The wine market has forgotten the concept of time
When is the right moment to open a bottle of wine? This is a complex discussion and too many wines are drunk too young, especially whites. This is a big problem, especially because it means that many wines are consumed exactly in the period when the wine is still developing in the bottle and did not yet arrive at its best drinking moment. As a consequence, the consumers (most often they are not experts) are missing the best of what many wines can offer. Therefore I am proposing in this article the argument to start the sales of (white) wines later.
My second point is that if a wine is intended to be consumed within 6 months after bottling, glass bottles under cork closure are not needed and can be replaced by other materials. In this case we are speaking about fast-moving consumer goods, and a part of the wine production is to be considered as such. Glass is a hugely CO2-intensive material. Reducing the amount of glass bottles by using alternative packaging means a big reduction of CO-2 output from the wine industry: it would be a great step towards more sustainability. The second aspect is that there will be less pressure on the cork production and this would release the pressure on the cork market.
INTRODUCTION
It is June, I am in a restaurant in Naples and the waiter offers me a Fiano di Avellino DOCG of the last vintage: I refuse the wine. Why? Because this is not the way I want to enjoy this wine. At this point we are witnessing one of the problems of the wine market today: Fiano that has been harvested 8 or 9 months ago, has been bottled 3 or 4 months ago: such a wine cannot be at the right moment for drinking. Fiano di Avellino is a wonderful, refined wine, an example of pure Italian excellence but it needs time to develop in the bottle. Fiano is best drunk between 3 and 6 years after the harvest and some of the best Fianos even later. Maybe the market wants a fresh wine for historical reasons: long ago, when the winemaking technics were not well developed, the best wine was the most fresh and the youngest: bars in Milan and Venice marketed their wines as the most fresh. The youngest wine was the best. But that is the past: the quality of the wines is different now, the production, the transport systems and last-but-not least, the glass bottle, allow the wine to mature and be drinkable after more time. Another point is economics: many producers, bars, restaurants and dealers need cash flow and cannot afford to stock wines for a long period: this is a general problem of wine.
Originally, the glass bottle was a luxury and all bottled wines were aged because this was considered necessary. For a long period the glass bottles have remained luxury and wines were stocked with the intention to drink them after several years, also white wines (mostly white Burgundy and Riesling). Also the private consumers put their white and red bottles in the cellar for a few years. The idea of buying a bottle and drink it directly was not common.
It is my intention to say that it would be a good idea to go back to the glass bottle as a luxury, because it is a luxury – we only have made the error to forget that.
And it is my intention to propose that all wines that are made with the intention to be drunk in the period may-december of the year following the harvest should never see a glass bottle. There are many suitable packaging solutions and it would relax the market for glass and for corks.
Today the situation is the opposite of the past: it seems as if producers and restaurants are hurrying to sell a wine in bottle as fast as possible. And that is a big problem: the wine market has forgotten the concept of time.
DEVELOPMENT OF WINE IN THE BOTTLE
Everybody who has bottled wines and follows the development of that wine in the bottle knows this general wisdom: during the first months after bottling a wine tends to close and does not offer the sensations and aromas that will come out later. Depending on the wine (type, grape variety, quality) the wine starts to open up after 6-7-8 months, sometimes earlier, sometimes later, and great red wines need many years to open up (Barolo, Aglianico). Who drinks a wine within 6 months after bottling will drink that wine in the most unfortunate drinking period. When bottled in March, the wine will start to open up in November of that year, but we know that many white and rosé wines have already been drunk! It means that many white and rosé wines are drunk exactly during the period when the wine is still not in its good period. It’s a waste!
WHITE AND ROSE WINES
It is not only Fiano, all white and rosé wines need some time in bottle to be enjoyable. Every quality wine needs some development in bottle: the period depends on various factors, variety, vintage, soil, yield, standards of vinification. So a general rule about a drinking window does not exist. Like Fiano, a wonderful and well-made white, or a rosé wine will offer some fresh fruit when young, but forget the refinement, the depth of flavors, the wonderful, complex aromas, hints of tropical fruit and hydrocarbon. All the wonderful sensations for which a wine is known are not there when the bottle is opened too soon. Opening that bottle is a pity!
By the way, we are witnessing a situation that many white and rosé wines are bottled even earlier to be available at the fairs in March and April and as a result, these wines are sold too young.
