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Storage of Wine
Wine Temperature Chart : Temps for Serving / Storing
Wine
What's the big deal about storing a wine at a
certain temperature? Simply put, wine is a
perishable good. Storing a fine wine at 100° will
cause it to lose its flavor, while storing it at 0°
will cause as much damage.
The trick with wine is to store it at a stable,
ideal temperature, and then to serve it at a
temperature which best shows off its personal
characteristics. If you serve a wine too cool, the
flavors will all be hidden. It's like eating a
frozen pizza while it's still frozen. If you serve a
wine too hot, all you can taste is the alcohol.
Wine Serving Temperature Guidelines
Most of the enjoyment that comes from drinking wine
involves its aroma. Taste only has four aspects -
sweet, sour, salty, acid. The nose does the rest.
Vapors are created as wine warms up, so the wine
needs to be a few degrees below its ideal drinking
temperature for this to work. Room Temperature is
rarely 'wine drinking temperature' - if you're in
the
Indian Ocean
on a yacht, you hardly want 100° Chardonnay! How
about Houston in July? Warmth makes white wines
taste dull. Few homes are regulated to match
wine-drinking temperatures.
So throw out the old "refrigerate all whites, drink
all reds at current room temperature" adage. Here is
a chart to indicate in general best temperatures for
drinking wine at. Remember, though, that you also
want to keep in mind the temperature of the room
relative to this 'idea temperature'. If your room is
60°F and you are serving a fine Burgundy, perhaps
chill the
Burgundy
to 58°F to allow it a little warming up in
the glass. Fridges do well for cooling a wine when
necessary, but for warming I prefer to warm it with
my hands, glass by glass.
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If you run into someone hooked on Room Temperature, have them imagine
drinking a fine ice wine in Barrow,
Alaska in February. At that temperature, even a
wine meant |
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How long will an open bottle of wine keep?
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QUESTION |
ANSWER |
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Should I be storing the wine I drink everyday
in a special way or place? |
Simply keep your bottles of wine in a cool
place away from direct sunlight until you’re
ready to drink them. If you are going to store
them for more than a few weeks, it is best to
store them on their side rather than upright.
This will keep the cork moist and therefore
airtight.
There is no need to store white wines or
Champagne/sparkling wines in the refrigerator
if you are not planning on drinking them soon.
Simply chill them before serving. |
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Where should I store wine I don't plan to
drink immediately? |
There are two types of wine you may not plan
to drink immediately--wines you have purchased
that are ready to drink, and wines designed to
be aged. Most wines on the market today are
designed to be ready to drink as soon as you
purchase them. Therefore, the long-term
storage conditions recommended for wines
designed to be aged are not necessary.
Keep these ready-to-drink wines away from
direct sunlight and heat, any source of
vibration, and lying on their sides. This will
ensure that the cork will remain moist and
therefore airtight.
There is no need to store white wines or
Champagne/sparkling wines in the refrigerator
if you are not planning to drink them soon.
Simply chill them before serving.
If you do begin to accumulate wines designed
to be aged, storage becomes more important.
The key conditions to keep constant are
temperature (needs to be about 55 degrees) and
humidity (70% - 80%). To achieve this at home,
you may need to convert a closet or buy a
special unit designed. |
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Where should I store wine after it is opened?
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A re-corked, leftover bottle of red or white
wine can be stored in the refrigerator for 3 —
5 days without compromising its flavor. Just
take the red wine out of the refrigerator to
let it come up to room temperature before
drinking. A tightly corked leftover bottle of
Champagne/sparkling wine can also be kept
fresh in the refrigerator for 3 - 5 days. |
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How long will an open bottle of wine keep?
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Longer than you may think. Don’t throw it
away! Re-cork the wine (if you’ve thrown away
the cork use plastic wrap and a rubber band).
An open bottle of red or white wine will keep
in the refrigerator for 3 — 5 days. A bottle
of Champagne/sparkling wine (tightly
re-corked) will also keep for 3 — 5 days in
the refrigerator. |
Whether or not to bottle age your wine after you
have purchased it is a very personal and somewhat
complex decision. While most white wines are
designed to be enjoyed within two to three years
after their vintage date, many robust red wines,
particularly Cabernet Sauvignon such as William Hill
Winery's Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon and Aura, will
continue to evolve and improve with additional aging
in proper storage conditions.
