Aging wines tends to be romanticized with thoughts of wine cellars and wine collections. So it’s not surprising that most of us think that wine will improve with age. But this isn’t the case. In reality, between 90-98% of the wine on the market is designed to be drunk immediately, or a maximum of five years after bottling. This means that often our ideas of squirrelling away a bottle for ten to thirty years to make it even better might backfire. We could end up opening a wine that is completely ruined! So why do you age some wines and not others, and how do you know which wines to age? In this guide, we look into everything you need to know.
Why age wine?
Why do we age wine? I think a lot of it comes down to the marketing and prestige behind aged bottles. Yes, there are benefits to aging some wine, but not all wine has to be old to be good. It doesn’t have to be an old wine for you to enjoy it.
But why age wine at all? Well, a properly aged wine will taste and feel very different from a younger wine. Even if you’re tasting two wines made from grapes grown on the same vines ten years apart, they will be different. The younger wine will be more ripe berries and can be slightly tart, giving a dry mouthfeel. But the older wine will start to have tertiary notes that come from aging, such as earthiness and leather. These notes only come from aging, and so as a wine ages, you get more complexity in your glass. The wine will also soften with less harsh tannins.
This all sounds great, but it all comes with the caveat that you won’t always get these aged notes from every wine. If the wine isn’t aged properly, or it hasn’t been produced for aging, the wine won’t taste great in ten or so years.
What impacts the aging process?
A lot goes into the winemaking process that influences whether or not the wine will be age-worthy. They include:
- The grape variety and the vintage
- The way the wine was made
- The quality and balance
- The constituents of the wine, in particular acidity, residual sugar, tannins, alcohol and botrytis (noble rot, which concentrates the flavours of certain wines)
- Climatic and soil conditions
- Storage conditions
Wine is made up of a bunch of components which impact flavours and aromas. During storage, these break down and form new compounds and provide new aromas and flavours. Wines tend to lose their fresh and fruity aromas as they age. But the other components of a wine, like tannins, acid and sugar, allow for the wine to be aged in the first place.
Tannins do the heavy lifting
Although many of the elements of a wine impact age-ability of a bottle, tannins tend to be the ones that do the heavy lifting.
Tannins come from the grape stems, seeds and skins. They are present in all grapes, but tend to be more present in red wines as the wine has more contact with the grape stems, seeds and skins during the winemaking process. Tannins tend to taste bitter and leave your mouth feeling dry, chalky and ashen. This might seem like something you don’t want in your wine glass, but tannins are so critical for aging a wine. They also impact wine aroma, making the wine more complex and subduing the flowery, fruity aromas of young wines.
The winemaker determines the amount of tannins in the wine by controlling how long the mashed grapes stay in contact with the skins, stems and seeds. Wines with a lot of tannin start out as a bitter, dry young wine, but mature into rich, complex and highly desirable wines. So winemakers that are producing wines for aging will tend to produce a wine that is better enjoyed with age, rather than young.
But you can see the issue here, as an age-worthy wine won’t taste great when tasted young. And as most consumers want to drink their wine right away, they need more balanced wines. And if you decide to age a wine that is designed to be enjoyed young, it won’t have the tannins to help it mature over time.
What wines should you age?
So now that you know what impacts it, what should you focus on? Unfortunately, it isn’t something you can find on the label, and it isn’t an exact science either. So here are some tips for finding age-worthy wines.
First, most wines that age well are reds as they have more tannins due to longer exposure to skin, stems and seeds. But this isn’t always the case as they also need the right balance of sugars, acids and tannins to support the long aging period. For red wines, it’s best to find grapes grown in regions with long, warm summers and cool, but not frosty winters. Examples of this include California’s Napa Valley or France’s Bordeaux. You can also look for particular wine varietals that age better, such as Cabernets, Shiraz, Merlots and Malbecs to name a few. You can also find age-worthy examples of Nebbiolo and Pinot Noir too (think of the aging of Barolo and Burgundy wines).
But choosing these regions and varieties still won’t guarantee the wine’s shelf life. So the best way to find out is to consult the winemaker or your local wine shop. Often at a wine tasting, they will tell you which wines you can age, and this is a good indicator. But make sure you have the right conditions to age the wine. A wine fridge will ensure you maintain a consistent aging temperature, as with too much heat the wine will oxidize and it will be ruined.
Not just red wines are made for aging, however, and there are some great examples of white wines that do age well. This includes some Chardonnay, Semillon, German Riesling, Austrian Gruner Veltliner, white dessert wine like Sauternes and high-end vintage Champagne. You can usually determine whether or not you can age these wines from the price point.
What wines shouldn’t you age?
So now that you know what to look for with aged wines, which wines shouldn’t you age? Here are a couple of rules of thumb to follow:
- Price – usually if a wine is purchased under $30, it’s a bottle you should enjoy now. It doesn’t mean the wine is bad, it just means it’s best when it’s young. Almost all wines are enjoyed within 24 hours of them being purchased, and since winemakers know this, they make sure their wines taste best in their youth. And at this price point, they haven’t usually considered the careful balance that goes into an age-worthy wine. This can also help you pick out wines for aging too as they will tend to have a higher price point, especially if they’ve already been aged before becoming available.
- Colour – colour can be a good indicator too, as most whites and Rosés should be popped in the season in which they’re bought. A light-coloured white that hasn’t had any oak contact is not made for aging, so make sure something like a Sauvignon Blanc or a Pinot Grigio is enjoyed right away. This also goes for Rosé which is made to be enjoyed right now.
- Your taste – These are all nice rules, but it should come down to what you enjoy. If you find a wine under $30 that you love after a few years of aging, good for you! You may also find that you don’t enjoy aged wines, and that’s ok! There’s nothing wrong with enjoying young and fruity wines this is what most of the wine is on the market!
In summary: Why do you age some wine and not others?
So why do you age some wine and not others? Well, I think in the end it comes down to personal preference. If you don’t enjoy wines that have tertiary notes and prefer fresh and fruity styles, you shouldn’t be aging your wines. And just because you don’t enjoy aged wines doesn’t mean you are not a serious wine drinker. Most wines are made to be enjoyed young, and so enjoying them young is not a bad thing. It can be really hard to know which wines you should age, so it really does come down to personal preference.