June is Idaho Wine Month. Never ones to shy away from a celebration, we did our part by visiting 3 Horse Ranch Vineyards in Eagle, Idaho — a picturesque 28 mile drive from our home — and enjoyed tasting their wines, paired beautifully with their artisan elk salami and cheese tray.

“We are born at a given moment, in a given place and, like vintage years of wine, we have the qualities of the year and of the season of which we are born.” — Carl Jung

Especially true for red varieties, wine gets better with age. That’s because with time, the tannins (bitter and astringent when young) dissipate and blossom into what wine connoisseurs call the “bouquet” — the aroma and essence of the body of the wine.

Tannins — a natural preservative — have been known to keep a wine delectable for 40 years or longer, blossoming more and more each year, ultimately leaving the aged red wine with a smooth, rich flavor without the astringency of a young red wine.

“Wine is sunlight, held together by water.” — Galileo Galilei

For you, what has gotten better with age?

© Laurie Buchanan

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