How to Age Wine at Home
It is the fall (or autumn on this side of the Atlantic), the season of wine fairs and other wine-related events. Maybe you will buy an unknown bottle or a new vintage from a winemaker you know. But you may have one question that comes back often; can I age the fantastic wine I got from the last natural wine fair? If yes, how long? That is what I will explain here.
All wine has a “life cycle”. When a wine is bottled, it is considered young, then with time, it gets better and better, but after a moment, the process slows down and finally stops. The wine is at its apogee, it can no longer be better and will start to decline to become a horrible liquid with a brown color and a bad taste a few years later.
How long it takes for a wine to go to its apogee to undrinkable things depends on many factors: the vintage, how the wine was made, the terroir, grape varieties, and its attributes.
The first clue to know if you can age a wine is the color of the bottle. If the bottle is transparent, the winemaker intention is for you to drink it within a year not more. It is not a good candidate for aging.
Also, if the wine has very short maceration and aging in the chai, like a “vin nouveau” (think of a Beaujolais Nouveau), it is not a good prospect, less maceration means fewer compounds in the wine and the consequence is a shorter life cycle.
This is because wine compounds, responsible for the color and tannins, are one of the factors that protect the wine and slow down aging.
These compounds will slowly bind together turning harsh tannins into soft ones and changing the color and the aroma to more complex tones (people talk about third-wave aroma). The more compounds in the wine the longer is the aging potential.
The alcohol level is also an indicator of a wine’s aging potential. Alcohol acts as a proctor and a preservative. It slows down the aging process and extends the life of the wine.
Winemaking techniques, particularly aging wine barrels or in bottles, are also important factors. Especially if the wine is aged on the lees. Lees, or dead yeasts, add protective compounds to the wine that will help it to age.
A good level of acidity is another factor. Acidity acts as an antioxidant and preserves the wine when it ages.
Another factor, limited to sweet wine, is the level of sugar. Sugar (like salt, but nobody wants salt in their wine) is a very effective natural conservative. That is why you can age a Port more than fifty years. If a wine has at least two of these factors, it is a good candidate for aging.
But to facilitate the choice two other factors can help you choose how long you can age a bottle of wine without knowing so much about the wine; the Terroir (or appellation) and the vintage.
Vintage play also has a role, along with appellation. Some years are better than others in producing quality berries. Higher quality fruits mean better extraction of protective substances.
| Appellation | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alsace | 4 to 10 years | 4 to 10 years | 4 to 10 years | More than 10 years | More than 10 years |
| Bordeaux | Up to 4 years | More than 10 years | More than 10 years | More than 10 years | More than 10 years |
| Beaujolais | 4 to 10 years | 4 to 10 years | 4 to 10 years | More than 10 years | More than 10 years |
| Bourgogne Red | 4 to 10 years | More than 10 years | More than 10 years | More than 10 years | 4 to 10 years |
| BBourgogne White | 4 to 10 years | More than 10 years | More than 10 years | More than 10 years | 4 to 10 years |
| Champagne | More than 10 years | 4 to 10 years | 4 to 10 years | ||
| Loire White | 4 to 10 years | 4 to 10 years | More than 10 years | More than 10 years | More than 10 years |
| Loire Red | Up to 4 years | 4 to 10 years | More than 10 years | More than 10 years | 4 to 10 years |
| Sud Ouest Red | 4 to 10 years | More than 10 years | More than 10 years | More than 10 years | 4 to 10 years |
| Rhone Valley Red | More than 10 years | More than 10 years | More than 10 years | More than 10 years | More than 10 years |
| Rhône valley white | 4 to 10 years | More than 10 years | More than 10 years | More than 10 years | More than 10 years |
| Jura | 4 to 10 years | 4 to 10 years | 4 to 10 years | 4 to 10 years | 4 to 10 years |
Now that you know how long a bottle of wine can be kept, you must know how. There are a few rules to age the wine successfully.
Wine like to rest like you and, laying down in a comfortable place. It need a constant temperature. You need to keep the wine ideally between 11°C and 18°C, the most important is to avoid large temperature changes during the day.
Sunlight should be avoided, ultraviolet rays can prematurely degrade the wine. Keep the bottle away from the sun.
The place should not be too dry to preserve corks. To be short, you need a dark place, not too dry, with a controlled temperature, a wine cellar. If you don’t have a cellar in your home or a wine fridge, find another place in your home that can offer these conditions your garage, toilet.
Aging wines is not extremely difficult; the real difficulty is to resist the temptation to open a bottle of your collection. But those are only generic recommendations. Depending on the winemaker, the process, and the vintage, some wines will age better than others. And you can be surprised how some wine destined to be drunk in one year can age well. I had a bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau I had aged for almost two years (A Séléné, I left it in the wine fridge), and the taste was amusing. So, it is not rocket science.