No Stupid Wine Questions: Is Older Wine Better Wine?
A few tips on figuring out whether your wine should be aged, how long, and how to make it last.
Working in tasting rooms, and especially now that I work in one that specializes in age-worthy wines, I frequently meet people who feel silly asking about how long wine should be aged, or how to do it. Let it be known: these are not stupid questions, and the answers aren’t necessarily simple. The overall assumption is often that older wine is better wine, but that is not true at all!
The truth is, most wine isn’t meant to be aged.
In the United States, the vast majority of wine is the mass produced type you can easily find in a grocery store, liquor store, or Trader Joe’s. These wines are meant to be drank while they are young and fresh. I’ll talk more about what makes a wine age well in a moment, but these are wines dominated by ripe, fruity, often slightly sweet flavors, and those aren’t things that help wine age well.
Even wine that is meant to be aged involves increased risk with longer aging time.
Wine is constantly at risk of becoming vinegar, and we are fighting a battle against oxygen to stop that from happening. The longer you store even the best quality wine, the higher the risk of cork failure and oxygenation. Wine is also picky about temperature, humidity, light, and vibration. Recently someone told me about this great bottle of 30 year old wine they had at home, and at first I told them it should still be going strong. Then I learned it has been stored at room temperature, often upright, and frequently transported in moving vans and left in random boxes for unknown amounts of time. By all means, open that bottle, but I’m going to be shocked if it’s still in good condition.
So what makes a wine age well?
Fruity aromas and flavors die off or change relatively quickly, so you need structural elements to the wine that endure the effects of time, like strong bones. The “bones” in wine are more lasting characteristics like tannin, acid, and sugar. The more of these you have, the longer your wine will persevere. This means that although all these wines may be of premium quality, a Gamay, which may have high acidity, will still not last as long as a Cabernet Sauvignon, which has high amounts of both acid and tannin, or a dessert wine like Sauternes, which has high amounts of acid and sugar.
How do I know if my wine is meant to age?
If you’re looking at a specific bottle, most producers will be able to tell you if their wine should be aged, and how long. For example, the winery where I work emphasizes that our Chardonnay can reasonably last 20-30 years, our Napa Valley Cabernet around 10-20, and the Estate Cabernets 40-50 years and beyond. I was recently at Far Niente and they were very up front that their Chardonnays are not made to age at all, and their Cabernets have an upper range of ten years. That’s not a quality issue, it’s just a matter of style. Wines meant to be drank early have lower acidity and softer tannins, which often makes them tastier and easier to drink when they are young, while a wine made to age can be aggressively tart and tannic in youth.
In general, anything you buy in a grocery store or basic liquor store should be drank soon. If you’re looking for something you can age, your best bet is to find a reliable wine shop where knowledgeable staff can advise you. Or, you know, ask me and I’ll help with recommendations. If you’re going in with no assistance and little knowledge, my best tip is to look for the most specific geographic labeling you can find. A wine labeled “California” is not going to age well. Wines from broad regions like the Napa Valley will likely last longer, but not a long time. Look for a wine from a small and closely regulated appellation in Europe, like Barolo or Brunello, a small AVA in the U.S. like Howell Mountain or Mt. Veeder, a single vineyard designation, or indication that it is an Estate wine that comes entirely from the grapes grown on that particular property. The more specific they get about where those grapes come from, the more likely it is that they’re making a wine with the bones to age gracefully.
Assuming I get a wine intended to age, will my wine get better as it ages?
Maybe. A more accurate statement is that your wine will change as it ages. Whether it’s better or worse will depend on what you like in wine. When the wine is young, its fresh, fruity characteristics and its tannins are at their height. If you like a big punch of fruit in the front of your palate and a persistent tannic grip, you may not want to age your wines long. As the wine ages, the fruit will become less dominant and the tannins will smooth out and integrate into the wine, giving a less assertive mouthfeel and allowing space for other aspects of the wine to step forward. Soil and climate-driven characteristics like earthiness, pepper, and herbs, and oak-influenced flavors like vanilla, spice, coconut, coffee, tobacco, and chocolate become more pronounced. Over long aging, the fruit recedes further and shifts toward baked or dried flavors, while savory flavors of nuts, mushrooms, damp forest floor, and herbs may emerge. If that sounds gross, thirty year old wine may not be for you!
How do I know if I like aged wine?
The only way is to try some! If buying (potentially very expensive) unknown bottles isn’t up your alley and you aren’t blessed with friends with extensive cellars, try looking for a wine bar that occasionally opens older vintages by the glass, or wineries that offer library tastings. No, these are not tastings among books. These are tastings from a winery’s back catalog of past vintages, which is called a library.
How do I age wine?
If you want wine to age well, it’s important to maintain a fairly consistent temperature, ideally between about 50-60 degrees Fahrenheit, with minimal light exposure and movement, and a good amount of humidity. The standard household refrigerator is not a great place for wine long term, because it’s too cold and the humidity is too low, which risks drying out the cork. Wine fridges and cellars are made to keep better temperature and humidity. Age wine on its side to keep the cork damp, reducing the chances that the seal will fail or the cork will crumble.
Send your wine aging questions my way in the comments or by email at stacey@justasmidge.me. Cheers!
Great post, and right on target. As a sommelier, I'm sure you've been trained to discretely pre-qualify a customer who orders an older bottle, to determine if they understand what they're getting. I had one or two sent back when I couldn't take the time to do that.
Excellent information! Thanks!