Alex Klip: “1968 was Rioja’s last great classic vintage”

Alex Klip,  a Mexican-born wine enthusiast based in Toronto (Canada), has nurtured a deep passion for old wines since his college days. Although most of his career has been in finance, in 2016 he took the leap into wine co-founding the wine import company All The Right Grapes with Derek Kranenborg. From the outset, the company stood out for its fine selection of Spanish wines, with a particular focus on Jerez.

Last year, Klip stepped away from the business to devote himself entirely to trading old wines -or, as he prefers to call them, antique wines. This fascination regularly takes him to Spain in search of forgotten collections and rare bottles. Not all his discoveries make their way directly to Canada. Early last year, he gathered a group of professionals and enthusiasts to taste a rare selection of old Malaga wines made by the historic producer Larios, which we covered in detail in SWL. 

In this interview, Klip shares how his passion for old wines evolved, his learning over the years, the magic of bottle ageing, his devotion to Jerez and  why he believes Rioja produces the world's most age-worth dry wines.

How did you get into the world of wine and end up in Canada?
I grew up in a household where nobody drank wine. When I was 16, someone repaid my father a debt in wine. The bottle sat untouched in the fridge for weeks until I finally said, "If nobody wants it, I'll drink it myself." I invited my friends over and we enjoyed a nicely chilled Echezeaux (laughs).

At 20, I went to university in Canada where I met a fellow student of Italian origin who was passionate about wine. He was about 10 years older than me and he became my mentor, guiding me into this world. The first thing he told me was to buy Hugh Johnson's Atlas of Wine. 

I have always been drawn to ancient things -I even studied a bit of archaeology at university. At that time, the wine scene in Canada was far more developed than Mexico’s. I still remember the day I bought a bottle of Gran Reserva 904 from La Rioja Alta. It was a revelation.

Were you aware of what you were buying?
Yes, by then, I had read enough to know it was an excellent wine. Then, in 1983, while still at university, I came across a bottle of 1963 Port.  When you're 20, drinking a wine of your age seems remarkably old. That's when I realised that ageing brings out something in wines that I couldn't quite articulate at the time, but whatever it was, it made them better.

I knew some wine lovers, but hardly anyone who drank old wines. I thought maybe I could impress people with this hobby. I didn't have a plan, but I started collecting old bottles -not in Canada, where there is no secondary market, but in New York, where I travelled frequently, and occasionally in San Francisco.

What drew you to these wines?
The way they evolve in the bottle. I prefer the term maturation over ageing. There are great old wines, like Fondillon or Sherry, that have just come out of the cask or barrel, but fining in the bottle adds a different expression -tertiary aromas like cabinetwork, leather, leafy notes...

In 2013, after sampling a lot of old Rioja wines, I had the idea of organising a 1964 vintage tasting in Toronto to celebrate my 50th birthday. I started looking for wines in the United States and online, which put me in touch with people in Spain. They gave me valuable advice, and some became good friends. That was a turning point for me.

At that time, I was still working in finance, but wine had become a very serious hobby. After the 1964 tasting, which was a great success, I travelled to Spain with some wine importer friends. I visited Rioja for the first time and toured some of the leading wineries. I tasted great wines, but none of the old ones. By then my focus was elsewhere.

Where do you find these bottles?
Over the years, I have learnt that these wines are not necessarily found among wine connoisseurs. They turn up in all sorts of places: restaurants that are closing down, families with cellars that no longer interest the next generation, even religious orders. I recently visited a convent in Madrid where the nuns  had inherited a collection of old wines.

Are you the Indiana Jones of old wines?
I wish I had the looks of Indiana Jones (laughs). Old wines are not an obsession, but they're much more than a hobby and something I take very seriously.

For me, they are the best wines to drink. Economists might call it a market inefficiency, but when you consider the age, vintage and quality, buying an old bottle often makes more sense than purchasing a current release from one of the top producers in Priorat, Rioja or Ribera del Duero. Of course, you must like old wines -some people prefer the younger styles.

