Why are wines better with age?

[FABulousWines]

I had a lengthy discussion with a friend this weekend on wine making. He was very interested and I think he may just bite the bullet. There was only one question I had difficulty answering.

It is generally accepted and known for a long time that wine tastes better with age. But why? What is it that is going on, chemically or otherwise, that improves the taste of the wine?

For purposes of this discussion I am talking about just wine bulk aging in a glass carboy. No oak, raisins or other things that are known to affect flavor. Just a finished liquid wine and time. Just what exactly is going on?

 

[jswordy]

Chemists have been trying to decipher exactly what is going on as wine ages for a long time, and they have some guesses but not the full picture. There are myriad chemical reactions going on between compounds and to the compounds themselves when wine ages. It's a near-miraculous transformation, and I sometimes wonder how the first person who accidentally tasted an aged wine felt.

Because the interaction is so complex, even wine made from the same grapes and using the same processes in two different batches stored alike can vary in taste when aged, which is why winemakers blend their barrels together at bottling.

 

[JohnT]

I agree with JS but would add the following..

The effect of age on wine differs from grape to grape. For example, a nouveau beaujolais does not really benefit from aging while a red zin almost requires it.

JS is correct in saying that no one have the entire picture of what goes on, but some reactions are clear.

I would say the most dramatic is the softening of tannins as a result of micro oxydation. This has an effect of making the wine less sharp/bitter and yeilds a general "softness" to the wine.

 

[DoctorCAD]

My favorite analogy about wine aging...

Wine is like potato salad. The first day, potato salad tasted like potatoes, celery, onions and mayo (Dukes, of course). By the second day, it starts to taste much more blended. By the third day, all of those flavors are blended into one fantastic taste, the sharpness of the onion is gone, the starch of the potato is gone and all of the flavors are now one.

Wine does the same thing, it just takes longer. At first it tastes like grape juice, alcohol, tannins and possibly oak. After a month or so, it starts to soften. Another 6 or so months and it starts to become a well blended taste and wine is now what you think when you drink it. It just keeps getting better (to some degree) to a 2 or 3 or 10 or more year life.

 

[FABulousWines]

Thanks Jim; it would seem then that it is a difficult question which makes me feel a little better for not knowing the answer.

Actually DoctorCAD, that is exactly how I described it to my friend, a blending of separates into a whole. But that only describes the effect and doesn't answer the cause or "why" part of the question.

John, I am interested in hearing more about micro oxidation. Can you elaborate on that?

 

[JohnT]

John, I am interested in hearing more about micro oxidation. Can you elaborate on that?

Sure,

Natural cork, as well as synthetic corks are not a perfect hermetic seal. The very small amount of oxygen can/will bleed through to the wine. This happens very slowly with natural corks, but is much quicker with synthetic corks.

Tannins in wine are antioxidants. They serve to help protect wine against oxygen by binding with it, then settling out of the wine as sediment.

In other words, over time, and because of this micro-oxidation, the tannins are reduced in your wine. This will tend to make your wine taste less sharp and bitter, and more smooth and well rounded.

Note: With stel vin (screw caps) all bets are off. Screw caps provide a perfect seal that will not allow micro-oxydation. Most professional wineries that use stel vins take this into acount and "pre-age" their wine before bottling.

 

[GaDawg]

"Wine is a living liquid containing no preservatives. Its life cycle comprises youth, maturity, old age, and death. When not treated with reasonable respect it will sicken and die. " Julia Child

 

[robie]

Tannins in wine are antioxidants. They serve to help protect wine against oxygen by binding with it, then settling out of the wine as sediment.

In other words, over time, and because of this micro-oxidation, the tannins are reduced in your wine. This will tend to make your wine taste less sharp and bitter, and more smooth and well rounded.

This is the very basis for why many French wines are not ready to drink for sometimes 10 years (or more) and why after all that time, they (in some peoples' opinions at least) become extraordinary wines.

The longer a wine can age before it starts deteriorating, the better. Or, the longer one can protect the wine from oxidation and such, the further the wine will mature before it starts to fade. The idea is wine can continue to get better and better until external factors begin to destroy the wine.

One thing that can extend the possible aging time is tannins, because they protect the wine very well. So, if along with extraordinary sanitary conditions, one can introduce enough tannins to protect the wine for a much longer time, in the end, in many case one will end up with a much better wine... if one has the patience to wait ten or more years. Of course the presence of huge amounts of tannins will tend to discourage one from drinking such a wine too early.

Even the tannins themselves, as they mellow over time, will enhance the wine considerably.

Such wines, even whites, are fermented on some portion of the stems and seeds in order to extract their tannins. By the time the wine is racked off these, the tannin level is very high; much too high to drink the wine early. This, in turn protects the wine for a longer period of time, so the wine can develop.

