acidity is also a guarantee of longevity for red wines. Even more than tannins, adds the specialist. That’s why he suggests avoiding powerful reds from warm wine regions where acidity is often lower.

Regardless of the color of the wine, the sommelier nevertheless recommends not waiting more than 15 years before opening a bottle.

“A very old Barolo or Bordeaux, it tastes of mushrooms and earthy notes. Is it a Cabernet Sauvignon or a Nebbiolo? Once there, it’s hard to know when the fruit has disappeared,” he adds.

To make sure you don’t go straight, the expert recommends buying three bottles of the same wine. The first can be tasted soon after purchase to appreciate the wine in its youth. The second can be opened 10 years later. At this time, the tasting will judge whether it is better to age the third bottle further or not.

Hugo Duchesne advises to keep in mind a simple adage: “It is better to open your bottle too early than too late. »

But above all, the most important thing is not when you open it, but with whom.

Three bottles to put in the cellar

Large guard white

Rare on the shelves of the SAQ and not very accessible for the wallet, the yellow wine of the Jura is a white designed to cross the ages. The proof: in 2018, three 244-year-old bottles of yellow wine were put up for auction. To learn about this oxidative white wine, without leaving your shirt behind, this bottle from Domaine Berthet-Bondet is ideal. In the heart of the magnificent village of Château-Chalon, the producer produces this Tradition cuvée based on Chardonnay and Savagnin. Like the yellow wine, the barrels are not topped, which means that the wine is in contact with the air. It thus develops pretty typical aromas of curry and nuts that blend with notes of peach and apple pits. The saline and crunchy attack prolongs the pleasure and allows the white wine to age for a very long time.

Domaine Berthet-Bondet Tradition 2018, $38.25 (11794694), 13%, organic

Nebbiolo at a good price

Collectors love Piedmont wines, including reds made from Nebbiolo, which have a reputation for being able to last for decades. Sommelier Hugo Duchesne suggests stepping out of familiar territory and cellaring a Valtellina. In this region located a little more in the north of Italy, in Lombardy, the nebbiolo bears the name of chiavennasca. It is here that the Sandro Fay estate produces this very beautiful gourmet wine with its notes of cherries and blackberries, but whose tannins in the mouth are very present. At less than $40, you can’t go wrong. For $20 more, the Alessandria family’s Barolo opens with classic rose scents that are even more gorgeous after two hours in the carafe, or 10 years from now, when the massive tannins have softened.

Sandro Fay Costa Bassa Valtellina Superiore 2018, $36.50 (14238685), 13%

A little bit of softness

Don’t want to wait? This dessert wine is already 10 years old and does not have a wrinkle. Made from noble rot, like Sauternes, this dessert white is produced in Hungary by the great Disznoko estate. Made from local grape varieties, including furmint, the wine has a grand bouquet of white-fleshed fruit, orange blossom and a touch of white pepper. Like any dessert wine, the length in the mouth is prolonged by the sugar, where the orange notes persist. But the freshness is there. Delicious now with chocolate and divine in 10 years.

Disznoko Tokaji Aszu 5 Puttonyos 2012, $60.75 (12388330), 10%