#167: Aged Red Wine: Miracle or Matter of Taste

We let you be the judge in the 2026 Winter Wine Exploration #1: Jan. 10-11

We begin this season’s Winter Wine Exploration Series with a tasting of red wines starting from the 2025 barrel samples and progressing as far back as our first red release, the 2015 Harmonic Red. Should you choose to join us, you will able to judge for yourself what happens into a red wine over the course of ten years.

Sign-up for our Winter Wine Exploration Series Events at https://store.boundarybreaks.com/visit-us/. We hold two sessions on Saturday at 11 and 2 PM and one session on Sunday at 12 Noon. Tickets are $35.

There was a time, the story goes, when wine consumers discovered that red wine tasted better after it has been stored in oak barrels. It was “softer,” the flavors were “more integrated.” This was particularly true of French Bordeaux wines made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc, which were exported in large quantities to England.

Modern winemaking techniques allow producers to make wines that “softer” with more “integrated” without requiring aging in either in a barrel or a bottle. And there are many red wines that taste much better when they are younger and “fresh.”

So, is there a place on the table for aged red wine? They are usually more expensive. Sometime you open an older, expensive red wine, and you are not really sure whether you like it or not. Was it worth the money? What were you thinking?

Our first Winter Wine Exploration Series session will give you a chance to decide for yourself what to make of younger and older red wines. None of these red wines have been pre-maturely “softened” or artificially manipulated to drinkable when they are young.

We will start with samples of Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon from the 2025 vintage. There are wines that were picked in late October, fermented completed dry and then put into neutral oak barrels. This is red wine at its most raw.

We will then taste three older vintages of the reds we produce. These will be Cabernet Franc from 2023, 2019 and 2017; and the Harmonic from 2019, 2017 and 2015.

We will be tasting these in order from youngest to oldest, so there should be a progressive change in character as you taste the older wines. Whether that it is a change that you find appealing will be up to you.

At this session we will also be providing a history of red wine and the various ways it was stored and transported. Simple changes in the way wine was transported actually allowed people to realize that wines of that day improved with age.

We will also show that our approach to red wine is rooted in customs that are hundreds of years old. There was a time when older red wine was superior and thus more expensive. We will also offer our own point of view on which aged red wines are worth paying a little extra for.

Finally, as always, there is no accounting for taste. Occasionally it can be eye-opening to get out of your comfort zone.

Tickets to all five Winter Wine Exploration Events are on our website at https://store.boundarybreaks.com/visit-us/. Sign up for either of the two sessions on Saturday at 11 AM and 2 PM or the one session on Sunday at 12 Noon. Guests receive a welcome glass of Bubbly Riesling upon arrival.