This is one of the complaints the French had concerning the Paris competition of 1976. Supposedly, the French wines chosen were only a few years old and would (possibly) have developed into much better wine, had they been aged out. The American wines were at their peak being only a few years old; the French wines were considered very young, being less than 8 to 10 years old. That may or may not have been a solid argument, but IMO, the French do have a point.

This affect, which tannins have, is the reason I tell people that if they add tannin powder to their wines, they will need to age them longer. Longer, yes, but very likely they also will end up being a better wine.

 

[FABulousWines]

That all seems counterintuitive to me. If it is the breaking down of the tannins that makes the wine better, why add more? Wouldn't the wine just peak sooner?
Or is it something else, like what the tannins actually become that makes the wine better?

 

[robie]

That all seems counterintuitive to me. If it is the breaking down of the tannins that makes the wine better, why add more? Wouldn't the wine just peak sooner?
Or is it something else, like what the tannins actually become that makes the wine better?

What the tannins become does make the wine better.

Not really counter-intuitive. As long as the tannins are there and not broken down yet, they continue to protect. The more tannins one adds, the longer it takes to break them all down, hence the longer the protection will last.

It is not just the breaking down of tannins that improves the wine, there are lots of good molecular things going on during aging while the wine is being protected partially by the tannins.

I am not a chemist or anything closely resembling one. These are things I have studied as an interested wine maker. There are those on the forum who most likely could explain this better.

Just understand that the more tannins present, the longer it will take for them to become broken down. In the meantime, they will help protect the wine.

This doesn't mean one should dump a whole bottle of tannin powder in one's batch of wine. There are other things to consider. Some wines don't get better with lots of time, nor do they all benefit from tannins.

What you should get out of this is tannins not only improve some wines, they also provide protection. The more tannins present, the longer that protection will last. The longer the wine is protected, the longer it will age before it goes "south". The longer the wine ages,the more mature it becomes.

If you want a wine to age longer and successfully, you will need great sanitation techniques and good tannins.

 

[joeswine]

The life and times of wine

Robbie's right on, so let me add my two cents on top of his. NOT-- all wines are for aging, if you take into account the big reds,Amarone,Bordeaux ,merlot,chant and others while on the other hand whites aren't real meant for aging, WHY-- NOT ENOUGH STRUCTURE TO THEM, back to the solids, the natural make up of the grape or lack of in the juice,..light,vibration,chemistry,temperature ,all the items that effect the final ending, as well as what there stored in, caskets ,glass ,stainless steel, all have a barring on the taste profile and finish out come, and above all GOOD sanitation skills, front to back, what is good policy for aging wine, all the statements that this form has made are all quite true ,so take your pick it's all chemistry my friend..

 

[robie]

Different folks have different tastes, too. To prove my point:

While in Italy recently, I spent some time with a young wine maker. He makes several great reds and 2 whites; both whites are each a blend. (He also makes a 2009 Amarone, which I'll keep for several more years... nice!!!)

He ages the whites about 2 years. He sent a case to a nearby restaurant in Verona, Italy and a case of the same to a restaurant in Britain. A few weeks later the Italian place asked if he could return the unopened bottles becasue his customers wanted a white that was bright, crisp and fresh; in other words, a younger wine. At about the same time the restaurant in Britain ordered 30 more cases saying their customers really enjoyed the smooth, maturity of his white. Go figure!

It's not just a matter of bottling and selling the same wine sooner and holding some for much later. Usually, to get a young, crisp, bright wine, compared to a mature, smooth aged wine, one has to "make" the two styles differently. In this Italian wine maker's case, he designed to wine for aging, so it is not likely the Italian restaurant would have liked his wine, even young.

Both styles have their place. One wine seller I know laughingly says that all wine needs to be aged; it is just that some get all the age they need setting on the car seat on the way home from the wine store.

Next time you drink a white, have a person with you order a more mature style of white, while you order a younger style white. Try them both and although you may prefer aged over youth, or visa-verse, hopefully you can appreciate both styles. Hey, that's part of the fun of wine!!!!! They all have their place.

 

[GaDawg]

I believe one of the wines that won the 1976 tasting was a Chardonnay. I would think ageing probably is not a very good excuse for the French loss.

Robert Mondovi has written that one reason the French do not make superior wines is the lack of barrel rotation. They try to maximize there profits by using the barrels much longer than they should.

They did a tasting at U.C. Davis with the same white wine. One was tasted white and the other was tasted with food coloring so it appeared red. Naturally the red was judged the better wine. Don’t ya’ll think we all come to the table with our own preconceived notions?

 

[robie]

Good comments.

Chardonnays are age-able, just not to the extent of a big Bordeaux red, of course. Depends again on whether one wants a crisp, bright youthful taste, compared to a smooth, mellow, mature taste. Both styles are great in their proper context.

