“It’s like the holy grail, to make wines that age that you can enjoy 20, 30 or 40 years later,” says Rick Small, who founded Woodward Canyon Winery with his wife Darcey in Lowden, Washington in 1981.
Since then, the pair have created some of Washington State’s most ageworthy wines, with their children Jordan Dunn-Small and Sager Small recently taking the helm.
Many winemakers strive to create wines that stand the test of time. It’s a difficult endeavor that requires certain conditions in the vineyard and winery, some of which are beyond winemakers’ immediate control.
“The wine has to have the right amount of fruit, it has to have the right amount of acidity, and it has to have the right amount of tannin,” says Small. “That’s going to all want to be integrated with the alcohol. In order for a wine to be ageable, it needs to have all of those things in the right proportion: fruit, acid and tannin.”
Controlling the rate of oxidation
“At the end of the day what is aging? It’s a process of oxidation,” says Chris Figgins, president and second-generation winemaker at Leonetti Cellar in Walla Walla, Washington.
To age over decades, a wine needs to have components that slow its oxidation and allow the wine’s elements to evolve in harmony. Tannins and acidity are two of the most important of these components.
Tannins provide structure and add oxidative capacity. The more tannin, the slower a wine will oxidize. Acidity brings backbone and freshness to wine, but it also has an antioxidant effect, similar to how squeezing fresh lemon or lime onto guacamole keeps it from turning brown.
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