Wine Better next day

[cindyjo]

Hello FV friends,
I have a coworker who has become my wine taster. I give him a bottle of one of my wines, he tries it and gives mea honest opinion. Wewere talking today and he stated he has found my wine to be better after being open a few days. He actually will open a bottle and not drink any for a couple days. Is this normal?? Is there anything I can do to improve the taste at initial opening. I have alsonoticedthat the flavors improve in a few days... if it lasts that long. Thank you

 

[grapeman]

How long has this wine aged? If it is less than a year old that could be the root of it. Wine will be good when first bottled but often gets a lot better after some age. Being open a while exposes it to a bit of oxygen and simulates the wine aging more.


Like I said yesterday, try decanting it and wait a few hours and it will often be better. This opens it up some and lets the flavors and smells come through more. Give it a try.

 

[cindyjo]

One of the wines was the CR port which has been in the bottle more than 6 months, and the other was the green apple reisling which I though did not have to age. I thought 6 months was enough on most wines. Thanks
Cindy

 

[JimCook]

I do the same test with commercial wine and to me it shows age-potential. Frequently, I will leave a bottle roughly half full, slap the cork back into it and let it sit for another day or more. If it's better when I next taste it, I know the air (read: aging) was beneficial. Granted, the air exposure is a little different than what comes through a cork, but the simulation is meant to extrapolate forward to determine how much time is needed. The wines that I have made that are now passing two years are still getting better, which tells me what I need to do with batches going forward - be patient or decant them for a while before drinking. Vigorous and consistent swirling in a glass can also help oxygenate the wine, although I have noticed that this method (along with decanting) is not the same as actual aging, but is a halfway decent approximation regardless.


Hope that helps,


- Jim

 

[Wade E]

A few days is too much for me usually but a few hours to 1 day I can see.

 

[JimCook]

It is the wine that will tell whether it is good or not after any given point of exposure. If it tastes like vinegar, it's not. If it's tasting progressively better, it's a die hard bottle (or perhaps an anti-oxygen magic cork). I have tasted wines with only 25% left in the bottle after three days that were still better than first day it was opened. Most, however, will not do this. In the words of Trashy, it also depends on how 'thirsty' you are.


- Jim

 

[cindyjo]

It absolutely gets better the longer it is open. My friend says he will wait a couple of days before drinking it. He said especially with the choc rasp port that the initial taste was like drinking a hershey bar but after a couple of days the flavor evened out. Thanks for the responses

 

[fish1onthefly]

So how do get it to stay for the next day..open 2 bottles? Mine seems to miss-appear

 

[cindyjo]

Yeah fish I have that problem too. Thanks for all your posts, I am going to decant when needed and try to keep some of this wine aging a bit longer.
Cindy

 

[Mark]

Here's another possibility. I also noticed that my wines get better after being opened a day or two, but in my case it turned out to be due to insufficient degassing prior to bottling. I use the Vacuvin stopper on opened wines, which after a day will pull out the excess gas. You can also do a quick test by shaking an opened bottle real good - if it foams you had too much gas and will then taste noticeably better (although I'd only recommend this as an experiment; decanting is the proper way).

 

[JimCook]

Here's a case in point along this very topic... Iopened a bottle of 2005 Reverie Barbera (Napa - Diamond Mountain) for my friend from Madrid to try on this past Friday evening along with a 2005 Aalto (Spain - Ribera del Duero), drank half of each bottle and slapped the cork in them where they sat until Sunday.On Sunday,I finished off these bottles with another friend and the Barbera was massively improved - bigger fruit and a much better balance than the first day, 48 hours earlier. The Aalto was also very good, although it seemed to be on par with the same level as the Friday evening tasting having just the flavor profile changed with the time spent resting at 50% full in the bottle on the countertop.


- Jim