Wine gets better with age. That’s what a lot of people believe. It’s kind of true, but not for every wine. Just because a wine gets older doesn’t guarantee that it is getting better.
I should know that age doesn’t always help, because recently I reviewed my wine cellar and found that several bottles had aged out. They were mostly American white wines that I had kept too long–nearly 20 years in one case. And just in case you want to know I didn’t just look at the date on the bottle and throw it away; I opened, tasted, spit out and THEN threw it away.
So, what about your cellar? What should you be keeping a while before drinking it? Wines with a lot of tannin often improve with age. Tannin is found in the skins, seeds, and stems of grapes and in the oak barrels some wines are aged in. Since red wines sit on the skins of the grapes longer, and since many red wines are barrel aged, they are more likely to be tannic and benefit from aging.
Aging is the process of the tannins in the wine reacting with other components until they are unable to stay in solution and become sediment. While this is happening, the aromas of the grape are replaced by the bouquet of the aged wine. At the same time, the color in the wine either lightens if it is a red wine or turns brown for a white wine because they oxidize. (Reds do this too, but it is harder to see).
So a hard, tannic red wine could become softer in the mouth; less fruity, with more wood/leather in the nose. Aged wines are generally more complex and full of nuance. An oaky white wine will smell and taste less fruity, appear more golden in color, and overall be more complex and subtle in the taste.
One piece of good, though rather expensive, advice is to buy a case of any particular wine. Then you can taste it as it ages to find its peak. A little cheaper method is to generalize by the cost of the wine. If it cost less than $12, drink it now. If it cost over $25 it may benefit by aging. Cellarnotes.com has a nice chart that gives some general price/aging guidelines.
Another thought is that old world wines (those from Europe) age better than new world (the Americas, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa) wines. The old world wine making style seems to lend itself to bottle aging, perhaps because they are more tannic and acidic to begin with.
More generalities: Cabernet Sauvignon ages best. Pinot Noir ages surprisingly well, if it is a great Pinot. Chardonnay, when it is oaky, not only ages, but really needs a few years to even out. Merlot needs high levels of Cabernet in the blend to age well, Syrah rarely ages particularly well, except for true Rhones. On the other hand, wine columnist Matt Kramer, writing in Wine Spectator, thinks Syrahs can do well with a longer time in the bottle. To read his story, follow this link.
And trying to age your wine doesn’t do any good at all if you don’t keep it at a constant temperature. Storing bottles in the rack at the end of a kitchen counter, or in the laundry room or garage merely keeps them out of your way–it doesn’t help the wine and may really harm it. On the Millenium, my father pulled out several bottles of Dom Perignon he had been given which had reposed in a side cubbyhole in the garage for a number of years. Not a single one of the dozen bottles was drinkable! It was a terrible waste of good wine (and money).
If you think you have some wines that would benefit from aging and are going to try to cellar them, remember that the temperature is key. 55-58 degrees Farenheit is probably the best, although the wine will probably be okay between 40-65 degrees. The trick is that the temperature cannot shift rapidly; a couple of degrees different between winter and summer won’t ruin the wine but dramatic changes will. And warmer temperatures can really destroy even a great wine. WineSellerSecrets.com says “Irreversible damage will be done if your wine is kept at a temperature above 82ºF for even a month.”
So, bottom line, are you a boor or an ignoramus if you don’t keep and serve your wines for many years? No. In fact, all over the world most people drink their wines between 12-18 months after they are produced. But some wines do get better with age and they are worth waiting for.
For an article by a New Zealander who agrees with me that aging wines has problems and drawbacks and drinking now makes sense, check this out.
For more education about wine aging, follow this link.
For a down-to-earth discussion on when to drink your wines, click here.
For information about building a wine cellar, check this out.
{ 1 trackback }