Benefits of Aging Wine

We hear that a fine wine improves with age. Is that true and, if so, what does it really mean? How does it improve? Are there limits?

Let's begin with the last question. Yes, there are limits. If we leave out foritifed wines and Sauternes (and a very few limited others) both of which seemingly age forever or close enough to it that it might as well be forever, there is a point where wines go over the hill. All of them. 

We don't know when that is going to be. Even the experts, self-proclaimed or otherwise, don't know, but the fact is that they have a bigger dataset than you or me and therefore are able to predict better than we are. When they are wrong, though, they are really wrong. They were so far off, generally speaking on the 1997 and 1998 vintages of Napa Cabernets that it was laughable. However, their advice has a strong tendency to be good.

What is usually going on, and this happens more with red wines than white is an evolution of flavors. Recall that among the indicators of ageworthiness are tannins, acidity, sugar, and alcohol. Since tannin content in white wine is very low and often entirely non-existent, most (but not all) white wines do not age well. Notable exceptions are some of the Chardonnays of Burgundy, the aromatics of Alsace and Mosel, and a smattering of others (serious wine drinkers can name many more, but long lists are not my style unless I am being tested with a reward for doing well).

Back to flavors. Wines tend to have what are known as primary, secondary, tertiary, and sometimes even quaternary flavors. When young, a wine will exhibit its primary flavors. The trend in 2021 is for wines that sell well to be very fruit forward. The fruit is a primary flavor and fruit bombs are selling well these days. Robert Parker (Wine Advocate) seems to have made this trend come alive by tending to rate ultra-fruit forward wines higher. 

As the fruit slowly dissipates, we notice other flavors. Often they are earth tones, umami (savory), or dryer versions of the primary flavors. This first wave is usually referred to as secondary flavor. And, as the wine further evolves, tertiary or even quaternary flavors may come to the fore. For serious wine drinkers, a wine is probably at its complex peak when the widest diversity of these flavors is present.

Before you try to age wine to that perfect point, let's give you a few warnings. Most wines do not age well. In fact, if you've had them at home for 6 months, they might already be over the hill. And, to repeat, we don't know when a wine will be its absolute best. It doesn't come with a little pop-up indicator like your Thanksgiving turkey. Instead, you have to guess, and hopefully with the benefit of your own knowledge and any research you might do (Google is your friend), your guess will be good more often than not.

Last night was a great example. Served with steak and some easy to pair with vegetables, we enjoyed a 2007 Cabernet from the Stags Leap American Viticultural Area (AVA) of Napa Valley. The fruit was dark, but very present. But, there were also a lot of other flavors and aromas such as graphite, saddle leather, a bit of black pepper, some very light smoke, sweet tobacco. A veritable cornucopia. And, this made the wine one that evolved from front palate to back palate making it and the food it accompanied much more enjoyable and rewarding.