Under the proper storage conditions, the components
of red wines will interact and evolve. During bottle
aging, the wine's varietal aromas and flavors, as
well as tannins and pigment, interact with oak
compounds imparted during fermentation and barrel
aging. Tannins and pigment compounds will link
together to form longer, smoother polymer chains,
softening the tannic impression of the wine. This
integration can help to develop increasingly complex
flavors and aromas, and deepen the wine's color from
purplish to a deep, brick red.
However, the primary caveat of a fine red wine
improving through additional aging is the quality of
its storage conditions. The ideal storage
environment for wine mirrors the conditions of many
wineries' storage caves:
•
Cool Temperature:
55-65°F. Cool temperatures slow the aging process
and help to develop complex varietal character.
•
Consistent Temperature:
Less than 10°F fluctuation throughout the year.
Temperature fluctuations can cause the wine to
expand and contract, possibly causing damage to the
cork.
•
Humidity:
Between 60-80%. Humidity over 80% can encourage
mold, while dry conditions can cause evaporation and
oxidation.
•
Darkness:
Excessive light exposure can cause proteins in wine
to become hazy, and can create "off" aromas and
flavors.
•
Vibration-free:
Vibration (from appliances or motors) can travel
through wine and be detrimental to its development.
•
Odor-free:
The storage area should be free from chemical odors,
such as cleaners, household paints, etc.
Basements are usually wonderful for storing wine
because they meet many of the above criteria. Other
options include a little-used, interior closet in an
air-conditioned home. Wine storage systems are
available that provide optimum temperature and
humidity conditions for serious wine collecting.
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Storing Wine
For any wine lover, storing wine well is
very important. There are a few simple
principles that need to be understood in order
to select proper wine storage conditions. We can
logically break down the process into just 3
categories: storing wine for the short haul,
storing wine for long term aging and storing (or
saving) wines that have already been opened.
Short Term Storage
This is wine you will consume within 6 months.
These may be bottles that are just home from the
store and destined to be consumed shortly or
bottles that have been pulled from longer
storage to be accessible for spur of the moment
consumption.
The closer you can duplicate the conditions
required for long term storage, the better.
However, in many situations, keeping the wines
in a box in an interior closet is a satisfactory
solution.
Keep the bottles stored so that:
-
the cork stays moist
-
the wines are at the lowest
stable
temperature possible
-
the location is free of vibration
-
the location is not a storage area for other
items that have a strong odor
Stay away from those little 9 bottle racks that
end up on top of the refrigerator; it's hot,
close to the light and vibrates from the
refrigerator compressor.
Long Term Storage:
This is wine that you will keep for more than 6
months before consumption. A good storage
location for wine is
generally dark, is free of vibration, has high
humidity and has a low stable temperature.
Generally accepted 'ideal' conditions are 50 to
55 degrees fare height and 70 percent humidity
or higher. The high humidity is important
because it keeps the corks from drying and
minimizes evaporation. The only problem with
even higher levels of humidity is that it brings
on growth of mold on the labels or the loosening
of labels that have water soluble glue.
Temperatures lower than 55 degrees only slow the
aging of the wines. There have been wines found
in very cold cellars of castles in Scotland that
are perfectly sound and are much less developed
that those kept at 'normal' cellar temperature.
A near constant temperature is preferable to one
that fluctuates.
With regard to light, most modern bottles have
ultraviolet filters built into the glass that
help protect the contents from most of the
effects of UV rays. Despite the filters in the
glass, long term storage can still allow enough
rays in to create a condition in the wine that
is referred to as 'light struck'. The result is
that the wine picks up the taste and smell of
wet cardboard. This is especially noticeable in
delicate white wines and sparkling wines. The
condition can be created by putting a bottle of
champagne near a fluorescent light for a month.
Regular or constant vibrations from pumps,
motors or generators should be avoided since the
vibrations they cause are thought to negatively
affect the evolution of the wines. One
additional factor to avoid is storing other
items with very strong odors near the wine.
