People have been asking 75-year-old Michael Broadbent if he spits or swallows for more than 50 years. As one of the world's leading wine experts, he's happy to answer the question and offer tips for would-be connoisseurs. In conversation, the old codger is surprisingly approachable -- even cheeky. Below are some of his primary points of advice for the vino challenged, but if you really want to become the master of your own wine cellar we suggest you gulp from his new book, Michael Broadbent's Vintage Wine (Harcourt), a massive tome with tasting notes on 10,000 wines, dating back to 1680. Below are 10 things every man should know before embarking on a romantic dinner date. Read on and you'll never fear the sommelier again.
I give young wines a couple of hours to breathe. Sometimes, with good, young red wine like a Rioja, it tastes even better the next day. Almost all wines are better after an hour and a half in the decanter, or even in a glass itself. Most great wines unfold, develop or blossom in the glass. And the finer the wine, the more interesting that blossoming is. With a very old wine, I'd be a little more on the cautious side. Usually, assuming the wine is good to begin with, I like at least a few hours. Most of my American friends who buy fine wines at good restaurants -- where the cost is astronomic -- plan their dinners in advance and have the wines prepared and put aside and corked for them. This is what the top collectors do.
Even a top white wine will keep in the fridge for a few days. When it comes to reds, I decant the wine into a half bottle and stop it up. Then I decant the rest into a carafe or jug or glass. With some young wines, you may be able to drink some one day and the rest the following evening.
Wine glasses should be on the large rather than small size, and thin-lipped. The problem with very large Bordeaux glasses is that the bottle doesn't go very far! But there's no doubt that drinking wine from thick glasses, like certain cheap restaurant goblets, does not enhance the wine. It does make a difference.
In a way, Gewürztraminer is a very feminine wine. It has these wonderful scents; it smells of roses and light cheese and berries. Sometimes, it smells like ladies' face powder.
There's a wonderful old line that says tasting an old wine is rather like making love to an old lady; it is possible and even enjoyable, but it requires a bit of imagination. A person who is only used to tasting young wines has to make considerable adjustment. If you've never tasted anything like it before, you might be stumped and not appreciate it. When it comes to older wines, and you'll see in some of my notes of older Bordeaux, I'll frequently refer to them as very much like an old lady who's had a wonderful life and still has twinkling eyes.
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