The deadline was quickly approaching. I looked at my calendar and hoped I had
enough time. My search probably should
have started months ago; however, the limited time period I had given myself
had to work. I started investigating. I had a vague idea of what I needed to find,
but could it be found? Could this be done
in time?
My fortieth birthday was quickly approaching, and I had
still not purchased a birth-year wine to enjoy on my day.
The mission: find a
1974 wine of (hopefully) stellar quality to be shipped to my home in Wyoming…in
the middle of one of the coldest winters in years. Yes, I
had work to do.
Wine is always a mystery.
From the time a grape begins to grow on the vine, the mystery of the
weather, the animals, the harvest, the fermentation, and the aging all create a
vast unknown of what a wine will be. Add to this decades in the bottle after the
initial production and aging, and it is quite clear what a true gamble getting
an excellent bottle of well-aged wine really is.
Mystery one solved: I
found the wine I was looking for—a 1974 Fontanafredda Riserva Speciale Barolo. I love the Nebbiolo grape, and I knew that
Barolos age with grace…as I like to think I have been doing. The wine was located.
Fontanafredda Barolo Riserva Speciale 1974.
The shipping took several days to hash out since the wine
was coming from NYC to Wyoming in weather that was not only reaching well below
freezing, but even below zero. My nerves
started to twitch the instant I received the shipping notice that my birthday
bottle’s journey across the cold U.S. was underway.
Mystery two solved:
the wine arrived unscathed. The
two-day shipping actually ended up being three, but that is another mystery
when living in rural America: when will the package actually arrive? Upon arrival, the bottle was pristine.
On the back of the bottle was a special sticker that this
wine was purchased from a private collection.
The plot thickened. Where had my
bottle been for forty years? I could
easily trace my own path the past four decades, but what about this vino? Had it been with just one owner before the
specialty wine shop (where I made the purchase) bought the bottle? Had it been passed from cellar to cellar,
only to end up in Wyoming as part of a mile-stone birthday celebration? Perhaps I will never know.
Beautiful bottle!
Mystery three solved:
the bottle opened easily. I left
the bottle out at room temperature about half an hour before opening. I decanted the entire bottle, and the first
glass we (hubby and I) had without filtering.
There was so much beautiful sediment left in the bottle and
still some light, tiny sediment particles in that first glass. I was so nervous about whether the bottle was
still alive that I feared filtering it might actually aerate the wine, and I
wanted to do anything to make sure the wine still showed well. After being poured in the glass, the color
of beautiful brown, Fig-Newton filling reflected back at me--slightly hazy, but
looking good with no visible flaws. I
was on pins and needles to see if my wine gamble had paid off!
Beginning to decant.
Fig Newton filling colored.
Slightly hazy, but a wonderful aged, brown tone.
Mystery four solved:
the wine was very aromatic (so much so my daughter said she could smell
it all the way across our dining room table!).
The first sniff was of fig and baked plum; then the smoke
and campfire aromas came through. Next
was dull earth, then cedar and automotive garage. The complexity of the wine made me
smile. The mystery was so close to being
solved. Would this wine live up to my
expectations?
Aromatic on the nose.
Mystery five solved:
the wine drank beautifully! The
first touch of the wine on the tongue was the fig and baked plum from the
nose. This was followed by a punch of
acid, making my mouth water. The earth,
green pepper, and herbaceous flavors led into a lengthy finish of baked plum,
wood chips, and sawdust.
Drinking wonderfully.
We opened the bottle at 8:35 p.m. and finished the first
glass after 9:00. I did filter and funnel
the second glass since I was no longer worried about the flavor dissipating. The second glass was just as good; in fact,
my hubby liked it better at true room temperature. We finished the second glass each (and
bottle) two hours after the initial opening.
The wine still had so much life.
The fruit flavors were somewhat muted, but the acid, earth, herbs, and
wood were shining through.
My mission was accomplished: even though I almost sabotaged my assignment,
the mystery of the birth-year wine was solved.
Like life, wine is such a mystery. (I would say that life is like a bottle of
wine, NOT like a box of chocolates.) We
never know what is coming in our future, just as wine producers do not exactly
know what the future of their wines may be.
Even the best and most experienced winemakers must deal with the unknown
of the weather, the birds, and the aging process. Two bottles of wine stored right next to each
other over the course of forty years may age differently.
Twenty years ago I had no clue what I would be doing when I
turned forty…except maybe feeling old. Life
will throw us all curve balls and take us down paths we could never have
imagined. We will face life, death, and
the unknown. But at the end of that
path, we are like that mysterious bottle of wine--better for our aging, with so
much left to show, not quite knowing what tomorrow--or the next day--will
bring. So…bring. It. On!
