Aged wines

What time in bottle does

Colour gives it away first. Pizarra 2009 from Algueira, Mencía from slate, shows brick-red glints, while Pizarra 2017 is still cherry red. On the nose the fresh fruit steps back: Massuria 2007 from Bierzo now smells of leather, green tobacco and preserved dark fruit. The tannins of the Pizarra 2009 have turned velvety.

Whites turn a deeper gold. Escalada 2017, a barrel-fermented Godello, still smells of fennel and orange blossom, while Escalada 2013 brings honey, roasted nuts and a light oxidative note that recalls sherry. Acidity keeps them fresh. Aged does not have to mean heavy: Risco 2014, pure Merenzao at 12.5 percent alcohol, is still cherry red after more than ten years, and we drink it lightly chilled.

Why these bottles are still around

Some estates release their wines only after years. Can Ràfols in Penedès kept the Merlot Caus Lubis 2006 in bottle for 16 years after its time in barrique. At Veigamoura, Toni Alonso left the Albariño Quinquenio 2018 on its fine lees for five years before bottling it in 2023. Fernando González's family kept Patrimonio 2018, Algueira's most affordable red, in their own cellar for several years.

For the Massuria from Mas Asturias, the waiting is built in: according to the estate, the 2008 will drink well until 2040 and the 2015 magnum until 2050. That is why we put older vintages of his wine aside, back to 2007.

A vertical at home

In a vertical you open the same wine from several vintages on one evening. We would start with the Escalada, because with Godello you can see the years in the colour.

• Escalada 2009, 2013 and 2017: Godello, fermented the same way every year in used 750-litre casks of chestnut and oak. The 2017 still shows orange blossom, the 2009 honey and nuts.
• Pizarra 2009, 2012 and 2017: we see the 2009 at its peak, and would leave the 2017 for another three or four years.
• Massuria 2007 and 2008: here the weather matters more than the age. In Bierzo, 2007 brought a warm summer and a very early harvest, 2008 an August cooler than any since 1977.

How to serve them

Stand red bottles upright the day before so the sediment settles; the Massuria is bottled unfiltered. Pizarra 2010 and Massuria 2008 open up with an hour in the decanter, and for Cayetana 2017 from Ribera del Duero, Raíz de Guzmán suggests opening the bottle the day before. Serve reds at 16 to 18 °C and aged whites a little warmer than young ones, the Escalada 2009 at around 10 °C.

What to cook

Game and mature cheese suit the reds, say an old Manchego with the Pizarra 2009. We would open Selección Bodega 2010 from Pago de Tharsys in Requena with porcini. The whites need some weight on the plate: lobster or chicken with morels for the Escalada 2009, fish in a butter sauce for the Quinquenio. As an aperitif we would open none of them.