Wine 2013
2 products
Wine from vintage 2013
When you pour a 2013 wine, you taste the result of a year with widely differing climatic conditions across the globe. In Europe, the growing season brought quite a few challenges in the form of a cool, wet spring and delayed flowering. These conditions did indeed produce lower harvest yields in most places, but in return they brought forth some very classic wines that have proven incredibly suitable for cellaring.
If we instead look toward the overseas regions, such as parts of California and New Zealand, the picture was quite different with almost ideal warm, dry periods during which the grapes could achieve complete ripeness. What unites the most successful bottles from this year is a wonderful structure, fresh acidity, and deeply concentrated flavor notes, which make them perfect for a long, calm development in the cellar.
Different expressions in 2013 wine
Precisely because the weather varied so much, each individual bottle tells a very strong story about its geographical origin. Let us take you on a short journey through the distinct regional differences that shaped the year’s harvest.
Bordeaux and classic France
For many French winegrowers, the season became a real ordeal. If we go to Bordeaux, a cold and wet spring, followed by mildew and hail, resulted in a historically small yield. This generally produced red wines with a lighter and more elegant profile rather than heavy concentration. On the other hand, these same tricky conditions proved absolutely ideal for the region’s sweet white wines, which achieved fantastic purity and quality.
If we continue to Burgundy, the unsettled weather during flowering likewise meant a significant drop in the quantity of grapes. However, the grapes that made it through created very classic, aromatic red wines and white wines with lovely, energetic acidity. Further north, a late harvest in Champagne led to sparkling wines with a fine, tight structure and razor-sharp balance, which today are proving to develop incredibly beautifully in the bottle.
Piedmont and northern Italy
If we turn our gaze to Italy, we find one of the year’s greatest success stories. In Piedmont, the season began cool, but the harvest was saved by a long and stable summer, culminating in a warm September with large swings between day and night temperatures. This calm and slow ripening gave the famous Nebbiolo grapes the most optimal conditions to develop their full potential.
In districts such as Barolo and Barbaresco, this produced classic and deeply inviting wines with lovely freshness, notes of lively red fruit, and noticeable, robust tannins. Their massive structure means they are made for patient aging, and right now, after more than a decade, they are really beginning to open up to reveal their many complex layers.
Overseas results in the vintage
Outside the European borders, the weather was far milder in temperament, and in several places one can even speak of a fantastic year for the winegrowers. In California, especially in Napa Valley, a warm spring and an even summer without violent heatwaves shaped what can safely be called a textbook season. This resulted in powerful, concentrated red wines with beautiful color and a solid tannic structure, offering fine aging potential.
In the Southern Hemisphere, experiences were more varied, but the end result was certainly just as excellent. New Zealand benefited from a warm summer, creating exciting, fruit-driven, and complex wines. In countries such as Chile, the growing season was cooler, which extended the ripening time. The prolonged season prevented the grapes from becoming overripe, instead giving us very elegant and fresh bottles with wonderful aromatic purity.
Maturation and storage of your wine vintage 2013
When a bottle has rested for more than a decade, it enters a beautiful phase where time and the internal chemical processes soften and refine both aroma and taste. If you wish to preserve this quality and let the development take place under the best conditions, it places certain demands on your storage.
- Temperature control: Always make sure to let your bottles rest at a calm and constant temperature, which ideally should be between 12 and 14 degrees. If sudden temperature fluctuations occur, the contents can contract and expand again, which can unfortunately draw oxygen down through the cork and thus age the contents unnecessarily quickly.
- Correct humidity: The room should have a relative humidity of around 60 to 70 percent. This helps ensure that the natural cork itself does not dry out, become porous, or shrink, as a healthy cork forms a crucial seal against oxygen.
- Horizontal placement: Make sure to lay the bottles down securely when they are to be stored for a longer period. When they rest horizontally, the liquid constantly touches the cork, which helps keep it nicely moist, resilient, and completely tight.
- Protection from light and vibrations: The best thing is to let the bottles lie completely in the dark, as blue light and ultraviolet rays can affect the delicate flavor compounds and cause lasting faults in the aroma. Also make sure to find a place without vibrations, so that the natural sedimentation can take place in complete peace.
Characteristics of a mature vintage
Imagine the joy of anticipation when you open a bottle that has patiently lain and developed for more than ten years. Here, you will immediately discover that both the appearance, the aroma, and the taste itself have undergone a marked journey from its early youth.
- The color of red wines most often changes character and goes from being dense and youthfully purple to appearing with a lighter garnet-red or brick-red glow. This happens as the color pigments bind to the wine’s tannins and over time settle gently at the bottom.
- The completely fresh fruit notes of youth, such as crisp citrus or freshly picked berries, quietly step back. Instead, room is made for more inviting and deeper notes of, for example, fig, baked apples, and delicious dried fruit.
- With age, a rich bouquet of the so-called tertiary aromas is built up. Here, you will often be able to smell and taste fine nuances of dried leaves, fine tobacco, leather, mushrooms, or forest floor, which provide fantastic depth.
- The red wine’s tannins gather through a natural chemical process and become heavier. It is precisely this that rounds out the structure, removes the sharp and drying sensation, and instead leaves a lovely soft impression.
- The acidity also softens nicely over time, but if you have a bottle with naturally high acidity from the beginning, it will still taste wonderfully fresh and well-balanced and carry the more mature flavor notes beautifully forward.
Secure shopping at Bottles With History
When you are tempted by historic bottles such as wine 2003 or wine from 1993 for your next event, it is important that you can trust the framework around the purchase completely. At Bottles With History, we make it a point of honor to give you a safe experience and attentive service all the way. Our next-day delivery means that your wine arrives quickly and safely at your home, and we always offer free shipping on orders over 500 kroner. We are proud to have a TrustScore of 4.6 out of 5, which testifies to happy customers and is your assurance that the fragile bottles are handled with great professionalism all the way to your door.
Preparation and decanting
To get the absolute best out of a mature wine, it is a good idea to handle it with a little extra care before you pour. If you wish to avoid sediment in the glass, we recommend letting the bottle stand upright for at least one day. Afterwards, you can pour the liquid slowly into a decanter in one gentle and uninterrupted movement. A good practical tip is to hold a small light source under the bottle neck; that way you can easily see when the fine sediment approaches the opening and stop in time. Because older vintages are a little more fragile and oxidize more easily than young ones, you should let it breathe only for a very short time – typically only 10 to 15 minutes. Then the inner aromas have time to unfold in the finest way, without the delicate and developed nuances being lost.
