Are Your Wines Ageworthy?

Yesterday, I wrote about the inherent conflicts in drinking your wines before they are ready, or in any event, long before they reach their peaks. In other words, you paid for a lot of falvors and complexity that you did not get to experience. Today's question deals with whether that really affects your wines or if it is far more focused on someone else's.

Frankly, the focus is much more likely to be focused on someone else's. The typical wine that the typical wine consumer buys is intended to be consumed within a day or two. Warning: almost no wines are intended to be consumed as soon as you get them home from the store. They have probably been jostled a bit in the car or in shipping or however you got them home. Give them at least an hour or so to rest even if they are just that bad. Make them a little bit better.

But, suppose you are the person who bought that better wine. How do you know if it is ageworthy? First, let's limit the wines. Among white wines that do not have high sugar content and are not fortified, they are generally not intended to lay down for very long. And, the whites that without either of those are generally considered the most ageworthy are the higher-end Chardonnays and many of the better Rieslings. For the rest of them, for the most part, drink them young.

The reds, though, give us more of the ageworthy wines.  Recall that way back last August, we discussed this topic. We noted that the four components that tend to affect ageworthiness are alcohol, acidity, sugar, and tannins. And, many red wines are either highly acidic, highly tannic, or sometimes both. When you do get red wines that have a nice combination of two or more of those components, if they have been well-made, this is the one group that you really do want to let age. Lay them down. Take good care of them. Turn the bottle periodically so that less sediment forms in the bottle. And, refernece a vintage chart so that you have a better idea when to drink them.

Otherwise, for most of your wines, enjoy them today or tomorrow.

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