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Wines bought for a special occasion...


eVoMotion

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Great so it's like storing ammunition for a long period of time (except keeping any part of ammo wet is not such a great idea). Excellent I will have to try this sometime.

 

What positive effect will aging have on wine? Is it similar to the smoothing/mellowing effect aging has on various whiskeys? If so, wouldn't this be more effective in the cask than a bottle?

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Guest heightsgtltd

You send me some ammo, and I will send you a bottle or two :lol:

 

aging changes a lot of characteristics in wines but needs a good amount of tannins usually to do so. It can bring out certain flavors, make a harder wine softer, etc.

 

Not all wines are good for aging; some are better drunk young.

 

Wines are initially aged and stored in casks before bottling. I am not 100% sure, but I think the reason they are moved to bottles is that after a certain amount of time the wood actually reacts badly with the wine and develops on its own better in bottles.

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Well, you want to be sure of what wines you are storing for a few years. Really, it will primarily be red wines that will benefit from aging, and of those, they will generally be wines that are traditionally higher in tannic acid. Many of those wines today are blended differently to make them drinkable earlier in their life.

 

The challenge is to learn which wines can or will benefit from the aging process. Then you can find the values and hold on to them. Otherwise, you'll pay MUCH more for a wine someone else (vintner or distributor) has held onto and released later.

 

As for the comparison to Whisky, it is much different.

 

Whisky is much more like beer than wine in it's process. In fact, up until distillation, the process in making whisky is almost identical to that of beer. It is at the distillation phase that whisky starts to really take on it's nuanced flavors starting with the shape of the distillation tubes (I'm totally drawing a blank on what these things are actually called) **edit - these are called Pot Stills** and also to the type of casks they use. And especially the casks.

 

In the production of fine Scotch Whisky for example, the whisky is always stored in recycled barrels, usually Sherry or Port casks, and it is from these casks that the color and some of those nuances are imparted to the whisky. When whisky comes from fermentation, it is completely clear just like vodka. Then the age of a whisky is determined by how long it rests in the cask, but you won't often find an actual year of production on a bottle of whisky. Wine, on the other hand, is aged based on when the grapes were picked, and the majority of the process takes place in a very short period of time (months) compared to that of whisky.

 

Now we'll see how my post compares to that of Heights who is almost surely typing a response at the same time. ;)

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Great information (mostly) shared here.

 

Barrels are porous and allow oxygen in.

 

Large format bottle producers use the highest quality corks to reduce corkage.

 

Some white wines can be aged - German/Alsacian Pinot Blanc, Gewurztraimers, Rieslings, French Sauternes & Chardonnay (in the form of true champagne - which is often aged a number of years before disgorged and sold).

 

Preservative in white is not tannins like in reds, but acid mostly and sugars in some.

 

90% of wines today are produced to be sold and drunk.

 

Some reds need 10-15 years to begin to come red to drink.

 

Aging wine is easy - buy more than you can drink. ;-)

 

It is fun to find something you like, buy a case or so and then drink some now, and hold some and open a bottle a year to see the difference.

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Guest heightsgtltd

Yeah that's true.

 

Do you actually have a wine cellar? That would be the advantage of having a house over having an apt. and a 48 bottle wine fridge + shelf storage :lol:

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Have house and 1000sq basement and cellar framed...a year ago. And a F-load of boxes of wine to step around...it is a problem...that I am happy to have. ;)

 

http://digitalfotographer.com/gallery/2/279_01_10_08_10_05_57.JPG

Yeah that's true.

 

Do you actually have a wine cellar? That would be the advantage of having a house over having an apt. and a 48 bottle wine fridge + shelf storage :lol:

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  • 2 weeks later...

I bought a bottle of 05 Chateau Rieussec Sauternes for last weekend's party. It was spendy and drank like flavored water; so little, smooth and perfectly sweet, but not too honey-like. INSANE! I am sooo glad my friend had a birthday so I HAD to buy this bottle.

 

It was definitely one of the most expensive retail bottles I have bought. Costco had it for $50 less than some wine shops. Wish I could drink this every day!

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