Aging wine is by no means a requirement for enjoyment. Some wines, however, are crafted specifically with aging in mind and reward patience.

This Fourth of July, I opened one such bottle: a 2006 Leonetti Reserve Walla Walla Valley.

Established in 1977, Leonetti Cellar is Walla Walla Valley’s founding winery. Back in 2020, I spoke with Leonetti CEO and winemaking director Chris Figgins about crafting age-worthy wines for a Wine Enthusiast article. (I was a contributing editor at Wine Enthusiast from 2013 to 2022.)

“Our first goal is to make wines of the highest quality,” Figgins said. “It just happens by the nature of Walla Walla Valley fruit, Washington fruit, that if you focus on the quality, those end up being wines that age for a very long time.”

Indeed, in my experience Washington wines can have extraordinary aging potential. In recent years, I have had Washington wines from the ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s. It has been rare for the wines to not be aging gracefully, though some have certainly been past peak.

The 2006 vintage was a somewhat overlooked, sandwiched between the highly regarded 2005 and 2007 vintages. (The 2005 vintage is my personal favorite from the 26 years I have lived in Washington.) The growing season had a cool start, warm summer, and cool finish, creating wines that rewarded patience more than immediate pleasure.

I purchased the 2006 Leonetti Reserve from Dan McCarthy at McCarthy & Schiering Wine Merchants’ Queen Anne location back in 2009. I have been waiting for the wine’s 20^th year to open it. McCarthy passed away in 2023, and the McCarthy & Schiering Queen Anne location closed earlier this year, adding a bittersweet element to opening this wine.

From the first sniff, it was clear that this bottle was special. The aromas showed a melding of aged and fresh fruit. The palate was in full bloom, with exceptional proportion, balance, and absurdly long length. It was not only as good as any Leonetti Cellar wine I have ever had, it’s one of the best Washington wines I’ve ever had. It was in a perfect spot, at its apex. My wife and I enjoyed the wine with grilled Beyond Meat brats and corn, our traditional Fourth of July meal. There was some pasta salad there too.

When I open an older wine, I like to think about and discuss the specific year with whoever I’m sharing the bottle with. Where was I living? Where was I working? With whom was I spending time? What were the important things going on in my life and in the world?

“It’s one of the few agricultural products in the world that’s a time capsule,” Figgins said. To me, that adds meaning and enhances enjoyment.

Aging wine, the inevitable question is, when should one open an older bottle? Here, Figgins offered some advice.

“The funnest part of drinking aged wine is not just saving your whole case for that magic year when it’s at its apogee,” Figgins said. “Drink a wine through its youth. Keep notes. Drink some at five years old. Drink some at 10. If you find where you feel like it’s in the sweet spot, get after it. Then you’ll never have that regret of, ‘Oh crap this whole case of wine went past where I like it.’ Obviously that’s an investment, but that’s what I do.”

Overall, the hope aging wine is that, by exercising some patience, one will be rewarded with something magical. Something that transcends the wine itself into an amalgam of time, place, memory, shared experience, and sensory pleasure. The 2006 Leonetti Reserve Walla Walla Valley was just such a bottle. It made this Fourth of July truly unforgettable.

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