And what does “better” even mean?
In: 2
[removed]
Complicated, but – Flavour becomes more concentrated as oils and organic compounds break down, more flavour taken from the wood, evaporation increases proportion of fruit and wood flavours. It only gets better when aged in the barrel, not when aged in the bottle.
The acidity will reduce or tone down, the tanin ( when you feel your mouth drying out) will also tone down.
It is not better, it’s just different .
I’m a wine lover, and I don’t like older wines, I prefer them younger .
Obviously I will not turn down if someone offer me an older wine.
it doesn’t necessarily.
common wine off the shelf is at its best within a few years of being purchased.
there are specialty wines that you may get from a vintner that retain their qualities over long periods of time.
the thing to remember is that wines are gauged by their ability to taste like the grape they came from. so there’s no “good” or “bad” unless the wine has lost its flavor (or didn’t have the right flavor to begin with.) time adds nothing once the wine is bottled (and is likely to decrease the quality.)
Not all wines do. For the most part it is due to tannins softening and the “bite” in most dryer wines mellowing out, leading to a smoother, rounder flavor w less “heat” as the sweeter tones shine through and counter some of the ethanol flavor from the alcohol. This happens as the complex tannins deteriorate over time. If you like the heat and the dryness of big bodied wines, you wont necessarily want them to be too old.
Some wines, under the proper conditions, can preserve tannin structure for decades while other chemicals deteriorate, reveling different taste and notes. Beer can do this, too. A high alcohol content barley wine will become more malty and sweet and less hot over years despite the alcohol content increasing, for example.
Depends on the wine and where it’s aging. When aged in a bottle, it allows the tannins and other bitter chemicals to fall out to the bottom.
Not all wines get better with age, but some do. And a lot of people mix up aging in the barrel with aging in the bottle. When a wine is in a wooden barrel, it’s absorbing flavor from the wood, and it’s in contact with some oxygen that’s coming through. In stainless steel, there’s no flavor absorbed, but it’s still going through some changes. And some wine methods ferment in the barrel as well.
Once wine is bottled, a lot of that stops – the wine is no longer fermenting, and it’s not gaining any new flavors. It’s almost completely out of contact with oxygen, if stored properly (there can be some small amount coming through the cork). So the elements in the bottle itself are just slowly reacting over time – and generally, they soften, and taste less intense.
You don’t really want that with every wine – lots of wines these days are designed to taste awesome when young, with a great balance of tasty flavors. But you can get a lot of amazing flavors from a wine that is developed tasting very intense (strong tannins, fruit flavors,etc.) and then allowed to mellow for a long time – the tannins mellow, the fruit flavors come down, and you can taste more of the subtle flavors in the wine; there’s an interesting balance that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.
>And what does “better” even mean?
That’s entirely subjective.
Also, most wines are only aged for 2-4 years, this, for the most part, allows fermentation to continue at a very slow pace, which for reasons that aren’t well understood, produces a more complex and more mellow flavor. It probably has something to do with the yeasts in the barrel slowing dying then sinking to the bottom. After 3 years or so, further aging is usually considered to slowly deteriorate the flavor. A 12 year old bottle of white wine probably won’t taste as good as a 4 year old one. It will probably taste more like vinegar.
Only some kinds of red wines under some conditions, improve over 10-20-30 years of aging.
First of all, wine barrels are made of toasted white oak. During aging, the wine slowly absorbs some of the woody, toasted, smoky flavors from the oak.
In the case of barrel aging, wood barrels aren’t completely airtight. They allow a small amount of oxygen to enter, and they allow water and alcohol to slowly evaporate. Which concentrates some of the flavors.
The slow entrance of oxygen allows bacteria and yeasts in the wine to oxidize some of the flavor chemicals in the wine that may be considered unpleasant. Meanwhile this produces flavors associated with oxidation sometimes described as being similar to cured tobacco. This also allows some fermentation to continue, producing more yeasty, savory flavors. Oxidation also breaks down some of the tannins found in the grape skins and in the oak wood, which reduces bitterness and astringency.
Some white wines are, instead, aged in large stainless steel tanks. The absence of oxygen better preserves the fruity flavors from the white grapes.
Most don’t.
Some wines will oxidize with age as some air gets through the cork. This tends to ‘mellow’ out a wine and allow some of the harsher flavors to evaporate or oxidize.
Some wines continue fermenting even after being bottled. The fermentation process creates more flavor compounds over time as microbes digest sugars and poop out various compounds.
For the most part, wine stops aging once you take it out of the barrel/tank and put it into a bottle.
Latest Answers