What has the world of old wines brought you on a personal level?
It has opened doors to extraordinary people: from the nuns I mentioned to a former Spanish ambassador in a European capital. I would never have met such fascinating individuals in the financial world. Beyond that, I believe these wines should not only be enjoyed among those who appreciate them but also used as an educational tool.  

In your experience, which wines age best?
Apart from fortified wines, reds are more appreciated internationally. When people think of classic European regions, Piedmont comes up. I’ve bought and tasted a lot of Barolos and Barbarescos, but in my opinion, there are only three or four producers who can make wines with real ageing potential. Although I must admit to a personal bias, these wines typically peak after 25-30 years, but very few make it to 75-80. I don't think Bordeaux and Burgundy -aside from rare exceptions- have that kind of ageing potential. My other great love is  the Northern Rhône. Syrah is a sensational grape, but again, long-lived wines are limited to just a few producers.

Rioja, however, is different. There is something very special about the way these wines were traditionally made -whether white, red, rosé or sweet- which gives them incredible ageing potential. I would like to know if winemakers in the 1950s believed their wines would age for 50, 60, 70 years. I think they did. They were skilled people who understood  the incredible lifespan of their wines. The extended oak ageing, followed by years of bottle maturation before release, has worked wonders.

Then there are the great sweet, unfortified wines of the world, like Sauternes or the Loire, but I think in Spain dry still wines develop in a unique way. 

How do you evaluate and discuss the purchase of a collection?  
The first thing is being flexible enough to travel long distances, whether someone is offering three bottles or an entire cellar. These opportunities are rare and becoming even scarcer. 

When dealing with people outside the wine world, I first tell them what I'm looking for and why. Then I teach them how to assess a bottle’s condition: checking the fill level, examining the colour against the light with a lamp, and inspecting the sediments and their nature. I'm not interested in taking the bottle at the wrong price, nor do I want to overpay; I'm interested in making a good impression, because that has opened doors for me in the past.  

With more knowledgeable sellers who compare prices with restaurant and retail rates, I explain that I buy like a distributor. I can take more bottles, including some that are not in good condition, to strike a fair deal.  

What about the bottles that do not turn out well? Are old wine lovers more tolerant of oxidation?
I wouldn't say tolerant, -if a wine is bad, it's bad. But we do have patience and the honesty to accept that some bottles are not going to turn out well; that's part of the experience.

What are the most common flaws? Do many wines deteriorate because of the cork? 
It is not so much the cork or brett. The biggest enemy of old wines is high temperatures, which cause significant shrinkage and an excess of wood notes. A good example is the bottles inherited from the nuns -many were excellent wines, but most of them were in poor condition. Even if a bottle’s fill level and colour seem fine, it can still be flawed. You must be very careful with your assumptions. A white wine may have darkened to a brownish hu , but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not good. 

I’m often amazed by how well old corks hold up –many are more reliable than modern ones, especially since there were no synthetic stoppers in those days. Over the years, corks can absorb a lot of wine, so sometimes what appears to be a loss is just the wine soaked into the cork.

I buy bottles when the colour isn't quite right, and there’s always a 50% chance they’ll be good, but given their rarity, I'm prepared to take the risk.

What would you say to people who have a few old bottles at home and think they are worth a fortune? 
I think those of us in this business don't usually buy that way. If you look on the internet, auction prices are usually much lower than in a wine shop or a distributor, because buyers don't have the information about a wine’s provenance and condition. I understand why shops charge a premium for a rare bottle –they are tying up capital in inventory that might take a long time to sell .

Spanish wines, on the other hand, have little secondary market history
My experience in North America is that people who have money to spend on wine are always looking for well-known names. At the moment there is not much of a market for Spanish wine beyond Vega Sicilia and may be Murrieta, Tondonia and La Rioja Alta.

What qualifies as an old wine according to you?
It depends on the region, but in Rioja I would say a wine from the early 1970s or earlier. Winemaking changed dramatically when the industry shifted from family-run operations or a limited partnership to large-scale businesses. Extended barrel ageing followed by racking and further bottle ageing, is now practiced by only a handful of wineries. 1968 was Rioja's last great vintage. After that, many wineries changed hands and some of the great classic brands became supermarket wines. 

