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Dear wine lovers,

One of the most frequent questions I am asked when I talk about wine is :

When do I know when my wine reaches maturity ?

Well, since wine is often an unpredictable subject (and hopefully it will remain as the last thing we want is to drink an industrial and regular "product"), the answer is not easy...

The big picture answer is : The quicker the wine reaches its "apogée"*, the quicker it will decline. An easy example is with a Beaujolais Nouveau that is at its best in November and almost dead in June. On the other hand, a 1961 Bordeaux which is mature now will remain beautiful another 20 years and start declining after.

If you want to know at which stage a wine of your cellar is, open a bottle, drink 90% of it in a laps of two hours and try to see how it evolves during this time.

Then, do not protect it from oxidation and retry it the next day.

- If it has improved in the first two hours and even got better the next day, let it sleep at least another 5 years and try it then.

- If it has improved in the first two hours and declined the next day, drink it in the next 10 years with other tries in order to know how it actually evolves.

- If it declines within the first two hours, drink it quick.

Of course and as I said earlier, wine can be unpredictable. It has phases when it opens up and closes down. Some traditionalist winemakers** will also tell you not to taste a wine at its anniversary since it has the memory of harvest and that it gets a little crazy at this time period.