I suggested in a column some years ago that in general most white wines are best consumed young, after which a reader chastised me for ignoring what he said was my naivete.
He said great white Burgundies, great German rieslings and some Australian semillons were best after a decade or two. “I’m sure you have tasted great old White Burgundies,” he wrote. “How could you ignore these glorious examples of wine at its best?”
It’s true. He was right. Some older white Burgundies can be excellent, even when they are 20 years old. But it’s a subject that ought never be approached in as small a space as a newspaper wine column. It’s far too complicated to explain briefly….