Drink this particular wine in 8 to 12 years.

Drink this other wine in 25 to 30 years.

And almost always, these recommendations involve rare bottles of red wine from some of the world’s most sought-after wine regions and wineries. Places like California’s Napa Valley (especially when it comes to cult Cabernet Sauvignon wines from there) and France’s Bordeaux and Burgundy regions.

And this is especially true when it comes especially outstanding vintages for these world-class wine regions – 2001 for Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignons, 2000 for Bordeaux red blends and 2005 for Burgundy Pinot Noirs. Pages and pages of wine columns have discussed in great detail exactly when to drink these fine wines.

That’s why I was so surprised by what several different winemakers in France’s Burgundy region said to me recently when I asked them when was the best time to drink their wines. In nearly every single instance during two recent trips to Burgundy, each winemaker gave me an odd look when I asked them this question.

Thinking there was somehow something lost in translation, I asked them if I should wait a few years to drink certain wines we were tasting together. Here again, I often received a slightly odd look and was told in nearly every instance that the wines we were tasting could be enjoyed now with a few exceptions.

And in the case of those exceptions, in nearly every instance they simply said it’s up to me to decide when to drink the wine. None of them seemed to believe that people should wait several years or decades to open their wines. Consumers should open them anytime they want, they said again and again.

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