How Wine Ages – tasting the same wines a decade apart – Wednesday 7th October

Great wine takes time. The Libération Tardive Foundation was set up with that exact mantra in mind, and a remit to celebrate the rewards of properly cellared vintages. A not-for-profit organisation promoting the appropriate ageing of fine wine, Libération Tardive was co-founded by Club Member Dominic Buckwell. We are delighted, then, to welcome Dominic back to the Club – after co-hosting our sell-out BYOB Burgundy Week dinner earlier in the year – for an evening spent tasting some splendid older wines alongside their younger selves. This time around, Dominic will be joined by two masters of wine – Richard Bampfield MW and Demetri Walters MW – to run through six different pairs of wines, comparing vintages a decade or so apart. Ranging from Rheingau Riesling to Barossa Shiraz, we will explore the nuances of a wine’s ageing, finishing with a 50-year-old Madeira side-by-side with a 10-year-old. In between times, we’ll try to fathom why certain wines age in the way they do; how to tell a wine’s likely trajectory when tasting it young; and how to judge the optimum time to open a bottle. The answers to all these questions and more will be found at the bottom of 12 glasses, with the help of three wise older men, in the first week of October. See you there.