There have been many reports of wines picking up
the aromas of items stored nearby.
If you do not have a suitable wine cellar, there
are many types of 'wine refrigerators' that will
work as well. They differ from common
refrigerators in that they work at higher
temperatures (50-65 degree range) and they do
not remove humidity from the air. There are kits
available that will convert regular
refrigerators into suitable wine storage units.
Storage after opening:
This is storage for bottles of table wine that
have been opened but not completely consumed.
There are many methods for prolonging the life
of opened table wines but even the best can only
slow the degradation of the wine. These methods
are for still table wines. Sparkling wines and
fortified dessert wines have different
characteristics and requirements.
Gas Systems: Sparging the bottle with a gas
(nitrogen or argon) can be very effective but it
is expensive and I've never known anyone who
actually used a gas system over a long period of
time. They just seem to ultimately be more
trouble than they are worth. If you do elect to
try such a system, stay away from carbon dioxide
since it will mix into solution with the wine.
Vacu-vin: An item came on the market a few years
ago called a Vacu-vin. This consists of rubber
bottle stoppers that hold a weak vacuum created
by a hand pump that comes with the system. While
some people swear by them, there is a consistent
complaint that wines treated with a Vacu-vin
seem 'stripped' of aromas and flavor. They
actually create a lower pressure environment
instead of an actual vacuum. This means they
don't remove all the oxygen and oxidation of the
wine will still occur.
Half bottles, marbles and progressive carafes:
These are all ways of limiting the amount of air
in contact with the wine. The concept is good if
you move quickly and refrigerate the remaining
wine. |
STORE WINE
You can keep a bottle of wine any where in the house
or in the apartment as long as the wine is protected
from:
-
Temperature (too warm or too cold)
-
Vibration
-
Light
-
Humidity (too much or too less)
-
No air circulation
Each of these 5 enemies can kill wine or prevent it
from maturing.
Aging is essential in order to bring wine to its
optimum. In time, wine delivers typical aromas and
flavors. The process works only if the wine is kept
in perfect condition.
How long can I keep my bottle of wine?
Aging depends on how the bottle is kept, it is also
depend where the wine is coming from. Red or white,
from Bordeaux or Burgundy, every wine needs much or
less time to mature. Please have a look at the list
of french wines to find out how long you should keep
a bottle of french wine.
How to store wine?
The easiest way to keep wine is to purchase a
self-contained unit (known as a
wine cooler). A wine cooler can be as small as a
little fridge, with enough space for 24 bottles.
Some can hold more than 2,500 bottles. In between
the two extremes lies a vast number of options to
fit nearly any need and budget.
How to store wine
The possibility of keeping a good number of bottles
in store means you can follow the natural progress
of a specific wine, as well as avoiding continual
transport of the bottles from the shop home, which
certainly doesn't help to enjoy the wine at its
best. If it isn't possible to have a basement area
where you can build a cellar then you should choose
the room in the house where the temperature varies
least from summer to winter. In fact, even though
the recommended temperature for storing wine is
12°-14°, slightly higher but constant temperatures
guarantee sufficient security.
If you have an old wardrobe you can insulate it using polystyrene and
this will also mean that the bottles are not exposed
to direct light, which can have a violent effect on
the colour. The bottles should be stored
horizontally so that the cork comes into contact
with the wine and remains damp and springy. Vertical
storage tends to dry out the cork and allows oxygen
to get into the bottle, oxidising the contents.
If you have a room for the purpose you can arrange the bottles on
shelves in wood or metal. A high level of humidity
may cause the formation of mould on the cork or more
simply the label may come off. To prevent this
happening you can cover each bottle with transparent
film. If the room is too dry you can use a
humidifier. The cellar should be kept clean and
should not be used to store other foodstuffs. No
hams or salamis should be hung there and the storage
of detergents or paints would be even less
appropriate.
CELLARING
...preserving the flavors while postponing the
pleasure...
Sooner or later, anyone who enjoys wine regularly
will start a collection, although often quite
unintentionally. Only a very small percentage of all
wines produced will improve with age, either
tastefully or capitalistically, and the risk of
ultimate disappointment is quite high. The risk
seems however, to have little deterrent effect.
