Bad Bottles

[winesilly]

I just picked up about 90 bottles full of wine. A friend had them in his basement and has not made any for years. He said that most of them would be garbage so I started to open them to see what I had. Not one of them were any good. Just 90 more bottles to have for my wine. My question is how long will kit wine last if stored properly. The wine in the bottles were from kits and some were marked 1998.

 

[DoctorCAD]

Kit manufacturere say 3 years, but some people have gotten much longer.

 

[richmke]

Depends upon the wine and the cork. 16 years will test even the best corks. A big red has a chance of making it that long.

 

[Just-a-Guy]

This makes me very sad.

 

[sour_grapes]

There is one other factor to consider: What was the state of kit wines in 1998? I was not making wine then, but my understanding is that kits were not nearly as good back then as they are now.

 

[Putterrr]

Apparently he had not drank any for years too.

Or it was bad in by the year 2000 and he didn't have the heart to introduce them to the sink.

cheers

 

[Floandgary]

To try an answer to your question,,, Kit or otherwise it depends on the condition of the wine at bottling, type of corkage, location of storage. Under optimal conditions some varietals are known to last many moons!

 

[salcoco]

I have some over 7 years old. taste great!!!!!

 

[jswordy]

I like sour_grapes' reply a lot but will go farther: Was the danged stuff any good to begin with? Alas, we'll never know.