Aging wine is an art…
Jose and I like to keep bottles of wine around for some aging. Not too many of them and for long, because our wine refrigerator is on the small side. Still, we’ve got the rest of our wine stored in a dark closet, away from the heat of the house. Occasionally we bring out one of those special bottles.
Last night, I did just that.
My latest find was a really delicious Chilean Pinot Noir. Perfection for me…. 2009 Morandé Gran Reserva Pinot Noir, D.O. Casablanca Valley, from Viña Morandé. [SRP: $17.99]
The wine was superbly delicious, with plummy blueberry notes; a medium bodied, not meant to punch your palate in the midsection, just meant to be delicious on your mid palate. And it’s very food friendly. I could easily make this a house wine, worth serving to any of my wine centric friends and they’d all be writing down the name of the wine, if they weren’t familiar with it.
BOTTLE FRONT LABEL: In order to respect the fruit and achieve freshness with complexity, our wines are aged in “foundres” and vinified using traditional methods.
“Foundres” was a new one on me, so I tried to look it up, in order to expand my horizons.
I couldn’t find anything to help me, so I sent the following to the winery, via their Website comments:
On your label for your 2009 Morandé Gran Reserva Pinot Noir, D.O. Casablanca Valley, you have written: “In order to respect the fruit and achieve freshness with complexity, our wines are aged in “foundres” and vinified using traditional methods.”
Could you please explain to me what you mean by “aged in ‘foundres.'” I’m very familiar with barrel aging, and I’m assuming that this is what you are meaning, but I don’t want to make a mistake. Also, if I can learn something new, that would be great. I’ve been in the wine business for over 20 years, so anything new would be refreshing…
Thanks. I’m writing aobut this delicious wine that I enjoyed last evening.
Meanwhile, while I waited, a squeezed the last glass of wine from the bottle, to sip, enjoy, and wait for an answer…. and I’m still waiting.
UPDATE: from Joanne Salisby, wine educator from Leavenworth, Washington.
Hi, Jo. The term is “foudres,” not “foundres.” You can Google it. It is a large barrel…comes from the French.
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