Dr. David Muhleman

The-Wine-Educator    WINE & SPIRITS EDUCATION AND CONSULTING SERVICES FOR THE CONSUMER AND THE PROFESSIONAL

Taking Care of Your Wines

As more and more people learn I collect wine, they have to share a special wine story with me about this very old bottle of wine they are saving for just the right occasion. And more often than not, I have to tell them that their special bottle of wine probably turned to vinegar years ago.

More wine is ruined each year by keeping it too long than any other reason. Most wines from the New World (not Europe) is meant to be drank in the first year from sale. Only a very small faction is meant to be cellared; and if you cellar the wrong wine, you ruin it and waste your money.

All wines benefit from aging; from the Beaujolais Noveau that is meant to be drank within 30 days of release to several dessert wines that can easily age for 30 years, and many of them two or three times that amount. The trick is to age the wines that benefit from aging and drink the wines that won’t get any better no matter how long you keep them (and will, in fact, get much worse).

Again, 90% of the wine you buy in the New World (not Europe) is not meant to age; so drink it within a year of purchase. But if you do want to cellar a wine; there are three things that allow a wine to properly age: high acid, high alcohol, and high sugar. Wines that are high in alcohol and sugar; like Port, can easily age 50 years if properly cellared. But wines like Napa Chardonnay, which was low in acid, low in sugar, and fairly low in alcohol will only age a year or two before they begin to taste old. German Rieslings, although white wine, have high acid and often times high sugar, so they can easily last 20 years (as can white Burgundies, and white Bordeaux’s).

So aging a wine is not about which wine, but more about the acid, sugar, and alcohol in the wine. But even if a wine is made (or not) for cellaring, it can easily be ruined by getting too warm. Wine dies at 80 degrees, and no matter what you do, you can’t undo heat. Imagine ice cream; once it’s melted you can never put it back the way it was, no matter how cold, or how long you try. Once a wine is 80 degrees, its dead and will taste cooked. And this is any time from the barrel to the table. Once a wine is cooked, it can’t be undone.

Too many people keep their wines in the kitchen, which is one of the warmest rooms in the home. Besides keeping a wine too long, the next way to ruin wine is to get it too warm. And even if you only store the wine at 75 degrees you are keeping it at “near death", too long at 75 degrees will lead to the same result: cooked wine. It is always better to keep a wine too cold (refrigerator cold) than allow it to ever get too warm.

Cellaring wine is a whole ‘nother article, and there are plenty of “do’s” and “don’t” about cellaring wine, but the lesson to learn here is that too hot is significantly worse than too cold. There is even one wine which is wonderful served frozen. So the goal is to never hold your wine too long hoping to catch it at its peak of flavor. For 90% of New World wines, that’s within a year of sale. And during that year, never let the wine get above 80 degrees.

To keep it too long, or keep it too warn, will ruin your wine and waste your money (and dash your hopes of enjoying a wonderful wine). So throw most of your wines in your ‘frig; drink ‘em young, and most of all; drink good wine.