Looking for long term wine

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Looking for a wine kit that would produce a decent dry to medium sweet wine that I could keep bottled for around 18-20 years. Explanation for that is we just had our first child and I thought it would be nice to bottle something this year that we could give her when she grows up.

Brian
 
from what I understand only really dry really acidic wines age well. They actually take many, many years for the intense flavors to disipate into something drinkable.
 
Drier, high tannin, bigger ABV wines will age better than most medium sweet versions and will mature nicely. 18 years plus is however a really long time to age anything - you'll need a very stable (cool all year round and dark) environment to ensure it ages well without spoiling.
 
Realities of Wine "Aging"

from what I understand only really dry really acidic wines age well.

Drier, high tannin, bigger ABV wines will age better than most medium sweet versions and will mature nicely.

I have been tasting/drinking wine seriously for more than 35 years and have accumulated lots of experience tasting hundreds of wines at many levels of price and quality, ages between 10-75 years old, and with various cellaring histories.

Everyone has their own taste preferences, but IMHO, the absolute-hands-down-no-contest best candidate wines for long-term aging are very, very sweet, wines, like Sauternes (French), German Rieslings at the Beerenauslese/Tröckenbeerenauslese level, Hungarian Tokaj, or especially the (fortified) Vintage Ports (Portuguese).

Dry wines can conceivably last as long as 20 years, but the risk of spoilage is substantially higher. Many bottles wind up tasting lifeless and "musty," while remaining astringent. People tend to "ooh and ahh" at any opportunity to share an old bottle and mostly won't admit to their sensual disappointments in the experience out of lack of confidence in their own tasting abilities or for fear of offending their host.

No matter what the style or character of the wine, the Cellar Conditions are absolutely critical. Anything less than 55° F or more than 65° F with a diurnal swing of ± 5° F will produce unsatisfactory results (early "death"). Another factor rarely considered or attended to is that corks deteriorate and all bottles should be tasted, topped and re-corked every 10 years. (Screw caps or other, newer, even better closure devices, combined with more precise application methods of sulfur, should eventually end this problem.)

More than 95% of commercial wines will NOT benefit from more than 5 years of age and many will begin to suffer decline after 2. Although it is hard for me to imagine "kit" wine tasting pleasant past a decade, I have only had 3-4 experiences to back me up.

Cheers,
TC
 
I really don't think that any wine kit will produce a wine that will still be good in 18-20 years, even with excellent storage. You would be best to make one of the top quality grape skin kits, add extra metabisulfite. Use top quality corks. Check the wine & change the corks every 5 years or so. Arrange the exact proper storage (perhaps one of those wine storage units).

Steve
 
I have been tasting/drinking wine seriously for more than 35 years and have accumulated lots of experience tasting hundreds of wines at many levels of price and quality, ages between 10-75 years old, and with various cellaring histories.

Everyone has their own taste preferences, but IMHO, the absolute-hands-down-no-contest best candidate wines for long-term aging are very, very sweet, wines, like Sauternes (French), German Rieslings at the Beerenauslese/Tröckenbeerenauslese level, Hungarian Tokaj, or especially the (fortified) Vintage Ports (Portuguese).

I Personally think YnYz is right on the nose.
High alcohol, with high sugar level is your best bet for long term keeping.
Think Ports, sweet high alcohol wines which will last for decades....

By the way: congratulations with your first born

Luc
 
Everyone has their own taste preferences, but IMHO, the absolute-hands-down-no-contest best candidate wines for long-term aging are very, very sweet, wines, like Sauternes (French), German Rieslings at the Beerenauslese/Tröckenbeerenauslese level, Hungarian Tokaj, or especially the (fortified) Vintage Ports (Portuguese)..

As I actually said 18 years is a long time to age ANYTHING.

You quote all the usual reasons to avoid aged wines. I agree with the musty corks/bad storage/not offending hosts/wine snobbery etc but I'm no 'ultra sweet' wine fan so I don't see the appeal of making a 'dessert wine' to age. A port may be more appealing, but without access to the correct grapes for either and a quality 'grape spirit' to fortify the port it it's pretty pointless waste of effort to try make one to age for that long. Buying a bottle or two of a decent 'level'/vintage maybe - but not making a whole batch.

More than 95% of commercial wines will NOT benefit from more than 5 years of age and many will begin to suffer decline after 2. Although it is hard for me to imagine "kit" wine tasting pleasant past a decade, I have only had 3-4 experiences to back me up.

More than 95% of commercial wines are made to be drunk when you actually buy them. They're never meant to be aged. just about every wine bottle I pick up states 'drink within ** months to enjoy it at it's best'.
Homebrewers don't have the 'luxury' of a modern winery's equipment (or the attached financial worries:) ) that enable them to produce wines like this so quickly. It can take the same amount of time for a homemade wine to be at point that it's bottleable.
 

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