Typically, the one-bottle-at-a-time wine buyer will
at some point discover their regular merchant is
sold out of their current and typically new-found
favorite wine. So, embarking on a desperate mission
of serious wine shopping, they get lucky enough to
find another source with a few remaining bottles and
make the decision to stock up. And so it begins: The
Cellar.
This "cellar" may wind up in a counter top wine rack
on display, a kitchen cupboard, or a cardboard box
in a closet, crawl space, or garage. But make no
mistake about the implication, this IS the
ominous beginning of a wine collection. For now,
we'll simply refer to it as "the stash."
IT'S ALIVE..!
Factors that will cause the drinker to morph
into collector and the stash to grow (often
uncontrollably) are sentimentality, discovery,
boredom, and speculation. Sentimentality results
from saving the last bottle or two of a particular
favorite for a "special occasion". Discovery
of new favorites tends to slow depletion of
the existing stash, while, at the same time, adding
to its overall volume. Boredom has the same effect.
Speculation usually begins when inflation, created
by supply and demand, makes monsters out of bottles
that began as "great values". The drinker purchases
a wine that inadvertently pays a (theoretical)
dividend and so decides to begin purposeful wine
investing (aka: collecting).
"Rules" of Wine Collecting
1.
Take your time; choose wisely.
(There's no hurry to fill your "cellar". There are
new wines every year. Read what the critics say, but
follow your own taste. Spend more money
tasting
than acquiring.)
2.
Taste before you select.
(If you don't like it now, you won't like it later;
an ugly duckling might become a swan, but
ugly-tasting wine becomes ugly-tasting
old
wine.)
Regardless of the cause, the effect of the growing
stash is to make the drinker-cum-collector think
about protecting and preserving it. Although this is
the most common way wine collections start and grow,
it is also completely the opposite of how it
should
be done. The right way to collect wine is to plan
and invest in a
proper place to
store the collection
first,
but I won't waste another breath trumpeting this
largely lost cause ...
THE HEAT IS ON
The most important factor in storing wine
is CONSISTENCY of temperature. Rapid changes
-- plus or minus 10° F within a 24-hour
period -- ruin wines. Although one incident may not
be fatal, it will permanently change the flavors
away from the fresh-and-fruity side, toward the
old-and-musty. Repeated temperature fluctuations
will surely ruin wine. Heated wine may smell and
taste "cooked" or madeirized, like burned sugar.
Lacking a dedicated temperature-controlled room or
cabinet, it's best to store wine on the floor of an
interior closet, where no wall is shared with the
outdoors, a furnace, stove, refrigerator, water
heater, dish washer, clothes dryer, sauna, kiln,
boiler, foundry, particle accelerator, etc. The
garage, the root cellar, crawl space under the
house, or the unfinished basement are very bad
places to store wine, because of wide and rapid
temperature fluctuations.
There is a tool to help find and monitor suitable
temperate environments: a minimum/maximum
thermometer. This relatively inexpensive device will
show the highest and lowest temperature in any given
time period. The analog version is U-shaped with
little steel plugs inside the tube, showing the
min-max temperatures reached since last checked (it
is reset by stroking the tube with a magnet to
reposition the plugs). Newer electronic min-max
thermometers may be more convenient for the
digitally-inclined.
Place either thermometer in the potential storage
area and monitor, morning and night, for a week. If
the daily Fahrenheit swing is over a few degrees
(5-8?), pick a new location and begin again. Once a
likely spot is found, the wine stash can be moved
there, but monitoring should continue weekly,
monthly, seasonally, annually, centennially, etc.,
until confident of the location's temperate
stability.
The great body of anecdotal evidence suggests that
wines stored at lower ranges (50° - 55° F) will be
preserved longer and have a longer time for drinking
while the wine is at its "peak" of aging. Wines
stored at higher ranges (65° - 70°) will age sooner,
but not as well, and have a shorter time window for
maximum enjoyment.
Stored past five years in the vagarities of "room
temperature", most wines are likely to show browning
color and taste lifeless, flat, or tired. If stored
where temperature ever reaches above 75°, the wines
may taste cooked or
maderized
(Sherry-like, but without the floral appeal).
