How can a wine Age?
In this blog post we are going to talk about a very important Topic- How can a wine age?
That's probably one of the most frequent questions that all of the wine lovers had (at least once) on his mind.
Of course there are wines which are perfect to be kept, Wines that are more suited for aging while improving their qualities, and others which are capable of expressing their best when they are still young.
Among the latter ones there are certainly whites, rose wines, of course with proper exceptions.
Usually, the ones that are more suited for keeping in cellar are reds but we need to admit that even when it comes about reds, it really depends by the type of wine and its characteristics.
What about aging wine at home?
Lets face it. Aging wine is not only the prerogative of expert tasters or professionals, but it is an art in which even wine lovers and connoisseurs can practice, just like a tasting. The important thing is to choose the right wine to be aged, follow some basic rules and, above all, know how to wait!
In some cases, a wine to be aged is, moreover, a good investment. Some studies report that the wine can produce 8% of Return on the investment per year. But we need to be careful, not all the wines are good investment, it really depend on the region, on the vintage and of course on the winery.
Wines for aging
- The best types of wines for aging are important reds,
- Nebbiolo
- Barbaresco
- Barolo
- Brunello di Montalcino
- Chianti Classico
- Sangiovese in general
- Amarone
Other very important characteristic for wine aging are the quality of the vintage;
production yield of the selected wine (low percentage or small quantity);
period of aging already underway. That's the reason why aging a wine the cellar and then also a little bit into the bottle is so important for a winemaker.
How to properly keep a wine in a cellar
The main characteristics of a good wine cellar for keeping wines are essentially three:
- darkness or scarce light
- cool, controlled and constant temperature
- right level of humidity (about 70%).
The best position for keeping bottles of wine is the horizontal one, and it is very important to keep the cork moisturized
Some good practices to be followed with aging wines are storing bottles with the label upwards (in order to always keep under control the bottling date) and to place the bottle vertically one or two days before uncorking it after a long period of aging.
How long does a wine keep?
It really depends on the type and properties of the single product. A full bodied red wine, in case it is properly kept, can be tasted even 15 years after its vintage. It is very difficult, however, that a common cellar, not provided with the necessary tools for aging, can reach this goal (and, certainly, not to exceed it).