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Such a deep dive, known in the wine world as a vertical tasting, helps to convey how a wine expresses the different conditions of each vintage, and shows whether it articulates a consistent sense of place despite the yearly variations.

Yet such a vertical tasting — as distinguished from a horizontal one, in which many wines from a single vintage are sampled — offers invaluable insights into some of wine’s greatest mysteries, which, even with all the advantages of modern science and technology, have yet to be understood:

A recent vertical tasting showed the 6-year-old 2011 was nothing short of magnificent, revealing the promise it showed in its youth.

There’s much to be said for opening one fine vintage and enjoying it over the course of an evening, rather than glugging a taste and rushing on to the next one, but I recommend a “vertical” tasting like this for its educational value for collectors and wine students alike.

A vertical tasting is time travel, but wine can take us to faraway places as well.