So we know that spirits such as whiskey and vodka will essentially never go bad, even once opened. From what I’ve read on Google, most wines even unopened are only good for maybe a couple years. And yet you can also buy bottles from like the 70s and even before that are apparently perfectly fine to drink so which is it, is wine like other alcohols that can be kept for years or even decades or is it something meant to be consumed within a fairly short amount of time?
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Depending on the grape variety, terrois (type of ground it is grown in), production method and importantly the weather conditions during the ripening period the finished wine will have different levels of acidity and alcohol . The correct combination can be kept stable for decades, the wrong combination will spoil quickly.
The alcohol content and acidity in wine limit microbial growth.
The reason wine goes bad after it’s opened is that now it has contact with oxygen. It’s the oxygen that make wine go bad. It doesn’t rot like other foods does, but gets oxidized and turns to vinegar.
Edit: just wanted to add that the factors that affect storage of wine the most are are are light, humidity, and temperature.
Direct sunlight, high temperatures and variable temperatures may cause or speed up chemical reactions that create foul smelling compounds. Furthermore, wines taste best when they’re aged slowly and they age more slowly at lower temperatures.
Humidity is mainly important because it prevents the cork from drying out, which would lead to oxygen getting into the bottle. It is debated whether it has other effects.
I’m not a wine connoisseur but I do know a few wine makers. The way I understand it is generally wine is ready when it’s ready at the end of it’s brief aging period in the bottle and if stored well, will keep for a few years. Maybe even ten. You can age any wine technically it’s just a question of whether it gets better or turns to shit. It’s also a pain to properly store large quantities of wines so unless the wine is special in some way or shows signs of aging well it makes more sense to consume it. The way the wine is bottled makes the biggest difference in whether or not a wine will go bad or age to perfection. Is there any air intrusion or contaminants in the bottle, that sort of thing makes a big difference. So basically the wines that typically get aged for long periods are sometimes accidental and other times a favorite of a maker or consumer. Other times as a wine ages through it’s normal aging period it shows signs of continued improvement and someone will set aside bottles to age for a longer period and lastly I’m sure many wine makers save some of all their wines just to see what happens.
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