The aging period depends on the quality and the character of the variety: Vermentino or Pinot Bianco are able to show great character and elegance when young. White wines like Fiano, Albana, Timorasso, Verdicchio, Greco, Riesling, and also Chardonnay, need more time but also Vermentino and Pinot Bianco show better when they have been given more time. A general rule is that a wine needs at least 6 months in the bottle to develop and become enjoyable. But many white and some rosé wines continue to develop positively and will reach the best drinking moment years later. It is also a matter of taste to define the best drinking moment. It is not easy to define the best drinking moment and here I do not want to go into that discussion. I merely want to make the point that many wines can continue to develop complexity, depth, character and terroir expression without losing essential freshness and drinkability for considerable periods of time.
Most white and rosé wines are bottled in the period of May-September after the harvest (there are exceptions): considering that each wine needs at least 6 months in bottle, means that they can best be drunk after November – February, that is 14 to 18 months after the harvest. Producers use to say that ‘restaurants want young wines‘. And the restaurants say ‘that the consumers want young wines‘. The result is that the consumer gets wines that are not at all in their best drinking period and it would be a good idea to take a moment of reflection. Something has completely gone wrong here.
RED WINES
The general rule that red wines need some time in bottle seems more generally accepted. But there are exceptions: there are some red wines, that can be drunk quite fast, like some Beaujolais and several Barbera wines. It also happens that some great wines are bottled much too early: in Sardinia they offered me a Carignano di Sulcis in bottle 12 months after the harvest: this is ridiculous. Carignano is one of the most wonderful Italian red wines and can show a rich pattern of flavors and aromas – but not within 12 months from the harvest! The wine needs more maturation time. The same happens sometimes with Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Nero d’Avola and other red wines. Of course there are some versions of Montepulciano or Nero d’Avola that can be drunk in a very early stage, but most of these wines need at least two years in bottle. A longer period can be positive. The same counts for the large majority of red wines.
Also here it seems that the market has gone crazy and has lost the concept of time.
There are many differences between red wines: some can be drunk more young than others but here I do not want to go into that discussion. The point is that a significant number of red wines are put on the market too early.
ORANGE WINES
Since 20 years a new trend has come up to produce white wines according to ancient methods: the must is fermented and matured together with the skins. The trend has no fixed rules and there are continuous discussions about the best way of maturing, the most suited containers (Quevri, barrels, tinajas, cement vats, or other containers). Some producers leave the fermenting wine on the skins for some days, others continue that period a bit longer and again others leave them for 6-9 months on the skins. The discussion on which quality is best are going and there is a large spectrum of opinions: it goes from those who stifly deny that these wines are correct or drinkable from those who are more tolerant to those who are strong believers in this category.
I have followed the trend during the period of preparation of my book about the North Adriatic and I have one very important observation: whatever the best method for producing these wines, one thing should be sure: these wines need a long period of maturation in the cellar and also on the bottle before being enjoyable. In my opinion a period of 5-7 years is the minimum. I do not recommend for drinking orange wines that have not had a sufficient period of maturation (5-7 years).
REFLECTION OF OLD TIMES
Before 100 years, when most wines were sold and transported in casks or demijohns or any type of container, the idea was that the wine was best when as young as possible. This was logical because the possibilities for preservation and conservation of the wine were limited. Also the production of the wine was more a result of an artigianal approach, it was more a ‘let’s try it for God’s sake’ than a professional and well-studied activity. Instruments such as cold-fermentation, refined filtrations and other cellar techniques and equipment did not exist and the wine was a result of trial and error and as a result it could not age well generally. Taverns and bars made publicity with the ‘youngest wine you can get’. Today our systems of selling and transports have changed, production techniques are highly developed, and most wines are available by glass bottles. But still, the market wants the white wines as fresh and young as possible. This is the case in many Italian restaurants, but I have the strong impression this is the case in many markets. The restaurants tell me that the consumer wants it. I presume this is a concept that is a remnant from those ancient times.
It would be logical if the markets would respond in a different way. Bottled wines behave very differently than those that have never seen a glass bottle but it seems as if the market is remaining with the old times and did not adapt to the fact that now we have our wine in a glass bottle.
