Recently the topic of aging wines popped up on our forums. We found that this topic comes up again and again among our winemaking family. So we’ve gathered some of the thoughts posted by our “experts” , and compiled this fact sheet along with tips for aging your wine.

Wines don't last forever. In home winemaking, most of the 28-day kits have been formulated to be enjoyed within the first year.

But like beer, the aging of wine depends, quite a bit, on how the wine was made, and to some extent the type. Of course sanitation plays a big part in how long a wine lasts.

Typically red wines last longer than whites due to the tannins extracted from the skins (also providing the wine's color). I have wines (fruit & reds) that are 4 -5 years old and are drinking quite nicely. However, I always add potassium metabisulphite (KMETA as I call it) to my wines to about the 50-80 ppm range. Both KMETA & tannin serve as preservatives and affect a wine's "life".

Besides just making wine taste snappy, acidity acts like a preservative for wine. Thus, German wines, among the most acidic in the world, are also among the longest-lived. If the wine also happens to be slightly sweet (sugar, too, is a preservative), the wine will age even longer.

While young German wines from top estates have irresistible sizzle and freshness, many connoisseurs drink such wines at five to ten years old.
Indeed, top German wines may be aged for 20 years or more, making them some of the longest-lived white wines in the world.

At ten to twenty years of age, a great German Riesling does not fade but, rather, becomes richer and more harmonious. Individual flavor sensations (peaches, apricots, stones) are no longer discernible. Every component coalesces into the greater sensational whole.


Rule of thumb on Wine Aging:

1) For good quality commercial wines, there seems to be an agreement that they are all good candidates for a long life, particularly reds. There is also agreement on the fact that most of the ones that do not last fail because of the cork or because of their handling.

You don't need very extensive experience as a wine drinker to find a bottle with a cork that has failed. It is not unusual to see leakage of the wine reaching the exterior of the bottle, on the side of the cork.

For home winemaking, Neocorks are a great alternative to traditional corks. They are easy to put in and even easier to remove. The corkscrew never fails. You never end up with pieces of cork floating in the wine or with cork inside the bottle. And you still hear the pleasant sound of the cork popping. In many cases when giving a bottle away they become an interesting conversation piece. Commercial wineries have begun to adopt Neocorks.

The history of the bottle from winery to table is also important. I have tasted more than one spoiled wine, particularly when visiting tropical areas in years when wine drinking was not so popular as it is today.

2) If you are talking of wine made from concentrate, the standard 4-week kits (referring to the processing time from opening the kit to bottling the wine) last up to one year. To be honest, the wines come out so good it is very hard for us to keep them that long.

We recently tasted a one-year old Liebfraumilch. It was perfect and, I would say better than the ones we start drinking after one month of bottling.

Also, there are certain kits formulated for longer aging. BrewKing produces a Red Zinfandel kit referred to as Lodi Old Vines. We recently started a 2-month aging period in the carboy to allow for better clarification. Then we plan to bottle it and age for another 3 months before tasting it. It is supposed to age well up to 5 years.

One more detail about this wine: I can call it DOC or Controlled Denomination of Origin. All the grapes come from the same area, California's Central Valley.

These kits are a bit more expensive because the juice is not as concentrated as in the 28-day kits. The kit contains 16 litres to be diluted to 23, instead of the regular 7.5 litres to dilute to 23.

3) If you are thinking of buying wine to keep for prolonged periods of time, you need a good storage area allowing you to keep it cool year round, with the bottles laying on the side. A basement, away from the boiler or furnace is a pretty good place.

4) Inexpensive wine doesn't keep well. The general rule for wines less than $20 a bottle is probably not to keep them beyond 2 or 3 years .