Wine aging is not predictable with any certainty and
there are no guarantees that even properly stored
bottles will improve. Conversely, wine that's not
expected to hold up well occasionally does
improve with age. Both disappointments and surprises
can occur.
PROCRASTINATORS' PLONK
As the stash grows, you will lose track of individual bottles,
guaranteed. Where is that bottle? I know I bought
one; did I trade it ... sell it ... drink it?
Eventually, this becomes a bigger problem than
keeping the temperature stable. It's an
ounce-of-prevention problem that most collectors
don't consider until it requires a pound-of-cure to
inventory and map the cellar.
Start simple, but start somewhere. Label each box or
bin with a number or letter. Keep a notebook with
columns and develop consistent abbreviations for
often-repeated info, like varietal, merchant, etc.:
Be diligent about entering new purchases and logging
consumption. As the collection swells, make tags for
each bottle. Save the tags in an envelope tacked to
the "cellar door" and batch-process your depletions
monthly or quarterly.
When hand entry gets old, the computer is the
greatest collector's tool yet invented. Lacking the
hacking skills to design a custom wine data base?
There are inexpensive, excellent, downloadable
software programs available, such as
Vinoté, that keep track of even more
information, such as tasting notes, and make bottle
tags.
Start now. Failure to keep track will sooner of
later result in Bottles Discovered Post Mortem and
you'll be forced to consume Procrastinators' Plonk
(an excellent match with Crow).
BIN THERE, DUN THAT
One can get as fancy as one wants with wine racking,
cubicles, bins, whatever. A general rule seems to
be, the more customized a cellar, the less flexible
the storage and the sooner it is outgrown. Strictly
a personal choice, of course, but I'd rather spend
money on the bottles than the bottle holders.
Cardboard cartons make fine wine storage bins.
They're cheap, custom fit to bottle dimensions, and
modular. They protect the labels from scuffing and
absorb any excess moisture. Stored on their sides,
with the ends cut off, the bottles can be viewed by
their end caps and the boxes can be stacked three
high with relative confidence. Simple plywood
shelving can add structural stability and
arrangement flexibility.
Many wine bottles with cellaring potential come
packed in wooden crates. These are also good storage
containers for the long term. Whether cardboard or
wood, the boxes should be opened and the bottles
checked immediately after purchase to find any
low-fills, leakers, or empties (it happens!).
Re-pack after inspection. Ten years after may be the
right time to pull the corks, but too late for
merchant warranty.
Always store bottles on their sides. Neck-up invites air contamination
from corks drying out, shrinking, and losing their
seal. Neck-down allows sediment to collect on the
cork where it is unwanted and nearly impossible to
remove. This position also hides any seepage that
may occur from defective cork seals, temperature
spikes, or other causes. Bottles resting on their
sides keep the corks supple, sediment sequestered,
and seals visible.
Plan ahead. Eventually, either the quality or
quantity of bottles acquired may suggest a more
elaborate solution than the stash of cardboard boxes
on the closet floor. Escalating options may include
faster consumption, renting a wine locker,
purchasing a dedicated wine cabinet, insulating and
cooling a spare room, or building a passive
underground cellar, winery, distillery, etc.
MYTHS & DON'T-DO-ITS
The only
time wine should be kept in a refrigerator is
after
it has been uncorked. In fact, the smart way to
chill wine is to put it in a bucket, filled 2/3 with
ice and 1/3 with water, for 20 minutes (using ice
alone takes longer, because air pockets between the
cubes, even if finely-crushed, insulate against the
cold).
A refrigerator is not a good place to store
wine for several reasons. Refrigerators are designed
for short-term cold storage; temperatures within
change over a fairly wide range, every few minutes
or hours. The components are engineered to drop
temperature rapidly to below 50° F and not
necessarily maintain it within a narrow range of a
few degrees. The low temperatures reached, rapid
temperature swings, and vibrations from the
self-contained compressors that cycle on and off
several times daily, all are harmful to wine
development.