Saying the French don't make a superior wine would be fighting words for them (not me!). Still, though I am not terribly fond of French wines, likely mainly because I couldn't afford their better wines even if I did enjoy their low fruit, high mineral taste anyway, to say the French don't make a superior wine is a bit of a stretch. But superior to what?!!!

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, of course. I think those with the big bucks for purchasing and collecting the greatest and best wines favor the French wines, whether many of us North Americans agree or not. Contest or no, they would laugh at the notion that French wines are not superior... In a huge way, I think this backs what you said about preconceived notions, not to mention the potential of bias.

Would anyone ever think that Mondavi DOESN'T have his own bias or preconceived notions?

Again, it's all a matter of taste. Few things, however, are more subjective or more biased than one's individual taste!!!

 

[seth8530]

I actually had a chance to talk to the head winemkaer at Robert Mondavi after a wine tasting. I was surprised to find that their yeast of choice is a yeast very similar to ec-1118 fermented under hot conditions for max colour extraction. I would of figured they would of used a gentler yeast at lower temperature. But to each his own?

 

[FABulousWines]

Wow, what a great discussion this has turned into. It is giving me some great insights into wine making and I am greatly appreciative for all who posted!

My wife and I have been drinking commercial wines for many years, lots from local wineries and probably have no more than a year or two on them. However, as I am drinking more wine than other spirits these days I do tend to have older wines when we go out. I do find my tastes are more toward the older more mellow wines, and mostly dry reds. And that excites me that I am now able to produce this result for myself with a much lower price tag!

 

[nucjd]

I have been into wine for quite some years as a "enjoyer" and not a "maker". One aspect that amazes me is the taste of a red just racked off of secondary into a carboy. When I first tasted it I was taken back and thought I had done something wrong. The best descriptor I have for this was ...tart... I could taste the base flavor in the background of the wine but the overwhelming front end of tartness and bitter tannin was astounding so much that I asked guys on here what it was I did wring and their response.... chill out, it is "green" give it time to do what it does. Lo and behold they were right. It is funny how the white wines coming out of secondary taste very close to the end product versus the red that farther out. I guess that is why it equates to much earlier drinking times with whites. The interplay with phenolic compounds and the slow oxidation is just amazing. With that said, as James Laube from Wine Spectator says if you don't like a wine when it is released for drinking aging it will not help anything. and he also says rare is wine that will age well and rarer is the person that will enjoy it. He is talking about the very old 1940 Petrus, not the 10 year old Caymus. But interesting observations none the less.

 

[seth8530]

I think another key part that has not yet been mentioned is some pretty complex acid chemistry that goes on during the aging process.

 

[JohnT]

The one thing that amazes me about this forum is how a simply question can grow into a fantastic panel discussion. This is one of those cases..

Simple topics can be rather complex. This is the beauty of winemaking.

I agree with all that has been posted here and would like just to add a few more things.

1) Aging really depends mostly on the grape and a particular wine. Some have much better tanninc structure than others. A chennin blanc, for example, has much less then a chardonnay. By and large, chardonnays benefit from several years of aging.

2) There is mention of the addition of tannins. It is important that folks do not go hog wild on this. I never ADD tannins, but somewhat CONTROL the amount of tannins that I extract at maceration. I macerate for a min of 6 days use the frequency of punching down to "sculpt" the amount of extraction I get. Some years, I may punch down 3 times a day, while other years I may punch down every other day. For kits or buckets, you may have no choice. If you are like me, however, and make from fresh grapes, you do not need to add any tannins.

3) As said I before, there is a whole bunch of stuff going on in a bottle as it ages. The softening of tannins is only the most obvious.

 

[WI_Wino]

The one thing that amazes me about this forum is how a simply question can grow into a fantastic panel discussion. This is one of those cases..

Simple topics can be rather complex. This is the beauty of winemaking.

I agree with all that has been posted here and would like just to add a few more things.

1) Aging really depends mostly on the grape and a particular wine. Some have much better tanninc structure than others. A chennin blanc, for example, has much less then a chardonnay. By and large, chardonnays benefit from several years of aging.

2) There is mention of the addition of tannins. It is important that folks do not go hog wild on this. I never ADD tannins, but somewhat CONTROL the amount of tannins that I extract at maceration. I macerate for a min of 6 days use the frequency of punching down to "sculpt" the amount of extraction I get. Some years, I may punch down 3 times a day, while other years I may punch down every other day. For kits or buckets, you may have no choice. If you are like me, however, and make from fresh grapes, you do not need to add any tannins.

3) As said I before, there is a whole bunch of stuff going on in a bottle as it ages. The softening of tannins is only the most obvious.

How do you measure the amount of tannins to determine if you are going to punch the cap 1, 2, 3, etc. times a day?