Today there are some great Rioja wines, but they are made differently. I think it is perfectly fine to focus on terroir-driven wines, but the distinctive Rioja style that made it so special has largely disappeared.

What about Jerez? 
This is more complicated. If you get a saca from a sacristía or an old cask, the wine itself will be very old, but it doesn't have the texture that comes from bottle ageing. Finos and manzanillas, in particular, evolve into a darker amontillado-like style over time, which I find fascinating. The evolution of Amontillados, Olorosos and Palos Cortados is much more subtle, but the wines gain incredible depth. 

The important thing for me is how long the wine has been in the bottle. In New York, I once found a batch of Tío Pepe bottled for the Italian market (an importer from Turin was listed on the label), fortified to 17% abv instead of the usual 15%. The bottles were still in their original boxes, complete with advertisements of the time, and I realised they were from the 1960s. This was a Fino that had spent 40 to 50 years in bottle, and that ageing made all the difference. I tasted it against the standard Tío Pepe and the 'En Rama' bottling, and there was simply no contest.

Is it getting harder to find old wines in Spain?
Yes, because they are scarce and more people are looking for them, but that's part of the attraction. Prices are going up too. I once bought the same wine from two sources --one cost me 150% more than the other, but I wanted both bottles and the average price worked out well. 

That said, I don't want people to think that these wines are becoming unattainable or that they should rush to buy before prices go up even more. These wines are meant to be enjoyed today, shared and, as I said, to do some unofficial educational work.

Will today's fine wines age as well as those of the past?
I wonder whether wines with such high alcohol levels can truly age. Over time, a wine’s components soften, but that 15.5% abv will always be there; it will not precipitate like tannins or pigments that make the wine softer and smoother.

Which wines, or specific bottles, have particularly impressed you?
I had the pleasure of drinking an extraordinary 1952 Excelso from Franco-Españolas with Mrs Mijares [winemaker María Isabel Mijares] before she died. If I had to choose the two best bottles I've had, they would be the 1952 Berberana Reserva Especial -from a winery that's no longer famous, but which I consider to be the apotheosis of what a great Rioja is- and a fair amount of Conde de los Andes 1964 and 1968. 

I also had the opportunity to drink some 1920s Riscal with a high percentage of Cabernet, which is perhaps the closest thing to a great Bordeaux of the time. 

The great discoveries are the second wines that sometimes age better than their older brothers, such as Rioja Bordón 1970, which is a miracle, or Campo Viejo Reserva 1964, a stunning wine. There are also some wineries that I don't want to describe as less important. It is worth looking for Ramón Bilbao's Turzaballa and all the wines from Bilbaínas, a producer who used to make four or five Gran Reservas a year - now that there is so much talk about terroir, they were already working with it. I also had very good Monte Real and Albina [from Bodegas Riojanas] and the Navajas family's Montecillo whites in Rhine-style bottles from the 1930s, which I think were made with Viura and other white varieties.

What is the oldest wine you have ever tasted?
A 1918 Franco-Españolas. I have also tasted a 1925 Castillo Ygay, although at this point in time there are no great wines, only great bottles.

Which other Rioja wines would you highlight?
At Cvne, I'm more of an Imperial fan than a Viña Real fan. I have had very good Imperial reds from the 1950s. La Rioja Alta is on the same level, if not higher: the 1968 Gran Reserva 890 was a great revelation for me.

As the wine matures in the bottle, the differences between a great producer and a great bottle become less significant. There’s a certain magic that happens when tertiary aromas emerge. Less expensive wines have given me as much pleasure as those from the great bodegas.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to start tasting old wines? Will they have to fight against their own palate?
I think old wines are very approachable. Ageing softens them, balances them and brings out complex tertiary aromas, but in any case, they are softer. They are not for those who seek power in their wines. 

My advice? If you find an old bottle, check the fill level, make sure the colour is not too dark or cloudy, and then buy it and drink it.