Dating your wine

[suecasa]

Is there a rule? When you put a date on the bottle … which date do you choose??

Year the grapes are from? Started fermentation? Finished ferment? Finished bulk aging/bottling time??

 

[djrockinsteve]

The date of the harvest. That way you can reference the growth characteristics of that year.

 

[suecasa]

Kinda what I was thinking … I'm doing a limited kit from 2011 … on the other hand if i give some away before fully "aged" in the bottle how do I let them know that it still needs to sit for a bit??

 

[jswordy]

Everybody does it differently when it comes to home winemaking. The commercial wineries use date of harvest. Many winemakers here prefer to use full date of bottling. It makes it easier to keep track of just how long a bottle has been cellared.

When I give away nouveau wine, I use a marker and simply write the month when it is due to mature on the label in a non-obtrusive way. Then the recipient can decide to wait or drink early. I actually hate to give it away too soon, though, because they usually drink it right up. If the wine could really grow a lot by waiting, that early taste could mean a much diminished experience.

 

[robie]

You are asking about kits, I presume. For kits, you have no idea what the date of harvest really is, as the "grape juice from concentrate" portion can be from any grape from any year.

For kits, I date mine the month/year fermentation was completed.

 

[Dugger]

Like Jim says, everyone does it different. Kit wines are different from wines from grapes in that they are fermented anywhere from a couple of months to a couple of years from the actual harvest, so I think most kit makers use a date when they actually make the wine; I personally use stabilization as my date for aging purposes. I am sure there are many threads on this if you want to do a search and read the discussions.

 

[tonyt]

I put the date I pitched the yeast and the bottling date. That way I know how long it bulk aged and how long it aged in bottle. I tell friends I give bottles to to wait at least a year from the pitch date and better a year from bottle date or more.