Repeated fluctuations between normal and low
temperatures can cause wine to precipitate crystals
of potassium
bitartrate that look like broken glass
(myth), but are completely edible and perfectly
harmless; they are merely an annoyance. Dried and
powdered, these become "Cream of Tartar" commonly
used in baking. The other more serious danger of
refrigerating bottles is that the temperature
changes (and low humidity) might cause the corks to
leak.
Bottle-turning as a means of avoiding sediment buildup is a stupid
urban myth and completely antithetical to removing
particles and sludge. Turning disturbs natural
settling, has no reasonable purpose, and will cause
premature aging or spoilage. Sediment which settles
on one side of the glass usually stays there. This
build-up, in fact, makes it easier to remove by
decanting and forfeit less wine in doing so. To help
settle the loose stuff, stand the bottle (don't
shake it) in a cool spot (not the
refrigerator) for 24 to 48 hours before
decanting (see
Sedimental Journey).
AGING WINE
Most people assume that the longer that you keep a
wine, the better it will get. So probably the most
commonly asked question you hear is, how long do I
keep the wine before drinking? (Since its best to
store wine under certain conditions, like in a cool
damp underground cellar, this is known as
"cellaring" wine.)
It is a misconception that you must
age wine. The fact is, throughout the world, most
wine is drunk "young" (that is relatively soon after
it is produced, perhaps 12 to 18 months), even wines
that are "better" if aged. While some wines will
"mature" and become better over time, others will
not and should be drunk immediately, or within a few
years. Eventually all wine will "go over the
hill," so even the wines meant to be kept for many,
many years should be drunk before its too late.
Wines which are expected to be matured in the bottle
before drinking can go over the hill faster if not
properly stored. If someone is giving you a very
good deal on an old red wine that you would
otherwise expect to be great, start to wonder how it
was kept! And a famous name on the label is no
guarantee whether a wine will age well (sometimes
they make mistakes, or the grapes that year
("vintage") just won't produce wines suitable for
extended aging ("cellaring").
Tannin is a substance that comes from the seeds,
stems and skins of grapes. (For a taste of
heavy-duty tannin, try a strong cup of tea.)
Additional tannin can come from the wood during
barrel aging in the winery. It is an acidic
preservative and is important to the long term
maturing of wine. Through time, tannin (which has a
bitter flavor--"mouth shattering"?) will precipitate
out of the wine (becoming sediment in the bottle)
and the complexity of the wine's flavor from fruit,
acid and all the myriad other substances that make
up the wine's character will come into greater
balance. Generally, it is red wines that are the
ones that can (but do not have to be)
produced with a fair amount of tannin with an eye
towards long term storing and maturation. The bad
news is that you shouldn't drink it young since it
will taste too harsh (and probably cost too much,
besides). The good news is that (with a little luck)
after a number of years, what you get is a prized,
complex and balanced wine.
Remember that red wines get their color from the
stems and skins of the grape. This gives the wine
tannin and aging capacity. White wines may have no
contact with the stems and skins and will have
little tannin (though some can be added, again,
through barrel aging). Therefore most white wines
don't age well. Even the ones which do get better
through time will not last nearly as long as their
red cousins. A fair average for many "ageable"
whites would be about 5 to 7 years (some might go
10). On the other hand, really "ageable" reds can
easily be kept for 30 years and longer.
So, how do you figure out how long to keep a wine
before drinking it? We'll get to a summary, but it
is just a summary. Check out other sources
for the particulars! The Internet provides a
wonderful medium through which people who may have
the wine you are thinking about drinking might
already have done so. They usually are willing to
share their opinions. There are several Usenet
groups to this end.
Two wineries, side by side, producing the same
grapes and the "same" wine. One ages considerably
longer than the other. Why? While they are the
"same" grapes, perhaps the soil or microclimate
(small variations in the local weather due to
terrain; what the French call "terroir") is just a
bit different. Maybe the vines are older. The winery
may have processed the wines differently (for
example, heavy filtering). (In fact, even the size
of the bottle matters--a half bottle ages faster
than larger bottles.) There are lots of reasons, so
general rules are just that--general.
In any event, the red French Beaujolais Nouveau is
meant to be drunk within days. Its a light, fruity
wine.
