eli5: Why does wine get better with age?

Question

And what does “better” even mean?

In: 2

Answer 1

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.)