Older Vintages in the Tasting Room

I've spent a good part of my life trying to answer one question: what makes a great wine?  Full disclosure: I've also been trying to figure out how to make great wine here at Cadenza.  Obviously, not knowing the answer to the first question begs the question as to whether the second issue is even possible.  It feels very Sisyphean to me, but don't a lot of things in life.

The idea that great wines are ones that are capable of aging is slightly limiting.  There are countless wines in the world that are made to be consumed young, and these wines can bring immense pleasure.  But there's something to the saying "good things come to those who wait."  You can't bottle an old wine--technically you can, but we won't get into that here--or plant an old vineyard.  These take time.  And when we've taken that time, it makes it all the more meaningful.

For some reason, people (wine critics, wine snobs, etc) seem to consider an ageable wine to be a better than average wine.  I agree, but really only insofar as I really, really, really like old wines.  There's something about the savory/fruit combination that fascinates me along with the way the wine changes in the glass over time.  I'm drawn to these wines, and I hope you are, too.  And if it means people find them higher quality because of that, then so be it.  

So, I've decided to re-release some past vintages back to our tasting room.  These aren't terribly old (2019 Chardonnay and 2021 Bridge.)  But they do start to give data points as to the trajectory of each wine.  Tasting the 2019 Chardonnay might help one understand how the 2023 Chardonnay will be in four years' time.  Same goes for the 2021 Bridge (although this is more interesting since it is predominantly Merlot, and it can be tasted next to the 2022 and 2023 which are Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc heavy respectively.)

Short-term, I'm doing this because we are short on wine.  I want us to have (ideally) six wines to taste on our list, and we're down to four.  We're still building back from 2018 and 2019 when Mother Nature showed us who's really in charge out in the vineyard.  I'm hoping that by December we are finally back to decent inventory levels and can give our wines the bottle aging they deserve to be released at their best.  

I'm hoping that this gives people an opportunity to see what I am trying to do here at Cadenza.  It's different than most places, especially here on the East coast.  If you're really interested, keep an eye out for the library tastings I tend to host in late winter.

Cheers,

Carl