White wine is the next least aged wine. But here
there is a range from a light wine like Sauvignon
Blanc or a light Chardonnay, to more ageable
"complex" Chardonnay of good White Burgundies.
Probably drink the former within a few years (aging
isn't needed, and the latter from 3 to 7 years).
Dessert wines like Sauternes or other late harvest
wines (Riesling, Gewurztraminer, etc.) should be
aged. Sauternes get better over a very long
time: 10, 20, 30, 40 or more years!
Then come the reds. While the vast majority of wines
produced today can be drunk immediately, a
good number of red wines will benefit by SOME aging
and some will benefit from a lot of aging.
The ones that you open now that taste like road tar
may very well be fantastic in 5 or 10 or 20 years.
Look to some French Bordeaux (maybe up to 30 years)
or Cabernet Sauvignon.
Getting more specific about some red grapes, rules
of thumb might be for the very best wines:
Cabernet, 10 to 15 years; Merlot, 4 to 7 years for
many; Nebbiolo, 10 years or more; Pinot Noir, about
5 years to start.
Some people contend that while California wine won't
"go bad" in the bottle, it doesn't get any
better--unlike French wines that mature (get better)
with cellaring. Don't ask me to explain this
controversy as I have had plenty of California wine
that seemed to me to be better after aging (but
then, I said I wasn't an expert. On the other hand,
I know I like it when I drink it.)
So much for the summary. Didn't help much, did it?
As you learn more and more about wine, you get a
feel for which wines are produced to be aged. That
doesn't mean that you still know when it is the
best time to drink the wine. You need to check
around. Ask fellow wine drinkers (and, any unbiased
wine merchant with whom you can establish a
relationship). Get a book that gives opinions. Read
the magazines. Ask around on the 'net. These
resources have the ability to tell you what happened
when they drank the wine. Was it still good,
is it starting to go over the hill, is it gone? At
least one correspondent tells me that Australian
wines seem to mature faster in Australia than in
Europe, even if kept at similar temperatures and
humidities. Just one more reason why it is best to
ask (and taste) about individual wines.
Lucky ones (like wine critics or friends of
expansive people with big cellars) can get to be
part of "vertical tastings." A "vintage" is the year
in which a wine is produced. Line up a particular
wine on a table with a bottle from each vintage,
say, 1971 through 1992 and what you get is a
"vertical" of that wine. A young wine, designed to
age, can taste harsh (from the tannin). As you
sample older and older bottles, the wine will
mellow. Flavors come into balance. The oldest wines
will lose their tannin and their fruitiness and
eventually have a flat taste. Somewhere in there is
the vintage which tastes the way you like it.
That part is up to you, not to the pundits. But
their comments can help. There are lots of resources
(see Learning About Wine) which can help you get an
idea which wines should be drunk when.
When we first started learning about wine, we
bought way too much white wine, which somehow we
still have. Some of it--which was wonderful when
purchased--can now best be described as
awful. Since you'll hear the old cliche that you
should cook only with wines you would drink, that
wine isn't even good for cooking. I plan on trying
to turn it into vinegar.
Aside: One of the first really "good" wines we had
was a 1984 Acacia Winery Lake Chardonnay. We bought
a case of it and drank it slowly (like I said, we've
got a lot of white left over). A few years back we
asked the winemaker how it would be. His answer was
"never open it . . . just remember the way it was,
you'll be happier." We're glad to say he was wrong.
As this is being written, that bottle was opened
last night (it was 10 years old). Past its prime but
still pretty good! So even the winemaker may not
always know, either.
When you are just starting out, it probably doesn't
pay to buy many wines for aging ("laying down").
First off, you are going to want to drink some of
them, and the ones that are "good" won't be so good
this young, and they'll cost too much besides. There
are plenty of wines that are good now. As you
drink these wines, you'll get an idea of what types
of wine you like. With a little learning, you'll get
an idea of the style of wine you want to put away.
And you may not make the mistakes we did, besides.
(On the other hand, we did manage to get a few wines
that did age well and we are just drinking now. So
much for rules.)
Don't forget, how you store the wine will affect how
long it lasts as well. Even the size of the bottle
will change its life. Getting good advice about
particular wine is the only good idea here. |
