January 2nd - New Year, New Wines

January 02, 2009 Blog Happy New Year everyone! New year’s celebrations are a reminder of the passage of time and the ever changing life that we all live. It is not too great of a leap to consider that wines too evolve and change with time. Which reminds us of how exciting wine can be and how fortunate we all are to always expect a little (hopefully pleasant) surprise each time we pop a cork. This week I explore what it is that happens to wines with time as they mature. It is important to note that different wines mature at different rates. Traditionally, the older the wine the better, but most wines available today are meant to be drunk within two years of purchase. For those intended to be aged, we would expect the following. Wines are vibrant, fruity and simple when young, with red wines having an inky purple colour. With time, the colour pigments and tannins in red wine bind becoming large and precipitate out of the wine as dark sediment. The result is a softer more gentle wine with less astringency and a more brick red lighter colour. Also, flavours and aromas that were once bound get released and contribute to the bouquet of the wine. The alcohol and acids also react in the wines creating new aromas and decreasing the overall acidity in the wine. White wines in contrast become more of an amber colour with age. The chemistry aside, mature wines are more gentle with softer tannins, less acidity, lengthier in the finish and are considered to have better balance. We hope all those that shared Aleksander Estate Winery wines with family and friends over the holidays enjoyed their experience as much as we did. As 2009 begins, we’ve got a few things that may interest you. We have released our 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz. The Cabernet boasts dark berries, mint, tobacco and black pepper, finishing with ripe fruit flavour. The Shiraz begins with aromas of red currants and finishes with dark berries and earth. Our first ever Pinot Noir remains in barrel but will be bottled this winter, along with more of the Rose so many of you have been waiting for. A sneak peak at the ’08 wines shows some aromatic whites and some concentrated reds. I look forward to watching, and enjoying these wines. Sue has some great ideas for all of our guests to enjoy this year, approaching very quickly are the Icewine celebrations that will be taking place on February 8th, and Windsor’s first Wine & Food Show running February 20th - 22nd. We are still working out some glitches in the site, but please email us any quesions or comments that you may have. Any questions will be addressed in future blogs, and any stories and/or photos submitted will be shared on our AEW site. I look forward to hearing from you. Cheers! Izabela