In Praise of Aged Whites

Many restaurants I recommend have long wine lists, sometimes with hundreds of selections. It can feel daunting to be presented with such a list, even if (or perhaps especially if) you know a great deal about wine, because there is pressure to find the ideal bottle. I invariably scan such a list first for well-aged white wines, or ask the sommelier to recommend one.

Aged whites can be very difficult to find, because popular wisdom has it that whites don’t grow old gracefully. Most people don’t keep them long in their cellars, but sometimes restaurants will have one or two well-seasoned bottles on their lists. These wines have theoretically been aged in ideal conditions, maximizing the chance that they remain drinkable, even delicious.

I ordered a 20-year-old Austrian Riesling once at Aureole in Las Vegas, and it pleasantly surprised me with its rich fruit and still-lively acids. Mrs. Harper remarked, “It tastes wise,” and indeed, it did. More recently, I tried a very unusual 1994 Grüner Veltliner Spätlese at Luce d’Oro at Schloss Elmau in Bavaria. What a delight it proved to be, with a freshness that was startling considering its age.

Not many restaurants risk including aged whites on their wine lists, but if you dine at one that does, I highly recommend bucking the conventional wisdom about drinking whites only in their youth. Many can tolerate a surprising number of years in the cellar, blossoming into something both remarkable and unusual.