ECONOMICS
Producers, dealers, importers, restaurants and bars, they all need cash flow. This is another important reason to sell the wines as fast as possible. Only a few restaurants have a large cellar and the financial means to stock some wines – it means dead capital and this is a problem for many. This aspect is understandable and some consorzios have understood this by creating rules about the moment of release of the wine in the market. Important wines such as Barolo, Brunello, Taurasi and their equals in Burgundy and Bordeaux have some rules and some wineries even exceed those rules to give their bottles more time to develop. But for many important white and red wines these rules seem to be non-existent and in my opinion they are needed. In order to protect the quality of some wines a minimum cellar time of 18 months for wines like Collio DOC or Fiano di Avellino DOCG seems very logical. When the rule is there the producer has to adapt and they will find ways to adapt. And, by the way: such rules also contribute to the prestige of a wine and help to increase its value!
THE ROLE OF THE DISTRIBUTORS
Much can be said about the role of distributors in the wine scene. Their role is fundamental because without them the wines will not arrive at the restaurants, bars, stores, where finally the public can seek out their prefered wine. This system is highly fragmented, partly because the wine production is highly fragmented but also because the system of distribution needs to serve a large amount of small shops, restaurants and bars. For each player in this segment wine means an investment and they want the wine to move as fast as possible. This is logical. So: when the wine needs more time in the bottle to develop, what would be the best solution? This is not an easy question and there are many answers. One of the answers is in the rules about the wine itself: when the producers association wants to protect their wine they need to create a reliable system of rules that will allow the wine to remain in the cellar until the wine is ready for drinking. Alas, very few wines will really remain in the cellar of a producer before they are ready. Maybe some Barolo, Taurasi or Brunello, but most wines are sold earlier. This should not be a big problem, because during the phases of distribution, the wine will be stored in warehouses, in ships, in cellars of bars and restaurants, before finally be consumed and sometimes a wine enthusiast has a large cellar where he can store his wine for years. But in fact it is a problem, because many wines arrive at the restaurants, bars and stores in a short period after the harvest and are drunk before the wine has really developed its most refined quality.
Another aspect is that many distributor are pressing the producers to start selling the young white wines as soon as possible. Every wine producer can tell that there is a strong pressure on him to bottle wines too young and sell them too young because there is a market waiting. It means that not only the restaurants, bars, and stores are selling the wines too early – it also means that the middlemen, the distributors behind the scenes are exercising a lot of pressure on the wine producers to bring their wines on the market too early. This pressure by the middlemen or distributors can be quite strong, also because if the producer wants to resist in order to protect the quality of his wine, they might switch to another producer. Something has gone completely wrong here.
MOMENT OF BOTTLING
Wine has to go through various stages before being ready for the bottle. Technically it is possible to bottle a wine in January-February-March, that is 4-5-6 months after the harvest. It is not the optimal solution for quality wines because a quality wine needs time. But to reach the point that a wine can be bottled in the first 3 months of the year it needs to be speeded up: the fermentation should not take too long and also the second fermentation (malolactic or ‘malo’) should be done soon after the first fermentation. Also the period of maturation counts: there are some phases of clarification and filtration: a wine that needs to be filtered and clarified in 6-7 months after the harvest needs a more intensive filtering than a wine that has a longer maturation time. All this is common practice and this is the reason why we can expect at any spring fair to taste some wines, harvested only 8 months before. If a wine is bottled with such a speed it is only logical that the quality will not be the best. The best wines have had more time for the process of fermentation, maturation and bottling. The best wines have had a longer period, without being ‘pushed’ into the ‘malo’ and having a longer period in casks or tanks to mature and the filtering practises can be reduced: these wines are the most wonderful, balanced wines, and these are the wines that will give you the greatest pleasure. In short: all the great wines, that offer the joy of refinement and pleasure, have seen a longer period of maturation by a producer who took more care in order to give the wine its time for development.
THE GLASS BOTTLE
Until 100 years ago, or maybe even only 80 years ago, a wine in a glass bottle was the ultimate luxury, only accessible to some wealthy persons. Most of the wines in Europe were transported and sold in casks or other types of containers. Most of the wines in bottle before 1940 were from Bordeaux (Haut-Médoc), some top-producers in Germany (Mosel, Rheingau), Port, Sherry and some other, exceptions: in Italy or in Eastern Europe there was hardly any wine that saw a glass bottle in this period, maybe with the exception of Tokaj and Crimea. And the culture in that period was to give those bottles time to age.
Today, the world has totally changed: wines that are aged in bottle are a rarity. Most consumers buy a bottle in the shop and drink it the same evening. It is one of the aspects of a wealthy society and the consumer attitude of today: buy something and drink it. But a wine in a glass bottle is not a fast-moving consumer product (at least the better wines) and this is the big misunderstanding.
