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Halliday's drinking windows.
Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2007 5:34 pm
by Ratcatcher
I've been reading my Halliday Guide over recent weeks and I get the feeling that his drinking windows are on average much longer than they used to be. Especially on some of the mid range type of wines.
He's obviously a big fan of screwcaps from reading his remarks so I wonder if this increase in longevity is a reflection of his thoughts on screwcaps?
Did anyone else think his drinking windows were longer than in previous Guides?
Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2007 4:20 pm
by Gary W
No
Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2007 5:34 pm
by L plater
I hadn't noticed, but just did a quick comparison of some of my cellared wines between the 05 and 08 editions.
Wirra RSW 01 15yrs vs 04 20 yrs
Angelus 01 14yrs vs 04 20 yrs
Struie 02 15yrs vs 05 20yrs
St Henri 99 16yrs vs 03 22 yrs
Bin389 01 20yrs vs 04 20yrs
Bin 407 01 15yrs vs 04 20yrs
Bin 28 01 15yrs vs 04 20yrs
Bin 128 01 15yrs vs 04 11 yrs
St Andrews CS 98 15yrs vs 02 20yrs
Wynns CS 01 15yrs vs 04 20yrs
Signature 99 21yrs vs 03 12yrs
So with a couple of exceptions, on my small sample, the default for these wines seems to have gone out from 15 to 20yrs. May be to do with generally a better vintage.
He has also changed wording from 'Drink' to 'To', although the initial explanation of what this means is the same - a 'use by date'.
Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 4:30 am
by Wayno
I certainly got this impression with a few particular wines, noting a few wines forecast into the 2030s. In some cases, hope this is a reasonable estimate although I doubt I would be waiting that long, just in case.
Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 1:42 pm
by platinum
2004 Clonakilla Shiraz Viogner was given 11 years in comparison to the 2006 being given 20 years in this years companion.
Grange 2001 (not a weak vintage) was given 29 years in comparison to the 2002 being given 48 years in this years compainion.
I think most wines have a few extra years being added on in this years companion and alot of the time rightly so.