Today this is almost a moot question! Current market research (which sounds to me to be a slight exaggeration) reports that 90% of wine bought today in this country is consumed within an hour of its purchase. It may be a bit of an exaggeration, but it is largely true that most of us buy "now" and drink "now." And this truth is actually beginning to alter winemaking practices in many parts of the world. The issue is a bit different for whites and reds, so let's look at both in turn.

Whites we can fairly quickly dispose of, as longevity is simply not a characteristic of most white wine grapes. With the exception of a few wines (notably, the greatest of the white Burgundies, and of course the great white dessert wines of the world) the operative rule is (and always has been) "the younger the fresher the better." While the great reds of the world improve with bottle age, most whites start to lose their vibrant fruit and crisp acidity, which are precisely the qualities we value them for.

The immediate-consumption practice has had more impact on red wines in the marketplace today. Even among red wine types that I first knew as big, chewy, and tannic (Cotes-du-Rhones, Aussie Shiraz, California Cabs, even Chateauneuf-du-Papes) I am today encountering versions intentionally made with soft (as opposed to hard) tannins with an aggressively forward hit of fruit, usually due to the fractional blending in of some juice vinified by the carbonic maceration or whole-berry process - i.e. no yeast, no crushing of the grapes, and use of carbon dioxide to initiate the fermentation process. This results in a lighter-bodied, brightly-colored, fruitier wine. Adding a small amount of wine made with this process to traditionally made wine softens the end product and makes it accessible sooner.

No, you won't find this happening at the major Bordeaux chateaux, or with top-of-the-line Burgundy producers, or with serious Italian reds like Barolo, Barbaresco, Brunello, or the super-Tuscans. But then, anybody buying one of these wines (assuming a good vintage) for same-day consumption is, in all likelihood, making a serious mistake (you could call it infanticide).

Finally, if you do buy wines to put away for future consumption (or are considering doing so), tune in next month for our words of wisdom on that subject!

Judy (a/k/a, the wine lady)