THE RIGHT MOMENT
Of course the right moment of drinking depends on taste and is subjective. Some people want their Riesling to be fresh and young, and have learned to appreciate this taste – the same happens with other wines. But also these people will appreciate that same wine, when it has had more time in bottle. When the wine is more mature, it offers delightful aromas, more evolved flavors, then the wine is much more joy to drink and my point is that the majority of tasters will agree with this but the only problem is that the majority of the tasters have no knowledge and have to drink what the restaurants are offering. It means that they do not even get the slightest chance to develop their taste and learn to recognize the value of an older wine!
My point is that using glass bottles makes no sense at all when a wine is drunk within 6 months from bottling.
NOT ONLY LONG AGING
It is not my intention to say that each wine should age for many years. My point is that many wines are on the market too early and are drunk too early: this way the wine has no time to develop the maximum of pleasure. I do not want to go here into the discussion of wines that need even a longer aging at least 2 or 3 years, as is the case with many Timorasso wines from the Colli Tortonesi, some great Rieslings, some Fianos and also some rosés. What a miracle to drink such wines after, 3 or 4 years – or later! They have become rich, velvety, mature and so persistent: such wines are far away from the initial wine that was 3 months in bottle. Alas, many consumers will never notice this because such many of these great whites are drunk too young. A big pity.
DOWNWARD TREND
Yes: some white and rosé wines can become too old and should not wait too long to be drunk. There are examples of white and rosé wines that should be drunk fast. In this category we are not talking about wines with the highest standards, many of these wines are cheaper and often sold via supermarkets. The question arises whether such wines should be sold in glass bottles: in my view it is better to avoid glass bottles for such low-quality and easy-drinking wines.
SUSTAINABILITY
What if a wine should be drunk young, for example in the first year after the harvest? This is the case with some white and rosé wines (and incidentally some red). My proposal for such wines is to search for other solutions than the glass bottle: such a wine does not profit at all from the glass bottle. Mostly we are in the range of cheaper and more easy wines here and it could be a great idea to search for paper, carton or other materials for such wines. There are many options available, and bag-in-box can be an option too.
Glass is expensive, and has a high CO-2 footprint. If we really want to make serious work of sustainability in the wine market, then this is an interesting option. Probably we are talking about big numbers, because the sector of cheaper wines that are drunk young is immense. It means that there is a lot of CO-2 reduction to win here.
The implication of this is that glass bottles will only be used for those white, rosé and red wines that are thought to remain in the cellar before being drunk for a longer period. At this point we are talking about the higher quality white and rosé wines and a large amount of red wines. In any case the solution would be a drastic reduction of the use of glass bottles, but also of corks. As the cork industry has come to a critical point because the demand is too large, this would be a great solution for the cork industry. And it would be a great solution for consumers too, because with lesser ‘pressure’ on the market, we will be sure the amount of cork failures will be reduced too.
In short: there is a lot to win by rethinking the use of glass bottles for wine!
SOME SUGGESTIONS:
1 In Italy there are the consorzios, ‘consorzi di tutela’, in other countries there are similar producers associations. The word tutela litterally means ‘protect‘. It might be a suggestion that the consorzios start to protect their wines and create the rule that white wines like Timorasso, Albana, Fiano, Greco, Verdicchio, and wines from Collio DOC in general – etcetera – will not enter the market within 18 months from the harvest. In some cases the wine should even come later on the market. That would be a fantastic measure to protect the wines!
A problem for the producers? Only one year: they have a period of one year with lower cash flow to overcome: after that they can continue to sell wines that are more mature and better drinkable. It will satisfy all wine drinkers in the world and in the end also the producers will be happy.
2 Considering that sustainability is so important, it would be an important measure for the wine world to re-evaluate the use of glass. Glass bottles should not be used for wines that are drunk within 6 months from the harvest: for such a wine the glass bottle is not the best container, carton or paper (as used for milk), or other types of containers would be much better. This measure would imply a huge improvement for the environment. Less glass will be used and this means a drastic decrease of CO-2 output. Unfortunately wine is not a very sustainable product – due to the energy and the water amount that are needed to produce a bottle of wine.
Sustainability is a very wide and complex matter. Reducing the glass production would be a small step in a much bigger process but in any case it would be an important step forward.
A good wine is not a fast-moving consumer good. Wine is part of our (European) culture and history, a product that exists since biblical times, with roots in every (European) culture. Wine needs time but the problem is that the wine market has forgotten the concept of time.
Many thanks to Ole Udsen for his wise comments!