Of the three biodynamic wines I tried in my virtual tasting the other night, I thought I would write notes on the white wine as it raises a few interesting points.

It is a screw top of 2007 vintage. Like lots of people, most of my experience of white wine screw tops has been from the cheaper section of a supermarket aisle. Normally a coded message for the buyer to drink straight away. I was brought up surrounded by glass lemonade bottles with metal screw tops and wines cork stoppered. I feel like I am playing Twister with my past, getting to grips with change. Admittedly more and more higher end wines like this one are screw tops or 'stelvinised' ('Stelvin' is the the most common make of screw top), so my perceptions are shifting, and childhood screw top prejudices gradually eroding.

Phew, feel better for sharing already, something like 'cork addicts blogonymous'.

Drinking this wine two years after the harvest of those fine Bourgogne Chardonnay grapes does not seem a huge distance down the line, but this wine has even greater cellaring super powers. According to Berry Bross and Rudd it should be drunk between 2008 and 2010.

This raises the question of how on earth do white wines age well at all with next to no so called 'tannins' inside (the chemicals that keep oxygen behaving well), and no cork in the top? White wine cellaring particularly highlights the other sides to the preservation story.

We read everywhere that red wine has 'tannins' in abundance and therefore in some cases can sit around for years getting better. A perfect combo with a real cork caressing the wine, keeping it moist for an effective seal whilst being imperfect enough to let in just the right amount of oxygen to tickle the wine into a playful frolic of flavour.

Bourgogne fans though will know that white Burgundies have a reputation for ageing very well. But if ask you them why, you may well get some blank looks. They will probably happily change the colour and ramble on about tannic reds and the ageing process. Tannin is an all too easy name-drop and thus probably one of the greatest simplifications to pin down a very complex process.

'ss just tannin, innit'

All the same perhaps the Dumb and Dumber approach is not so bad after all. The wine ageing processes in general are not fully understood, even by chemists. Experience seems to be the key, a sort of 'that seemed to work so we will try it again' method, an evolutionary process. It is certainly not an exact science. Lots of fingers in the air leading to some arbitrary average figure based on rough constituent parts, tastings and previous vintages..oh yes and not forgetting a generous splash of sulphates to make the longevity more artificially certain (the E numbers of the wine world). If you do get a best before date (which are very unusual, except on box wines), it is normally a vague cellaring suggestion.

'Drink before you expire'

Without covering fire from that 'tannin' word, white wine ageing is mostly about taming oxygen in 'the other' unspeakably complex ways. Acidity and PH are key, and alcohol levels certainly play their part. I am no chemist, so if anyone can shed more detailed light on how these parts keep oxygen in check then feel free to comment.

So with all this in mind I whip the bottle out of the fridge, twist off the screw top with a brisk clickity-click and deliver some to my parched glass. I then wait for it to warm a little as there is nothing worse than muting the flavour of a white wine with over kill chill.

So it's a Macon....what's that? It is from the Maconnais region in Burgundy where there are no less than 42 villages. These are sorted into several designations. Pouilly-Fuisse for example is the most prestigious one you may well have heard of.

The wine smelt of cloves, if I had closed my eyes maybe reminiscent of a cold mulled wine. It was Chardonnay sharp on the tongue, but the daggers receded with a full smooth massage.

I liked this wine, and I could definitely detect the unusual biodynamic treatment in the aromas.

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