Michael — You have tasted a lot of both mature and young wines. Where do you locate the perfect ageing time for your own palate ? For instance, we had a Romanée-Conti 1990 together a couple of months ago, a wine that you had already tasted a few times before that.

Alberto — There are two answers to that question. The first concerns my personal preference. I choose my wine on a daily basis depending on the moment and the mood and according to the occasion and the company. On days that I am not in a very good mood, I want to drink something powerful. I will pick something younger, spicier, something unrevealing that forces me to define its character. On stressful days I look forward to a pleasant evening with some nice wine. In this case I’ll choose something more mature, revealing and ready to drink. I already know the wines. Perhaps even something I’ve drunk before, and I am sure of how it will taste. Therefore the perfect age for my wine changes on a daily basis. Secondly, it’s true that different types of wine, should be drunk at different ages. At least an age-range, because it’s a bit cruel to drink wine that is too young. In general, I like wine that is between 20 to 45 years old, like this Richebourg 1991 we are drinking tonight. I have had this wine a few times before and it wasn’t as nice! Today is close to perfect for this vintage. I would like to drink it again every year from now on to follow its journey. I want to see how this vintage develops. Will it continue to reveal more ? Will it become even better ? Or has it reached its peak ? We all know that, wine is inexplicable — you may think it’s declining when suddenly it flourishes. Maybe it’s provenance, maybe it’s who you drink it with, but wines are mystics, just like us humans. So, it’s very difficult to justify the perfect age for a wine because once you fall in love with it, you will never have enough of it. Some like it young, some like it matured and some like it old. It’s up to individual preference.

Michael — When we have wine luncheons or dinners, I have noticed that you always start with the best bottle. Can you explain this to me ? Because in Europe, we would tend to keep the best bottles for last.

Alberto — I don’t always start with the best wine and then work down the list. But yes, I have this tendency because I enjoy drinking the best wine with a fresh palate and an exhilarated mind. I very much treasure the memory of drinking the best fine wine and I dislike intensely to drink a Jayer or a Romanée-Conti 5 or 8 bottles into the night and to wake up the next day trying to recall how it tasted. My preference is to drink wine based on its structure and body. I enjoy drinking finely structured “feminine” wine first, followed by less-structured “masculine” wine later. For example, I would drink a Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Grands-Echézeaux 1990 before a Rousseau Chambertin 1985 and this has nothing to do with price but the nature of the wine.

Michael — Do you buy wines for your 3 daughters ?

Alberto — Yes, I bought quite a lot of wines the years that my daughters were born. I wouldn’t want to say that I bought it for them, it’s more about drinking for pleasure with my wife and family. We all have many memorable years in our lives, and it is nice to reconnect with those memories by drinking some nice wine once in a while or on a special occasion. A lot of wine lovers and collectors do that, and I am one of them, a romantic and a nostalgic.

Michael — You have been a passionate wine lover for many years, and you moved from Asia to Europe (now in Switzerland). Do you have any thoughts of having your own vines ?

Alberto — No, because I understand wine production well enough. I’ve visited many vineyards, and I don’t think it’s an easy process or an easy life. I would leave it to the expert wine makers and the families that have been there for generations to do their great work. I’ll just enjoy buying and drinking wine as well as treating wine as an investment class. I admire what they do, but I don’t think I’m good enough for that.

Michael — At Baghera/wines we enjoy being close to the people who make the wines. Do you have anything to say to the vignerons, Domaines, Châteaux who read this interview ?

Alberto — I think some of the best domaines and châteaux in the world are not opening their doors to wine lovers. I also understand that their job is to make good wine and if they open the door to visitors too often, they will not be able to focus their efforts on making the best wine for us to drink. Therefore, I think we need to strike a balance here. I feel sad when people drink wine based on price and do not appreciate the process, the vignerons, the domaines and châteaux. I think if wine lovers are able to visit the land that produces this magic liquid, it will stay with them for the rest of their wine journey. I may have forgotten the weather on the day I married my wife but I remember every detail of my visits to Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Rousseau and Roumier. I remember the sun on those days and the smell in the cellars where the wine matured. Such memories reawaken in me every time I open a bottle of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Rousseau or Roumier. I think the domaines would want all true wine lovers to share that experience.