Touring Torino in a bottle

Bravo to Slate's magnificent wine columnist Mike Steinberger! He uses an Olympics new peg to write about Piemontese wines with an interesting behind-the-barrel argument about the merits of barrique barrels. (Barrique means barrels made of young French oak. The effect is to give some vintages a woody taste). I like whites that age in barrique; I'm more of a traditionalist when it comes to red. Give me the old barrel, in other words.